Gene hauled a load of feeder calves to the livestock sale in Harrisonburg today which is 130 miles away. It’s his least favorite market to go to as it is the furthest from us and the further you go, the more opportunity there is for something to go wrong and he also has to cross the mountain which is a hard pull for the truck. Now, if anything is going to go wrong, it is when you haul a load of cattle. He wanted to sell one more load of calves this year and it was the only market open this week, in between Christmas and New Year.
In preparation to hauling the calves, yesterday he checked his pickup and trailer and plugged a small leak on a tire on the trailer. This morning the tire was seemed fine and had held pressure overnight. On the road (interstate) about 45 minutes from home he felt an ominous vibration and thump, thump, thump. He started pulling off the road and a truck zoomed by pointing at his trailer. The tire had shredded.
After surveying the situation, he decided to limp to the exit just ahead at Hadensville. He pulled into a small country store and asked the clerk if there was anyone around who could fix a tire. Yes, Walter. He lives just behind the station. She would call him.
It is 10 AM and Walter is just getting out of bed but yes, he could help and would be right there. While waiting for Walter to come, a SUV pulled in and Gene thought it was Walter. But this guy’s name was Roger. Roger lived about a mile up the road and he had a full shop on his place to work on his bulldozers, complete with everything a mechanic needed except for a tire changer. Walter soon appears and he thinks he has a tire that will fit. After conversation between Walter and Roger, Walter goes to get the tire and Roger leads Gene to his shop. Roger had an impact wrench and air hydraulic jack and they soon had the shredded tire off. Walter’s tire was on a rim and had to be manually removed with tire irons and hammers and put on our trailer rim. That was a job! At one point they had a chuckle about three “older” men (62,65,68) struggling to mount the tire but they got the job done. They charged him $40 for the tire and handed him a business card that said “two retired men”! It turns out that Walter has worked for Roger for years. As Gene got back on the road they said, “If you have anymore trouble on the road, give us a call.”
Gene was very grateful for Walter and Roger, two super nice strangers, who were “good Samaritans” and took time to come his aid.
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