I just can't get ahead of the below zero temps. After experiencing negative twenty-six in Helena, Montana, I thought the worst would be behind me. Of course, I must be suffering from a bout of long-term memory loss since I grew up in Minnesota where the temperatures would commonly dip into the negative forty range. So when I made it to Bismarck, North Dakota yesterday afternoon, I should have known that December weather can stop you dead in your tracks.

I sat at a Starbucks for a few hours answering emails and prepping for the coming week when I glanced at the forecast. Negative thirty with wind-chill. Yikes! That should have been enough to make me book a hotel for the night, but I have a huge problem with paying forty dollars to stay six hours in a place that has heat and a bed.

I enacted my back up plan: sleep in car from 5:30PM to 9:30PM, then sit at an all-night diner until 7:00AM, and then go sleep in my car for another couple of hours. I parked in a Wal-Mart parking lot and dozed off for about an hour until the cold was piercing through all fifteen of my layers. I tried to get comfortable but quickly realized it was a losing battle. So I headed for a Denny's around 8 o'clock to work away at the never ending pile of emails and updates.

Denny's was great except I couldn't get the wi-fi to work. For some reason I could log in with a weaker signal in the parking lot but with the signal strength at max, it wouldn't let me connect. Anyway, I enjoyed a surplus of coffee, a bowl of oatmeal, and an English muffin with peanut butter. I also had some really good conversations with Hank and Henry, two guys visiting their mom/grandmother in the hospital. Always love hearing the life adventures of others.

I gave up on getting any real work done for the night and decided to get serious with the weather and so I initiated plan "B". This entailed buying a healthy amount of hand warmers, toe warmers, and body core warmers. I made the purchase along with value pack of thermal socks and headed for the parking lot to beat Mother Nature.

As I arrived at my car, there was a younger guy with a newly purchased Jeep parked next to me with his hood up. I asked if he needed a jump and he responded with an enthusiastic, "that would be great"! I drove my car around the parking lot median and squared my engine up with the twice-my-size vehicle whereby I popped the hood.

Pretty standard jump except I'm never completely sure which one is the negative charge on my battery. It didn't help that it was negative seven at the time and that the time was a quarter to two in the morning. Let's just say that the first jump didn't take. Not sure if the cables were not up to par or if the charges were mixed up...either way, the jumpers were fried...literally. Plastic grips were melting and plenty of smoke/steam coming from the connectors.

After removing the deformed cables, I got took out the pair I had and made the connection. This time, we made sure the colors matched up and with that came success.

During the jump, the gentleman and I began to talk about his new Jeep and about the size of the battery and about what I was doing in the state. When he found out that I was planning to sleep in my car that night, he insisted on getting me a hotel room for the evening. I explained that I was happy to help out and would be able to survive the night. In a sense, he said, "I'll have none of this" and told me to follow him to one of the local inns.

Turns out his father does something in relationship to hotels and I was able to get me a really nice room. I so appreciate the kindness of JB and am super thankful for great night of sleep. It was a good reminder of the old idea that kindness begets kindness. Even if you don't get an instant reward from the situation, you can be sure that it will be reciprocated down the road, hopefully, when you need it most.

Thanks again JB!