After spending a week up north at the cabin with my friend, Mark Runden, and grandsons Trevor and Taylor, we were headed back home. The weather for the week was almost prefect and we had fished a different lake almost every day. Counting the one lake that we fished twice we managed to hit six lakes in seven days. We caught quite a few crappies and bluegills, along with northerns, bass and a few walleyes. It was a good week of fishing and enjoying the north woods and thanks to Runden and the boys we got a lot of work done around the place.

The rain held off until Friday morning, and after some morning showers it turned hot and humid. It was a good time to be heading home, and we left early Saturday morning for the trip home thinking we’d be home early afternoon. Deciding to wait until we were down the road a ways before eating breakfast seemed like a good idea at the time but about 18 miles east of Grand Rapides everything changed. The engine made a funny squealing noise and the warning lights came on, and I knew that I’d probably lost the serpentine belt.

Here we were basically in the middle of nowhere when a van stopped and a gentleman got out and asked us if he could help. After looking the situation over we decided that we had the right tools and would be able to put the belt on ourselves if we could find one. The man that had stopped to help said that he’d take me to a parts store where I could get a belt. On the way he introduced himself as Bill Whittaker and for some reason that name seemed familiar then it dawned on me my second cousin has the same name.

Whittaker had just finished working a long shift at the Hibbing Hospital and was on his way home, which was only a couple of miles from where we had broken down. On the way to Grand Rapids we talked and I told him how much I appreciated what he was doing, but he told me that he was a very religious person and that helping others is just what he does. We talked about religion and life and for some reason even in this time of a fast paced society here was a person who took the time to go out of his way to help total strangers.

It was about 18 miles to Grand Rapids one way and when we got back Mark had some more bad news – Mark handed me my cell phone that I’d forgotten to take and said that he had no way of letting me know that there was also a busted pulley. My heart sunk because there was no way I’d expect this person to take me back to Grand Rapids. After we checked everything else Whittaker didn’t even think twice about taking me back to the parts store. However, before we left he asked the boys and Mark if they’d like to go to his house which was a couple of miles away and his wife would fix them breakfast while we were driving to Grand Rapids. My two grandsons are pretty shy and politely declined the generous offer to which he replied “they must not like girls” because he’d mentioned he had two teenage daughters still living at home.

After the second trip to the parts store he waited around until the truck was up and running and then headed home. He refused to take any money for gas and wished us good luck on the rest of the trip. Now this man was a true good Samaritan, and this experience showed me that there still are some pretty darned good folks out there and I was just lucky enough to meet one of them.

Just as I was putting the tool box in the back of the truck a state trooper pulled up and asked what was going on. I said we’d just gotten done changing the belt, and she said it looked like she was just in time then. All the while that I was talking to the lady trooper the dialogue from the movie Fargo kept running through my head. After telling her of my good Samaritan she said that it wasn’t surprising because there are more people than you think in that part of the state who are willing to go out of their way help a person.

I actually feel that although we had broken down I considered myself lucky to have met these two nice people. I had to ask myself would I have done as much as Whittaker did. I’d like to think the answer is yes and maybe someday I’ll get a chance to prove it.

Hopefully we will get a break from the heat and get back to normal temperatures. It’s quite an adjustment to go from lows in the 1950s and highs in the high 60s like we had for most of the week up north to the mid-90s.

Mark brought something to my attention that I had been noticing all summer; it was the lack of tourists. I know that the government shutdown has had an effect on that especially for attracting out of state vacationers. In recent years I’ve noticed a difference in the way people take vacations, most of the folks my age were brought up with the family vacation planned around what week you got off of work. These days’ people can take their vacation one or two days at a time. Somewhere along the line our lives have gotten so busy that the week-long family vacation has all but fallen by the wayside.

The shutdown definitely had an effect on the tourist business not only in northern Minnesota but statewide. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to put the state in a position to lose more money when they’re trying to figure out ways to increase revenue and cut spending. Our elected leaders should think about doing what’s best for Minnesotans and not just what’s best for their respective parties.

Until next time do a little fishing, take a little time to relax and get out and explore our great Minnesota outdoors.

Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers during the coming year.

Dick Herfindahl’s column appears each Sunday in the Tribune.