"Do you have a gun?" asks the nice lady

me: "I beg your pardon?"

nice lady: "Do you have a gun with you?"

me: "No, I don't have a gun."

nice lady: "Well, do you at least have a dog?"

me: "Nope, no dog. But I have a cat, left her at home tho."

nice lady: "A cat won't do you any good if you get into trouble."

me: "What kind of trouble do you expect me to get into?..."

Stupid question. Lesson #1 for when traveling through the American midwest: don't ask open ended questions that can draw you into a debate over the right to carry arms. Tu peux pas gagner.

Je peux meme pas trouver les mots pour dire comment je suis heureuse d'etre canadienne. If ever I start to take my life for granted I hope I think back to the wariness I saw lurking behind the righteous gazes of those kind neighbours in Utah. De ne pas etre capable de sortir d'une voiture pour pomper du gaz sans penser si la personne juste a cote volerait mon argent ou voiture au point d'un fusil...

The irony of the whole situation is that I only met this group of people, who were so concerned about the safety of a woman traveling on her own, because of the *kindness* of a string of strangers. I was having clutch problems in Bryce Canyon and managed to find someone online through the Vanagon Rescue Squad who was 100 kms from where I was and who was willing to give me a hand. If it hadn't been for the good will of someone I had never met before, and my willingness to trust that he wasn't a trigger happy bedlamite, my van and I would have been limping along in 3rd, hoping desperately that I didn't have to stop on a hill, for a lot longer while I tried to find a mechanic open on the 4th of July who was willing to touch a Westy.

Si j'avais un verre de vin a ce moment je le leverai a la bonte des etrangers. Thank you Mr B for your all your help and for proving that not all of humanity has gone to pot.