Some travelers passing through the county last week had an experience that truly epitomizes the caring spirit of the community - go above and beyond the call of duty. The husband contacted the Free-Lance and wanted to spotlight the business and owner for their kindness. Here is what he sent:

Dear Editor,

On July 23, my wife (Lisa) and I (Steve) with our two dogs in tow, started our journey from Spring Hill, Fla. to Lawton to attend my son’s graduation at Ft. Sill on July 25 and 26 for the Army. We were supposed to take Interstate 10 and crossover to Interstate 20 and go up through Dallas on to Lawton.

But with all the flooding happening on Interstate 10, GPS rerouted us up to Interstate 40. Once we got up on Interstate 40 it was getting late and it was extremely dark. I spotted deer on the right shoulder, so I moved into the left lane hoping that if any deer decided to run across the interstate, I would have time to react on the two-laned road.

Sometime after 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday July 24, I ended up hitting a raccoon standing in the left lane on Interstate 40. I was approximately six miles west of Henryetta, when I noticed my temperature gauge was in the red and I pulled to the right shoulder to shut off my van to cool the engine. We were in the middle of nowhere, and it was pitch black out. My wife and I felt totally vulnerable and didn’t know what to do being so far from home.

We dialed 911 for a tow truck and to possibly have a trooper sit behind us for protection. The 911 operator patched us through to the department that handles getting tow trucks. That operator put us through to the same tow truck company three times, having us go to voicemail all three times.

So I thought to use Google Maps to look up a tow truck company that was open and willing to help us so early in the morning. One popped up. It said open 24 hours.

The company’s name was After Hours Towing. I called the number (918-319-5121), and a gentleman answered the phone. I explained what just happened to my wife and I on I-40, and without hesitation he asked for my location and said he will probably be there before the trooper shows up and he was right, he did. Not even 20 minutes later.

He climbed out of his truck and introduced himself as Gregg. He looked under my van and said that the raccoon mangled my radiator mount and totally wrecked my radiator. At that point I am pretty sure he saw the fear in my eyes and he asked, where were you trying to get to? I explained to him that I had to get to my son’s graduation at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning (July 25) in Ft Sill in Lawton. He then said to my wife and I, “don’t worry we will get you there one way or another.” He found a ride to have my wife, two dogs and I dropped off at the Days Inn in Henryetta. He loaded my van onto the flatbed and took it to the hotel to drop it off, so we could offload our belongings.

Gregg then told me “in the morning I will be back to pick up your van, because I will fix it.” I was floored. This man doesn’t even know me and he is dropping everything to help me get to my son’s Army graduation. He had me in tears and speechless.

He assured me not to worry that he would be picking the van back up in the morning and he would have it up and running no later than 5 p.m. that day (July 24) and he did, but it was actually ready by 3 p.m. With all the negativity happening in the world today.

We tend to quickly forget about the average American that goes above and beyond for others in our country and I just wanted Gregg and his tow truck company (After Hours Towing ) to be recognized for his patriotism. My wife and I picked up my van and continued on to see my son graduate from Army boot camp and I am forever grateful to this man Gregg.

Stephen W Moriarty, God Bless America