On Tue, 1 Nov 2005 14:39:13 EST, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote:
Caveat Emptor. If you are going to pay mileage it would not be unreasonable to ask how many miles from where you are to my place. At $5 a mile, that $31 difference would be covered in only 6.2 miles.
Brad Houser
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You see, another thing which made nhfloral's comparison to me (here in Independence) invalid in this case was that although I do not personally drive a car, so would have no need for mechanical services, I honestly have to wonder if I do not live in the midst of a giant car garage here; I am forever seeing the hillbillies who live across the alley and down a few doors out in their own garage or backyard working on their own or someone else's car; 'jumping' the battery to get it started or doing other repairs. So while it is _not impossible_ that someone with car troubles could wind up calling some distant auto mechanic to come rescue them it is quite unlikely. Furthermore, there are a few young guys here in town who are part of a 'Good Samaritan' group who, on call from the Montgomery County Sheriff accompany the sheriff in their own truck to pour a gallon of gas into a car which ran out anywhere in our county (for intance Highway 77 or 169) with a cellphone and other simple supplies (can of oil, etc). They also tow vehicles back into town to one of the service stations. A nice bunch of young kids.A summer ago, a friend and I were riding back into town from a small village near Coffeyville, called Tyro, KS (population of Tyro is all of 250 people). On the 'Tyro cutoff', a very dark, very narrow two lane road which runs from Highway 77 south ten miles through Tyro and on to the Oklahoma border, we passed a older lady with a young child sitting on the side of the road. My friend and I decided to check it out, the lady said her car had either overheated or had gasoline vapor lock, I forget which. I offered her my cell phone but she had no one to call; so I wound up calling the sheriff for her. We waited there with her and her kid; about 20-25 minutes later here came a Sheriff Deputy to talk to her. About the same time he pulled up, a truck came up with two guys (both older teenagers, about 18-19) pulled up as well. They get out of their truck, go and begin examining her engine, etc. In the back of the litle truck they carry a few gallons of water, some oil and gasoline (but very little! too dangerous to carry much of it back there.) The sheriff talked to the lady, the guys got her car restarted. I think -- not sure -- they are called 'Good Samaritans' and are volunteers helping with radio calls from the Sheriff. Small, rural areas are nice in that way. Coincidentally, my friend who had always been opposed to cell phones until that time ("they are used by people who want to think they are important") observed all this closely. Next time I went out riding with him I notice he had installed a cell phone in his car, something he _never_ would have done even six months earlier. PAT]