When you see someone stuck, help them
To the Editor:
We are transplants from the wilds of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. One of the unwritten rules of our former home is as follows: If you see someone in a snowbank or stuck, stop and help. It is a fail-proof axiom and has served us well for decades.
Imagine our excitement trading the land of snow and ice for beautiful Bokeelia, with it’s forests of pine and palm and year-round sun and songbirds. We completed our dream by buying a fishing boat in Cape Coral and happily started driving up Veteran’s Parkway to bring our new boat home.
On the way we experienced a new kind of road disaster a flat tire on the boat trailer. We didn’t know what to do, and it isn’t really the kind of thing you can Google. After a brief moment of near panic, we agreed to try to put the spare tire from the van on the trailer. This seemed fairly life-threatening with cars speeding by on the parkway and not a lot of shoulder.
To the rescue came Jim Griffiths. He stopped right behind us and immediately asked how he could help. Jim is the publisher of Nautical Mile Magazine and had stacks of his magazine with him. He helped with the entire procedure, even placing bundles of the magazine under the trailer frame to make sure it didn’t tip over. He was a true gentleman and we can’t thank him enough for stopping to help us.
So here’s a big thank you to Jim! We will trade our “Yooper” rules of the road for the Pine Island version as he has inspired us to do.
Wayne and Isabel Francis
Bokeelia