Stuck on the side of the road

Denise Oppenhagen
Published: August 9, 2008

It’s hard to realize just how technologically connected we are nowadays — cell phones are almost de rigueur for anyone able to talk. 

Lots of people have pagers to connect them with work when not at work. iPods are in use to keep us from interacting with other people (or in the case of the talented multitaskers, to interact with music
and people at the same time).

It seems that there is no way to be totally separated from other people.

Unless … you forget your cell phone and don’t have a pager or iPod. I was in Newport News last week and on my way home Friday.  I drove along Route 17 to save myself from some beach traffic — very
pretty. 

The battery light was on in my car and I had already made plans to take the car into the dealer to get it looked at. As I left Route 17 to get onto Interstate 95 in Fredericksburg, my radio went out. 

I got nervous and started hoping the car would make it home while planning on what to do if it didn’t. It didn’t. I stalled out underneath the bridge just outside of Fredericksburg. 

Ok, no panic — I’ll call home to get them to pick me up. Except I couldn’t find my cell phone. I looked through every bag I had, every suitcase, every box. No cell phone. So, I started to panic a little. But,
I said to myself, I have OnStar. 

Isn’t this why I pay for it, to help me in case of an emergency?  Granted, I’m not Tiger Woods needing to get into my car, but I thought I had enough of an emergency to get help. So I called OnStar. I was
able to get out of my mouth that I needed to call home and the system died. Apparently (at least in my car) when the battery goes, so goes OnStar. That did me no good. 

Now, I start to panic a little more. Now I found that I needed to rely on the kindness of strangers.  Being seen wasn’t an issue — Friday evening, I-95 just outside of a major city. There was plenty of traffic.
But no Good Samaritan. 

I had the emergency blinkers on but they died out after a half hour. I put a red shirt on the back window (I vaguely remembered that being a sign of a breakdown). 

I totally forgot about raising my hood. It took nearly an hour for someone to stop and offer me help. I was so grateful. This gentleman allowed me to call home using his cell phone. Reception was poor,
but I did get out the important facts — broken down, mile marker 126, help, no cell phone. 

He tried to find the problem, but I have a new hybrid, which looks nothing like a regular car on the inside. He stayed until the VDOT emergency truck came and helped me out. 

I learned many things on Friday. First, no one stops to help on the highway. 

That piece of information is a fact. But in defense of Virginia drivers, I think we are so used to everyone having a cell phone that people didn’t stop because they assumed I had already contacted help. 

Second, OnStar doesn’t help when the battery is dead, so I can cancel that subscription. 

Third, I really need to find my cell phone. This, for me, is an issue anyway — I frequently either don’t carry my phone or leave it off. 

And fourth, there really are wonderful, kind, generous people who take nothing for granted and stop to make sure a stranger is Ok.  My adventure could have been a lot worse. 

A week later, I have my car home from Fredericksburg. Well, kind of home. It broke down again. 

But at least this time, I was within a long walk from my house and, more importantly, had my son with me. 

Having my son was important because, unlike his mom, he doesn’t make a move without his cell phone. 

Denise Oppenhagen is a longtime resident of Prince William County and can be reached at .