A Slice of my Life: Good Deed or Good Scam?

A really unplanned quick trip to Lake Charles, Louisiana led to an interesting chapter in our journey.

We left the casino and headed home to Houston. Typically it's a 3 hour drive and about a little over a half tank of gas if we're driving the Mustang (which we were). We had a 1/4 tank of gas when we left and Paul made the decision to just start driving home and we'd fill up in Texas. Well when we got to approximately 4 miles from the LA-TX border, he decides to pull over for gas. While we're taking our time checking the oil, throwing away the garbage in the car, and just taking our time.....this young girl and her dog pulls up and asks if we have a map.

Well amazingly enough we did have a map and she was trying to find the shortest route to Dallas. We gave her our map and she proceeded to start writing down all these little back roads and towns trying to map out her route. After several minutes she asked how many miles we thought it was...so after plugging it in our GPS we told her and she said "oh it can't be that far". Well after some conversation it was discovered that she had her wallet and cell phone stolen in Baton Rouge at a gas station and was trying to make it to Dallas on what gas she had left and that's why she was trying to find a short route. Her debit card had been in her wallet and she had no money. Paul and I had a side conference and really felt like she needed help so we told her we would give her gas money to get to Dallas along with our business card and when she was able she could pay us back. She was borderline "really upset" and seemed very thankful and told us she would send us the money within a week.

We really don't feel like we were scammed and that we were helping out this girl who really was upset and trying to do the best she could to get to her parents house. Sometimes I think we are meant to be somewhere at a certain time for a certain reason and that by not following our "normal" routine of filling up with gas before we left Lake Charles, meant for us to be there to help her out (my husband thinks I'm crazy to believe this way). Either way, we felt good about what we did and are optimistic that we will receive our money in the mail. Maybe there is also a part of us that wants to believe that there still are mostly good people in the world. I would like to think that if one of my children was sincerely stuck in a predicament -- some kind soul would be there to help them out. Time will tell.......let's see what happens.

On another note -- hooray for a day off! Amazing how long you can play penny slots when you don't have a lot of money to spend. I do think though that sitting on the deck of the casino boat and gazing at the scenery is relaxing in itself and I was glad that me and my "best buddy in the whole world" got a chance to get away....albeit briefly. Enjoy the pics and be jealous :)