Don has always told me I needed to write things down that have happened to me in my life. Not because they are extraordinary, but because he says no one would ever believe them if I didn’t.

So, along the tails of last week’s story, I will offer another experience that happened many years ago.

The summer after I graduated college, I was living in Prentiss and was full-force in wedding planning mode.

I decided to make a trip to Ole Miss in July to visit the groom and take my new puppy, appropriately named Dixie, with me.

On the way home, I pulled off in Canton to get the dog some water. I went through the drive-through at McDonalds so I wouldn’t have to get out and leave the dog in the car.

As I pulled out of McDonalds, I felt a bump. To my dismay, I had a flat tire.

I made it across the highway, to a gas station. A very helpful woman, called a local garage, but there was no answer.

I saw a man selling watermelons down the road, so I pulled up to him to see if he knew of anyone that could help.

He was disabled and couldn’t lend assistance, but was very nice. After a short conversation, I realized he was from New Hebron, so of course, I bought a watermelon.

I made my way to another gas station, all the while passing many honking motorists with flailing arms alerting me of the flat, because you know… I never would have known I had a flat by the whiplash that was forming in my neck or the awful noise the car was making…or anything.

The second gas station attendant made a call as well, and this time a garage owner answered and said he would be there shortly.

I was sitting in my car at the gas station parking lot while the dog enjoyed her water, when all of a sudden the gas station attendant comes running outside screaming and waving frantically.

I turn to find an 18-wheeler pulling through the gas station under the awning. Yep, you guessed it, the awning wasn’t tall enough for the truck. The truck pulled the awning down and carried it halfway to I-55…never even slowing down.

The garage owner then pulls up to fix my tire, right behind the police.

One guy fixed my tire, another one held the dog, and the police officer took my statement.

Just about the time I was ready to head south, the MHP radioed that they had a suspect pulled over.

There I go, with the Canton Police, down I-55 with the dog in my lap.

After I identified the truck and the driver, he was arrested and hauled off to jail.

I get back to my car, thank everyone and head to Prentiss.

For normal people, that might be the end of the story. I said normal people.

I was called to court to testify, after getting word that the man was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, among other charges.

How does one simply pull off the road for water and end up on the witness stand?

And, I’m still not finished.

Remember I made this trip in July in the swealtering Mississippi heat.So…several months later, around wedding time, I decide that I need to clean out my car. Yep….remember the watermelon?

I obviously hadn’t. Until that day. That is a sight..and smell..that I hope none of you ever experience.

That is the trip that I learned that Holley Kruger would never simply hop in a car on a whim and have a smooth vacation. Ever.