The kindness of strangers
Let me tell you about some of the kind strangers who helped me during my cross-country journey.
On the shoulder of a busy road in southeastern Louisiana, I suddenly heard a “PFFFTTT!” sound. Pulling over, I found that, sure enough, my rear tire had gone flat. As I worked to repair it in the sweltering heat, a pickup trucked pulled up behind me. A man named Mark came out and said he saw me while driving the other way. He offered to give me a ride and asked where I was staying. He said if I needed a place, I could come out to his house; it was just him and his son, and Mark slept on the couch, so I could have my own bed.
Outside the city of Beaumont, Texas, I took a break on the side of the road to munch on a snack bar. Here, too, a pickup truck pulled over. A man named Don got out and walked up to me to ask what I was riding and where I was going. It turned out Don worked at a Trek bicycle dealer (I was riding a Trek). He asked if I knew of a couple of bike websites, and if I needed anything — perhaps a ride into Beaumont? “If you need anything,” he said to me before leaving, “anything at all...” and he gave me his cell phone number.
In El Paso, Texas, a friend of a friend named Kristy had offered to receive a package with some supplies for me. My plan was to take a day off from riding and rent a car to get all the way across town to her house to pick it up. Only, there were no cars available to rent that day. When Kristy learned this, she offered to come and get me and take me out to dinner. That evening, she and her husband and young son drove me all the way across town to a restaurant they liked, treated me to dinner, took me all the way down to the border fence with Ciudad Juarez (which I had wanted to see up close but hadn’t had time to), and then drove me all the way back to my hotel — before crossing the city yet AGAIN to return home.
On a long, lonely stretch of road outside Marfa, Texas, I stopped to see a curious site. It would be another 36 miles until I could get more water, and I was concerned about running out. When I casually mentioned this to another traveler who had stopped at the same site, he offered me, unprompted, one of his own bottles.
In Winterhaven, California, I was still an hour away from the next gas station when I came to a restaurant in the middle of the desert. I needed water here, too — but the place was locked up. Just as I was despairing, a man came out and asked me if... I needed water. He allowed me in to the closed restaurant to get a few bottles.
More than once across the country did a perfect stranger say they would pray for me on my journey.
It so happens that six years ago today, I finally passed into the state of Florida from San Diego after almost three months on the road. Yes, that was an exciting milestone, but what really fills my heart is the abundance of kindness I experienced from people on the trip.
How about you? Who’s someone who’s offered you an unexpected act of kindness? Share it with me, and the world, on our Facebook page.
