Where the Heart is

Only this time it's raining and the wrench that came with the car doesn't fit the bolts on the wheel. Fortunately, a cheerful Jamie, who had the most endearing Scottish accent, showed up just 10 minutes after we called the rental company. He just happened to be 5 minutes down the road.

We both needed to use the facilities at this pullout. It consisted of a stone fence corral, very private.

Jamie changed the tire with little fuss, but commiserated with us that we would need a new one. None of us was wild about the idea of driving the remainder of the day on our decidedly slap-dash appearing spare. Cell coverage had been spotty most of the day and we were heading into extensive no-service territory.

Jamie's place of business had a tire, but it was an hour up the road. It was heading the right direction, however, and we liked Jamie, so we got directions and headed off. It was a hilarious ride to Stevenson Rescue through the misty hills along winding one-lane roads. His garage was at his residence, surrounded with 6 massive rescue trucks. His frisky Jack Russel was excited to meet us. While Jamie was taking care of the tire, the pup went sniffing around in the oil spotted repair bay til he found a rubber part that was the perfect size for playing fetch. He dropped it at our feet, and we dutifully kicked it (we did NOT want to touch it) and he fetched like a ninja, pausing only to mark his territory on a large rusty truck muffler lying on the garage floor.

Jamie was as good as his word, rescuing us from getting "fetch ankle," and sent us on our way feeling that providence had smiled on us.Read more