A Cautionary Tale

Emilio
Alamo NV September 12, 2015 1/210 sec at f/8.0 ISO 200 23mm (XF23mmF1.4R)

Alamo NV September 12, 2015
1/210 sec at f/8.0 ISO 200
23mm (XF23mmF1.4R)

OK, boys and girls. Gather round. I will try to make this short and sweet but it is very important and I am being very serious here.

Saturday morning I dropped my wife off at the airport and, since I was already out, I went for breakfast. From there, I drove north on the I-15 (that’s a freeway for those of you outside of the US) and proceeded to Caliente NV on what I thought was the “Loneliest Road in America”. I found out it is not, but to me, it should be. You travel through a desolate landscape for 100’s of miles to reach old mining towns that have few inhabitants, if any. I was alone, no water, no food, just my cell phone to connect me to the outside world when there was a connection! By 4:30 at night I still had not made it to Caliente so I decided to turn around just north of Alamo NV. When I got back onto the I-15 and started home, my check engine light went on. I figured it was because I hadn’t changed the oil in about 6,000 miles. Well, when I got to my exit, at the top of the hill there is a stop light. I slowed for it and my car died. I was in the middle of the exit ramp with cars whipping around me and just my emergency blinkers on. It was 7:30 at night and dark. Of all the people passing me, driving around me, and looking but otherwise ignoring me, a white Mercedes pulled to the side of the road and a Hispanic male came out to push me to the side. I thanked him as he drove off and then I called my brother-in-law to come help me. While I was waiting for him, a bus from one of the hotels pulled up, the doors opened, and another Hispanic male offered me a bottle of water. My brother-in-law finally showed up almost an hour later and towed me home. My mechanic will be coming by to tow the car tomorrow.

Now, imagine what would it would have been like if the car had broken down on the way to Caliente? Last weekend we were in Paso Robles and on the way home passed through about 200 miles of desert. What if the car had broken down then? During the heat of the day?

Anyway, that is my cautionary tale. Take care of your car. When you go on a trip of any distance, take plenty of water and food.

And isn’t it interesting that of all the people who saw me in need- male, female, white, African-American, Asian, Muslim, etc. only Hispanics stopped to helped me. So my message? To all you Hispanics, I love you! To everyone else, I hope you meet one of these guys whenever you need help!

33 thoughts on “A Cautionary Tale”

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  10. So glad you were helped, by at least a couple of people! I think I will pack some Army MREs (meals ready to eat) in my car for such emergencies. Thanks for the reminder.

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      1. Better to have it and not need it than vice versa. My college daughter just had a car accident today. Shaken and scared, but thank God she is all right. Now, I might need to add huge, industrial bubble wrap to the emergency kit to wrap my kids cars in.

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  11. A cautionary tale, indeed, Emilio. Glad it turned out okay for you (well, we don’t yet have an update on what the repairs may cost), but at least you got back home. Thank goodness for the kindness of (some) strangers. And at least you got a great picture out of the adventure (should I assume there are more?) Love Joe’s comment that with all that stuff, surely there was something there that could have fixed your car 🙂 You live in such a different world than I do, and I love seeing it through your eyes!

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    1. Yes, Stacy, there are a few more. I’m working on processing now. I just purchased Topaz at the Photoshop World expo in August and started using it. It is definitely changing some of my choices on some photos. Can’t wait to get them posted.

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  12. Your story gives a glimmer of hope for mankind Emilio 🙂 Great shot and it looks like with all the stuff at this place they might have had the part to fix your car. Usually a check engine light indicates an emissions system failure. Make sure to check the emissions warranty on your car most times its a lot longer than the regular warranty (sometimes as much as 150,000 miles) but the parts must be replaced by a dealer. Good luck with your car and thankfully at least the people Donald Trump hates came to your rescue. Great work.

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    1. So you got the (obvious) allusion to Trump, did you? You’re the only one who mentioned it. We pulled the battery and brought it over to an auto parts store and they charged it and said it sounds like the alternator. We are putting the battery in this evening and will go from there. The car has over 200,000 miles on it! 🙂

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  14. lol.. a good lesson indeed!! and my advise to you is b4 you take any trips.. like your wedding trip.. change the oil. and these things might not happen. but seriously, im glad at least 2 people did stop to help you, says alot…or a little about humans

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