The anthology “Bedouins and Bears” by Margery Franklin is a collection of events she has experienced during her travels. One story she described in 1962, when she and her friends were on a road trip across North America. They bought a beat-up 1955 Chevrolet station wagon with floors rusted through and brakes which needed relining, to take across North America and back.

While in Texas, a kind stranger, in a wide-brimmed Stetson and Cowboy boots, found them in trouble on the highway and towed them to Wichita Falls, where they ended up sleeping in a long, long trailer for the night, before he took them to junk yards to find a replacement part, so they could continue on their 11,000 mile journey.

This was just one good deed that Margery and her traveling companions have experienced – her tale is a reminder of the goodness of strangers and the magic of chance encounters, no matter how dire the circumstances are.