A glimpse of the past...

Hello Readers, this is my story. It's been almost 3 years ago, sometimes it seems like yesterday...

At 1:15 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, September 30, 2006 we were 12 ½ miles south of Arnett, OK in the company of friends having just finished the morning braces of the all age derby at a field trial and were eating lunch. It was 101 degrees in the sun. Which is mostly what it is in western OK. The afternoon braces were postponed until the next morning because of the heat. We headed home to Kansas. At 5:15 pm our red 2006 Ford F350 diesel 1-ton dually pickup pulling a 28-foot horse trailer hauling four Tennessee Walking Horses and two English Pointers rolled to a stop 9 ½ miles east of Enid, OK. The engine had quit running and would not restart.

As the temperature hovered in the mid 90s, we put the hood up on the truck and opened the trailer doors to protect our animals from overheating and moments later, a couple traveling home to OK City (among the 3 vehicles that stopped) offered the use of their cell phone. We called roadside assistance. Expressing to the person answering the phone in PA the circumstances we found ourselves in took a while. Contact was made with a wrecker service and the OK City couple left us with their good wishes and our thanks.

Enter Todd. Driving an enormous wrecker capable of moving semi tractor trailers, Todd, employed by Stanley’s towing service, Enid, OK arrived within about 45 minutes. As he carefully pulled our truck and trailer back towards Enid we discussed our dilemma. Ford Dealership in Enid is not open. We have 4 horses and 2 dogs to water, feed and turnout and it’s getting dark. Todd’s fingers never quit tapping in phone numbers as we approached Enid. He called Ford, no answer. He called mechanics he knew. No answers. We came to realize that the truck was not leaving Enid on Saturday. What to do with our animals? Todd to the rescue. More numbers tapped into his tiny cell phone. Yes, Casey would allow us to leave our horses at his place. At about 7 pm, it was almost dark when we pulled up in front of Casey’s, wrecker, truck and trailer. We unloaded the horses into a safe, clean pen with fresh water, fed them and locked the gate. We unhooked our trailer, Casey moved it with his truck and parked it in his driveway. It’s now after 8 pm.

We realize that in order to get back to Kansas and borrow Dad’s truck so that we can get our horses home, we need to rent a car. Todd takes us in the wrecker back to town, we stop at his convenience store owner/friend’s to use the telephone book to locate a rental car. Meanwhile, Todd, using his trusty cell phone has notified his young son that he won’t be home until later, evening plans have been postponed and he eats his dinner standing up in the convenience store.

Companies that rent cars in Enid, OK are not open on the weekend. We call anyway. Luck is with us again. Robert, Avis owner, answers the phone, listens to our dilemma and agrees to open his business and rent us a car. It’s now about 9 pm. Todd’s convenience store owner/friend offers his regular sized pickup so that Todd can take us to the rental car office. We leave the wrecker and pile into the pickup. Robert rents us a car. We are grateful. The car is readied, we shake hands with Robert and fasten our seat belts. We follow Todd back to the convenience store, thank our new friends, pile our stuff into the trunk of the rental car, wave goodbye to Todd, the wrecker and our red truck. Now, it’s almost 10 pm, Saturday night, we go back to Casey’s, check on the horses, put our two pups in the car and head for Kansas. It’s a more than 4 hour drive back home. We pull into our driveway about 2:30 am. On Sunday at 7:30 am, we head for Mom and Dad’s, borrow their truck, drive to Enid, load up our horses and get back to Toronto, KS at 6 pm on Sunday. Safe and sound.

On Monday, Todd delivers the red truck to the Ford dealership. On Tuesday, it’s repaired and Bud heads south, returns the rental car with our grateful thanks to Robert of Avis and picks up the red truck. Gets home about 6 pm on Tuesday.

We are grateful to the people we encountered in the midst of this very stressful situation. We appreciate beyond words the kindness and concern of Todd of Stanley wrecker service for protecting the welfare of our horses and dogs and us. What was potentially a deadly situation for us with the heat of that day became the day we’ll remember as the day we met Todd and his friends. While there is no way to repay them, we’ll take a lesson from a favorite movie and gladly “pay it forward” in their names.

There is a plethora of information explaining how to provide excellent customer service. Todd must have read them all. Or is customer service quite simply what Todd describes as people helping other people? Todd says he doesn’t think that people offer a helping hand as often as they could. Well Todd does and Stanley’s towing service is lucky beyond words to have Todd as their representative. So, if you are ever stranded in Enid, OK, call Stanley’s and hope they send Todd to the rescue. You’ll know him when you see him. Look for a man, long blond hair, colorfully tattooed arms. You’ll know him. He looks like an angel.

The rest of the story. The Ford dealership suspects that the fuel injector was broken at the factory and was sucked in to the motor and caused the truck to stop. Bud says they worked non stop to get it fixed, gave Bud a lift to the car rental agency, paid the bill and got us on our way with a minimum of further stress… However, at one point, Bud did describe Plan A to them: tie the horses and stake out the dogs in their parking lot and camp there ‘til Monday. I can only be grateful for Plan B.

Well, that's my blast from my past for the day... it rained a bit here today, I rode Henry early this morning, the perfect start for a lovely day. All the best, p