It all started back in college, when I was about 19 years old. Back then it was always an issue of saving money. Well, because I had friends all over I did a lot of traveling and so did they. I was living in Michigan at the time in the city of Grand Rapids. Although Grand Rapids has its own airport, and an international airport at that, my best friend still opted to save $100 dollars by flying in to Chicago instead of Grand Rapids. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive to Chicago from Grand Rapids. Another thing to note is that back in the day we all drove old cars that were about ready break down any minute because we didn't have the money for much more than that.
Well, on my way to Chicago with a friend of mine we are driving along the freeway when all of a sudden the car stops accelerating and smoke starts coming out of the engine. We were in the fast lane and there wasn't a place to pull over. So we came to a stop and started backing up traffic. This was just the beginning. Fortunately, not long after that a highway patrol tow truck pulls up behind us. "Car trouble? I'll tow you to the next exit for free and then you'll have to take it from there." "Okay," we agreed, just happy to get off the busy freeway.
So he drops us off at the next exit at an empty, abandoned bus station. So we're in the car pondering what to do. Luckily I had just gotten my first cell phone the day before and it sure came in use!!! Perfect timing on that one, right? But I didn't have a phone book with me and I didn't know how to call information!
So we sit there for about 5 minutes thinking about options when a couple cop cars pull up from the back of the lot, park, and then open the doors of the car to let out their K-9 dogs to do practice attacking techniques!!! The cops are wearing this mesh glove thing and they practice again and again releasing these "hungry" dogs to go "attack" the other cop as a practice! It was kinda scary. So we're sitting in the car thinking. Well, we can't go anywhere, the car is dead. We can't get out of the car. There are attack dogs surrounding us, and we aren't wearing the mesh gloves! What to do, what to do... if we could only flag down one of the cops to ask if he could help us. But they were so into what they were doing they didn't even notice us. They probably thought we were just an abandoned car without people in it.
Finally we were able to flag down one of the cops when he came closer. We told him our situation. He called information for us and we were able to call the airport and have them contact our friend who we weren't going to be able to pick up anymore, or at least for a very long while. It was already night by this point. Then the cops left! That's the only help they gave us! This abandoned bus lot with K-9 dogs became darker and darker as the night went on and it was time to figure stuff out. So with the limited numbers of our friends that we knew by heart we called and through them got other numbers of people we could call to try and help us. (remember, I had just gotten my phone the day before- my first phone- and I didn't have any phone numbers programmed yet).
So finally we contacted someone that my friend had class with who's sister's boyfriend that studied in Japan last summer knew someone that lived at the Indiana border very close to where we broke down. "Oh... okay, sure. I'll just call some random stranger and ask them to help me get my car towed and drive me to the airport to pick up my friend, or better yet all the way back to MI?" We didn't know anyone in the area, and weren't familiar with the area, all the towing places were closed (as far as we knew)... so we went with it. We called her and told her our situation and she asked us where we were. "I don't know," I said. "Let me go out and check." I was kind of afraid to step outside of the car. It was dark. What if some K-9 dog or something jumped out at me. So I went to the street area and looked at the closest intersection and reported back to her the street names. "Get back into the car!!!" She said. "What?" "That is one of the worst areas you could be in! Stay in the car. We'll come pick you up." So at around 8 at night this random stranger comes to pick us up. She had also called for a tow pick up that was 24/7 on her way over. She came with her husband and waited with us until the tow truck came. Then she drove over with us to the shop where they dropped off the car and then we drove all the way back to her house.
She treated us just like family. When we got to her house she introduced us to her son... and then her greyhound!!! That's when it all started. This dog was like a little angel. He loved company but he wasn't hyper. He came over and rested his little long nose on your lap or shoulder just to be close. How precious! We asked a lot of questions about greyhounds and learned a lot about this amazing breed! We fell so in love with this greyhound... and the family! It was like we had known them for years. They put us up in the guest room for the night and the next morning we had breakfast together and then took the dog for a walk and hung out a bit more before the end of our wonderful visit. The car needed a few days to get fixed so they agreed to drive us 2 hours if someone from Grand Rapids would pick us up halfway. How nice! Ever since then my friend and I have been greyhound fans. I'll have to tell you more about greyhounds later.
