Does this mean I can drive "off road"?

Without trials and tribulation, there would be no hero. 

Without a hero, there would be no story. 

~ Chrissy Gibson

I could simply post the photo and many of you would recognize him (I've written about this guy before) and need no story. Many folks have their own stories as well - about how he dropped everything to take care of a problem or drove miles out of his way to get them out of difficulty.

Whatever. Here's my (latest) story.

Today I took a long hike at a Williamson County park (Berry Springs Park and Preserve, to be exact.) with a friend. I was tired as I headed for the highway that would take me the 30 or so miles home. 

All of a sudden there was some serious rattling in my engine compartment (this is about all the automotive vocabulary I have). Well, that got my attention. I slowed down and the noise stopped. The car was driving fine. No emergency lights flashed from my dashboard. "Maybe it's nothing," I thought.

I slowly excelerated and the rattling started again. It was definitely something, I realized. 

And then I did three things right:

    1) I looked for a safe shady* place and stopped (thank heaven for truck stops).

    2) I investigated the situation -  a piece of metal kinda hanging down under the car.

    3) I called Rick Miller.**

Please note - this is a Sunday on a holiday weekend. 

Rick said he would be there in 25 minutes and he was. He took care of the problem and reassured me it would be fine. We also had a short chat about how much I appreciated him coming out to get me back on the road. He shared his philosophy about this is how people should do business and how he runs his (as I well know and most other folks in town know as well). 

I put that hero quote up there because he doesn't see himself as a hero. He just thinks this is the right way to do business. He takes care of people (and their vehicles).

He laughed when I said I wanted to take (and use) a hero photo, but he let me take this one. So, here it is. Thanks, Rick.

Rick Miller, M & B Auto Repair, Belton, Texas

NOTES:

* 92 degrees fahrenheit out there, people. 

** Rick and his team have been taking care of our autos for almost 35 years.

FINAL NOTE: I recently got some nice new tires and jokingly asked if I could "drive off-road" now. It was the first thing I told Rick - "I don't think I hit anything, but I could have. AND I was not driving off-road."