Kindness Along The Palangana River...

 

Not too long ago, The Farmer and I took a drive.

We came upon some of the most beautiful scenery that we have ever seen in our area.

  In fact, The Farmer repeated several times during our drive...

"how could I have grown up in this area, and not known that this place was here!!??"

 

 

It wasn't too far away,

yet it seemed so untouched by the world and people that surrounds it.

 

 

Several years ago, a small open sided train ran from the city near us, up into the nearby mountains. There were not roads at that time, to help those who lived in the mountain towns,

 get to the local towns. Those people used the small train. They would ride it into town,

purchase necessities, pack them up, load the train and return to their mountain homes.

  It all worked well for many years, until the small train had a couple of accidents.

  The final accident took the lives of a few, and so the train ride ended.

  The train tracks were removed and a road was built, where the train once ran.

  When The Darlings were little, we took the train into the mountains for a picnic,

 spent the day along a lovely river and returned home in the evening.

 It is a very fun memory.

I have to say...I don't remember it being as beautiful as it was a few weeks ago!

  The Farmer also said a few times this Summer, that he hadn't seen it so green in our area since

The Rooster was a baby... that was a long time ago!;)

 

 

We drove and drove. Until...The Farmer announced that we had a flat tire!

Now...keep in mind, we have been driving for at least an hour, maybe more...

and we have not seen one person, or one vehicle. The Farmer is pretty handy, so I wasn't too worried. Until, The Farmer announced that the lug wrench for the car, was the wrong size.

So removing the tire was just not going to happen...and so his creativity kicked in...

 

He searched through the car...came up with some silicone, one half of a can of Fix A Flat...

a hammer, some pliers and a small chunk of wood.

 He carefully shaped that piece of wood into a plug,

covered it with silicone and hammered it into the whole in the tire. After it sat for a few minutes,

 he emptied the can of Fix A Flat into the flat tire. I think I am making this sound

much simpler than it actually was...it took quite a bit of time;)

 While he worked, I hiked up hills and into a small

canyon where the river was running.

 

 

When all that could be done, was done, we began our slow journey back to the nearest town,

which was over an hour away. Luckily, after seeing no one for the entire ride,

 a well equipped truck came up behind us. Within just a few minutes they had

 kindly changed our tire and had us on our way.

 When The Farmer offered to pay them for their time and kindness the

 sweet wife of the man who help us quickly said..."we will not accept pay,

one day we will need your help." We all loaded up, and were once

again on our way! It was a great lesson of kindness!

 

 

And just in case you are not familiar with a very large whole in the road...

The locals have kindly marked it for you!

  They wouldn't want you to hurt yourself,

 or anyone else!

Another lesson in kindness along The Palangana River!