The weekend of Jan. 21-22, my wife and I were in the Wallowa Valley to see and photograph some of the rare and unusual birds that often show up in winter there. We were traveling with a group of friends and other birders on a trip sponsored by the Oregon Birding Association, and were glad to even be there, as the highways coming over from western Oregon had been a challenge.

By Sunday afternoon most of our group had to leave to get back to jobs & family, so there was just my vehicle with four of us left. Trying to find a few more birds before it got too dark, I was driving north on Elk Mountain Road, just east of Enterprise, when I took my eyes off the plowed part of the road for just a second, and slid into the snow-covered ditch. My car was all-wheel drive, but I was in too deep and couldn’t get out.

Almost immediately a young woman drove up in a pickup and asked if we needed help.

“Yeah, we sure do,” I answered.

She said she was in a rush to get to an appointment, but she would make a couple of calls to see if she could find someone to pull us out. We thanked her and got out of the car, but before she could even make her second call, a couple of young men in a flatbed pickup pulled up and started getting out their tow strap. Less than 15 minutes from when we had first got stuck, we were back in our car and back on the road.

I didn’t get any of the young folks’ names in the rush & excitement, but I wanted to thank them for helping out a car full of visiting birders, and refusing to take a dime for their trouble. It restored my faith in my fellow man and woman!

France Davis

Portland, Oregon