I am not in the office this week but I had to share my 4th of July story with you. The University was closed last Friday, the 3rd, and I left for Austin with my husband, son, and dog at 4:00 pm to spend the holiday weekend with friends. Well, needless to say, things didn't go exactly as planned.
Two hours outside of Fayetteville, just outside of Checotah, OK, our vehicle broke down. So, we are standing on the side of the rode - me, my 5-year-old son, Jack, and our German Shepherd, Skylar while my husband attempts to figure out the problem. Let me say that in July on the side of the road in Oklahoma, IT IS HOT. Thank goodness we did have water and snacks.
To make a long story short, we were there over an hour and I must say the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) was quick. During our adventure, two different troopers stopped to make sure we were okay and also two Good Samaritans stopped.
The second Good Samaritan (GS) went way above and beyond. This is where the "bizarre coincidences" part of the story comes in. Now remember, we are in Oklahoma. The second GS who stopped to help has two daughters who go to the University of Arkansas (UofA). I am standing there in a UofA shirt. The odds of us breaking down in OK and having the person who stops to help us be connected in any way to where I work in AR, I figure are pretty slim. So, this GS happens to live very near where we are stranded. Remember, we have a small child and a dog with us. He loads us up in his truck, takes us to his house (where I was able to meet his daughters), and takes my husband in to town for a new battery (we thought that was the problem, but no such luck).
Another thing you need to remember is that it is late Friday night on a holiday weekend. Once they figured out it wasn't the battery, the GS and his wife are calling around trying to find us a hotel or motel room or a rental car that we can drive back home. There was not a room or a car to be found. By this time it is getting late. My husband's brother is going to come and get us when the GS does something that I find truly unbelievable. He offers us the use of one of their vehicles to drive back to Fayetteville. Since it is now 10:00 and we are all hot, sweaty, hungry, and tired, we accept his offer.
By the time we got back home, after seeing our vehicle towed to the Chevy dealership in Checotah, and unloading what we needed from it, it is 1:00 AM. This is the time we should have been reaching Austin. Saturday morning we got up and took the car back to the GS. Our vehicle is now fixed and we will need to make a 3rd trip back to Checotah to pick it up. It ended up being a broken cable to the computer (everything just shut down).
My son was so upset. Our friends have a pool and he was so excited to be going to Texas for the holiday weekend. After this little adventure, I decided I did need to find something for him to do so that he could have a little fun. I ended up going back to OK to visit family and friends on Sunday and we just got back yesterday.
Isn't this crazy? I have definitely been reminded about the kindness of strangers. This was a stressful, traumatic experience but so many positives came from it too.
I'll be back in the office on Monday and we'll get back to business then. Don't forget about the Open House and Social on Friday. Email gsb@walton.uark.edu with any questions.
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