By Jamie Rieger

When a friend in need calls for help, I do not think I am any different than anybody else out there. I do what it takes to help them. Unless I am physically unable to assist, I will help. That is just something friends do for one another.
That train of thought was severely put in jeopardy last week when a friend called needing a jerry can of gas brought to him. My daughter and I were in Redcliff at the time, but we left immediately to take him some fuel.
We had a general location for where he was - by the rig that sits along Highway 41A. Okay, I know where that is. I drive by it all the time. It seemed like a simple enough mission, even if it was pitch dark out. Driving slowly eastward down the highway, we could not see his truck. We turned around at the junction and came back towards the city, driving even slower and looking down all the approaches to see if he could see his hazard lights blaring.
My daughter calls him from her cellphone, asking him to please turn on his hazard lights so we could see where he was and to give us better directions. It was about this point when her cellphone promptly cut out and we lost communication.
Up one range road and down another, we drove without any success. We went back to the highway and continued heading closer to town, thinking that we were narrowing the gap between he and us. Because we could not see him, it was starting to get frustrating, not to mention late and I was really wanting to get home and go to bed.
I turned the car south down what I thought was a range road, but in actuality was an access road to the rig site.
"Oh darn, I can't go down there. I will get stuck. That ground looks far to soft for this car," I said.
As I went to turn the car around, my car sunk to halfway up the tires. Now, I was not saying 'darn' any more.
Bear in mind, that before that phone call, the weather was nice and neither of us was dressed for this kind of outdoor activity.
Nonetheless, I get my shovel out of the trunk and we take turns digging. Getting more frustrated and realizing that we would be there all night shoveling, my daughter takes my shovel, throws it and starts walking.
I grabbed the shovel,put it back in the car and we start walking down the highway towards the city lights.
I told my daughter that I was going to stop at the nearest farm and ask for help, but she advised me that we should not do that given the late hour. So, we walk; her in her little runners and me in a pair of slip-ons, which were definitely not made for walking.
It did not take long until we were descending down a big hill, walking close enough to the white line to use it as a guide in the dark and far enough from the edge of the ditch to not go tumbling down. Carmen was getting considerably further in front of me as I had to keep stopping to get the pebbles out of my shoes, but eventually we made to town and to a phone where we called a friend of hers to come get us and for a tow truck to pull my car out of the soft gravel.
Just as we were getting into her friend's truck, we saw the friend in need drive past in his, with a big dually right in behind him.
"There he goes. I think my head is about to pop off my shoulders," Carmen yelled.
Unbelievable! The person who we were trying to help had gone and called somebody else, having gotten tired of waiting for us. Ok, now both of us were steaming mad.
The tow truck arrived at my car a short time later and was able to get my car out in a matter of a couple of minutes, but informed me that if I had tried to venture down that road any further he would not have been able to help...and, AMA does not cover it if you are stuck off of a government-maintained road. That is good to know. However, because I had basically just gone in there to turn around, I was alright.
So, some major lessons were learned that night. Would I go out and help another friend in need? Sure I would, but you better have your hazard lights on and you better be able to give me good directions (i.e. range road or township road numbers help) or I will not be coming. I will not drive up and down every grid road in the county in the dark of night trying to find you. Better yet, make sure you have enough gas in the tank before heading out and none of us will have to worry about having to come rescue you.