The Road Home

Having already spent my money to buy the car and then go and procure a "Temp" plate I left the great state of CN via I-95. Oh boy! The road reminds me of the GM test center in Detroit where they take cars for a shakedown cruise. And of course it started to rain. So off I go and find that the car also takes on water around the windshield and the defroster doesn't work very well but better with the window open a little. The Seller gave me a bag of tools in case I needed them and some spare parts that we always have but don't seem to ever to put on until the car is sold. But still, I said as I was getting colder and colder, it was a great trip UNTIL a place called Riceboro, GA. Just driving along on I95, listening to static which is better than nothing, and I enter a construction zone. I had to slow down and I did and then the engine died. I was able to pull off to the right side of the road and had plenty of gas and it started back up and seemed OK UNTIL I pulled back on I95 and it quit. I made it about 30 feet and pulled into the medium just before a tractor trailer was about to make me a grill ornament. I called the Seller and he said he couldn't figure it out. So here I am tired, wet, damp and negatively excited. I was next to an overpass so I walked across the northbound lanes and slid down to the street below. The convenient store on the corner was my refuge. Does anyone here have a tiltbed I asked and in an Indian accent I was told that JT Jones BBQ next door had one.

Oh boy. A BBG with a tiltbed. Did they actually use hogs so big that a tilbed was required? So I walked next door and met Ms Jones and her grandkids and had a GREAT sandwich. There were also many religious tracts on the wall and she asked if I was a Christian and we had church. They said Mr Jones would soon be there and he indeed had a tiltbed. We spoke of family and how her granddaughter's husband, Wesley Hayes, had just shipped off to Iraq for a tour of duty. I looked at the granddaughter and realized how young she looked and remembered that I was 26 in Vietnam and was old compared to the others there. Mr Jones arrived, had a sandwich, and then said lets go. I had a spare fuel filter and he changed that with a pair of pliers and the car ran perfect and I left with a full belly, a prayer request for Wesley and feeling good about life. So if you ever want a GOOD BBQ sandwich or dinner visit JT Jones BBQ exit 67 of I95, South Newport, SC and pray for these young kids like Wesley Hays, a hero I never met.