Sunday, May 18, 2008

Help from the Homeless

This weekend I was downtown SLC for most of the time.  I attended the Living Traditions Festival with a handful of friends and had a good old time.  On Friday night I was running a little late (got distracted by Whole Foods, formally Wild Oats) and rushed downtown to find a parking spot.  The streets are free on Saturday, so I was hopeful and really excited to see curb side parking.  I was driving the beast of a Yukon and thought I could real quick dart into the spot without holding up traffic.  Well, I darted so quickly that my front tire went into the gutter (a sharp, steep gutter) and I was trapped!  I could not reverse, I could not go forward, and I could not move my steering wheel.  Every time I tried to budge my truck made horrible grinding noises. There was a "bum" (not politically correct, I know) on the sidewalk who was watching my whole fiasco.  He walked over to me and motioned for me to roll down my window, which I did.  He then told me how to move my steering wheel to get out of the gutter. It didn't work, and he motioned for one of his buddies to come and push me out.  With my truck in reverse and the help of two kind homeless men, I made it out of the gutter and to the festival concert.  I did not end up parking in the space because I was so terrified of making the same mistake again.

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