Earlier this week I stopped to check on this man that had been broke down at the Nahunta Burger King for several days. (I found out it was six days).
I stopped to see what his situation was and found out his name was Mr. Rob, he had one leg, was in a wheel chair and the rear end in his 2002 Ford Ranger was broke up pretty bad.
I looked at what was going on and he had it torn down with very few tools to work with. I told him it would be easier to change the whole rearend than it would be to try to fix that one and still not know if it was going to work.
He said he had called a U-PULL-IT junk yard in Jacksonville and they wanted $1,000, plus he would have to go pull it out of another truck.
He didn't have that kind of money or a way to go get it if he did. I posted something on Facebook about what was needed and a guy named Lonnie called me and said he had one that he could pull out of a truck and bring it to the Burger King.
On Tuesday morning, I got my neighbor Donnie to take my air compressor and generator on his trailer up there and we started working on taking the old one out and putting the one that was brought to us. Lonnie didn't charge us anything for it nor putting it in his truck.
I remember my grandaddy had a garage in Nahunta many years ago and some tourists were broken down without any money and he worked all day long to get them going and didn't charge them anything.
This guy here was down on his luck.
I felt like I really needed to do what I could do to get him going.
Michael Flowers stopped and helped when he got off work around 4 or 5 o'clock. Laying on that hot asphalt was so hot, but we didn't quit.
I looked at my watch when we finished with the truck and it was 8 pm. It was so good to help load Rob's wheel chair in the back of his truck and watch him drive the truck away.
I know when I got home that night, I made it to the couch and my legs and arms were cramping something awful and I passed out.
I was still sore for a couple of days after that, but I do appreciate the help and the rearend that was donated. I know Mr. Rob was very thankful.
• Wayne Morgan is freelance wildlife photographer and author.
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