My daughter and myself were driving from Los Angeles to Dallas. We were running low on gas somewhere in New Mexico and figured we'd see a gas station soon enough to fill up.
But that didn't happen and we realized we were not going to make it to the next town. So my daughter made up a sign that read "Low on gas. Can u help?" and held it outside her window in the hopes that a driver in the next lane would notice it and stop.
There weren't too many vehicles passing us either at the time. It was a desolate stretch of road and about 3.30 pm on a weekday. A suburban was driving along happily in the neighboring lane ahead of us. We caught up with it in the hopes the driver would notice the sign.
An elderly gentleman was driving it and after a brief expression of confusion on his face, he seemed to have noticed the sign and slowed down to pull over. We pulled over right behind him.
He was friendly and was eager to help us. At first he thought we didn't have enough money to buy gas, so he offered to buy us gas at the next town Roswell that was about 10 miles away!! Awfully sweet of a stranger to offer that.
When we explained our predicament of not having enough gas to get to Roswell, he said he was a ranch hand that was returning home from work. His ranch was about 10 mins away and they had a gas pump on there, so if we could give him 20 minutes, he would head back there, get a can of gasoline and fill up our tank for us.
We could not believe our good fortune! There not being any cell phone reception for either of us in the area, we had just hoped that whoever stopped to help would be kind enough to call AAA when they got to Roswell and we would just wait it out for them to come help us.
We were filled with gratitude for the kindness of strangers such as this person as we waited for him to return. Sure enough, he was back with the can and promptly filled our tank. He refused to take payment for the gas saying "what good is a man who cannot help another in need". Tears flowed, as did our eternal gratitude.
But that didn't happen and we realized we were not going to make it to the next town. So my daughter made up a sign that read "Low on gas. Can u help?" and held it outside her window in the hopes that a driver in the next lane would notice it and stop.
There weren't too many vehicles passing us either at the time. It was a desolate stretch of road and about 3.30 pm on a weekday. A suburban was driving along happily in the neighboring lane ahead of us. We caught up with it in the hopes the driver would notice the sign.An elderly gentleman was driving it and after a brief expression of confusion on his face, he seemed to have noticed the sign and slowed down to pull over. We pulled over right behind him.
He was friendly and was eager to help us. At first he thought we didn't have enough money to buy gas, so he offered to buy us gas at the next town Roswell that was about 10 miles away!! Awfully sweet of a stranger to offer that.
When we explained our predicament of not having enough gas to get to Roswell, he said he was a ranch hand that was returning home from work. His ranch was about 10 mins away and they had a gas pump on there, so if we could give him 20 minutes, he would head back there, get a can of gasoline and fill up our tank for us.
We could not believe our good fortune! There not being any cell phone reception for either of us in the area, we had just hoped that whoever stopped to help would be kind enough to call AAA when they got to Roswell and we would just wait it out for them to come help us.
We were filled with gratitude for the kindness of strangers such as this person as we waited for him to return. Sure enough, he was back with the can and promptly filled our tank. He refused to take payment for the gas saying "what good is a man who cannot help another in need". Tears flowed, as did our eternal gratitude.
6278 Reads
- Posted by preethivfm
- Apr 9, 2015
- Comments (19)
Readers Comments
Nina Sanfilippo wrote: What this elderly gentleman said is exactly how we should be living - a day at a time.
Lucia wrote: You had a very wonderful experience. I was touched deeply
Jayne wrote: My goodness, your story makes me feel like puking!
anayomary wrote: May god bless such a nice man for his generosity.
Jyoti wrote: Blessings for the kind man
Bradley wrote: What a beautiful testament to the goodness in humanity. Extra special is your daughter's hand in this and then she being blessed to witness this. The ripples this could create are infinite :).
Stan wrote: Thanks for sharing this heartwarming story. It helped make my day, when i needed something like this. Just like they needed a little more gas to get to where they could fill up, and start off again on their journey. :-)
MaryLynne wrote: What a beautiful expression of loving kindness!
Leepryke wrote: So heartwarming to see goodness in the world. Thank you for sharing
fairykats wrote: Soooo glad you and your daughter are safe. Blessings on your stranger angel.
