On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:54:47 -0700, in
, Matt Barrow wrote:
And when your car breaks down out west, you see beaucoup people who lend
a hand who really don't give a **** what other people think.

A few weeks ago, we drove from Houston to Jackson, WY for a bit of skiing
and snowmobiling... This was during a major snow storm that had DIA
passengers stuck sleeping in the airport... On the way back, taking a
detour through New Mexico because of some road closures, we were in a very
long line of cars on US-84 heading towards I-40... There was a guy in a
pickup pulled off on the side of the road... It was obvious from his angle
and the marks on the ground that he was stuck and had slid sideways even
though that area was paved... It sloped away from the highway, so he just
couldn't get enough traction to get up the slight incline... Not a single
person had stopped to give the guy a hand... I turned around, drove back,
and informed him that that was probably not a good place to park while
tossing him a chain and pulling him back out onto the road... No big deal,
probably took less than 5 minutes of my time... Often when you do this,
the recipient will ask how much they owe you... I just tell them that next
time they see someone in a similar situation, just stop and help instead
of driving on past them...

Now, on the other hand, if the problem that someone has is just a flat,
I'm less likely to help them since I figure that if you own a car you
should know how to change a flat... If they're out of gas, I might help
them move the vehicle where it is not blocking the road / tow it to the
nearest parking lot... Not so much because I want to help them, but just
to get their damn vehicle off the road and not blocking traffic... Never
drive anything bigger than you're willing to push... For me, that means
being willing to push close to 6000 lbs... Damn, sure hope it's not an
uphill push...