The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

I like to think that I’m capable of traveling on the road by myself…but then along comes car trouble.

My college-bound 19-year-old daughter and I were on our way to Iowa Saturday when we stopped at Roelli’s Cheese Store (just west of Monroe—about two hours from here) to buy cheese curds for our morning snack.

While backing out of the parking spot, my car began to make lots of noise. Hole-in-the-muffler or the sound of a dozen Harleys-type noise.

I looked under the car and seeing nothing unusual took a look under the hood. Nothing caught my attention there and so once more (lying on the ground), looked under the car.

That got one of the owners out of the store to see if I needed any help. YES!

Soon her husband came out, assessed the situation, advised me to drive the minivan into the large garage next door and proceeded to wire together my exhaust pipe and whatever else was under there so that there would be no chance of anything falling off over the next 300 miles.

Nothing did. We made lots of noise down the road, especially trying to climb over those rolling hills in southwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa near the Mississippi River, but the exhaust system stayed together.

I thanked the Roellis profusely, offered some money (although the only cash I had on me was a roll of quarters for my daughter's first week of laundry), and he just suggested that I stopped by their store on Highway 11 (just east of Shullsburg) whenever I could.

I stopped there on my way home.

To show my appreciation, I mailed a note of thanks when I got back into town (along with a special local pastry treat).

Are you the stranger on the road who is willing to help someone in need? Or have you received help from someone you didn’t know?