So the run home was hard and fast, 800 miles in a day. I didn't take pictures, but I do have a story with multiple back stories.
I like to take cheap trips on a cash only budget. I have a debit card and more money in the bank, if I really get into a bind. I don't do credit cards at all. Pay at the pump with a debit card on a bike is a bad idea. For every $12 tank they preauthorize and hold $75 of your money. An eight stop day is $600 held when you only spent like $80. So I have just enough cash to get there and back and eat and drink and buy a round or meal for someone else along the way.
I was trying to make time with only gas stops when I had to. So there I was, needing gas in West Memphis. I knew this was supposed to be a rough town, but I needed gas and there was a huge Pilot so that seemed safe enough. I stopped. Sure enough, someone approached me with an offer. "I need five dollars for gas to get home and I'll give you this new pack of smokes."
Sure as you're born, he has an unopened pack of Newports or something menthol in a green pack. I would have loved to help him, but I really didn't want to pull my wallet out. He wasn't particularly scary. I didn't want cigarettes. I didn't want to show him where my money was either. I have studied a fair amount of marital arts, but still didn't want to kick someone's ass over a hundred bucks in my pocket or get my ass kicked by one or more guys over a hundred bucks either. I especially didn't want to not have any means to get home either. I politely declined the offer to buy the cigarettes. I really wished I could have helped a person in need though. I don't even really care about how a person got to the point in life where they had a nicer vehicle than me and cigarettes but no money for gas. We have all made bad choices for sure.
Anyway, if I had a do over, I would have and should have gone into the gas station and prepaid for 10 or 20 bucks worth of gas for the gentleman. That would have been a lower risk way to help someone. Live and learn.
you did the right thing, that's an industry around here. They're in every big box parking lot, waiting for you to park then they'll walk up while you're getting out; or while you're getting in. At best that guy's been there all day and has more money than you do. At worst, people have been raped and murdered.
ReplyDeleteNever encourage those guys.