Thank You, Stranger: In northern Minnesota, a man’s motorcycle broke down in the exact right spot

CATHY WURZER: It is time for another episode in our Thank You, Stranger series. This story takes us up to northern Minnesota on a long motorcycle ride. Our producer, Ellen Finn, has more.

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ELLEN FINN: 10 years ago this June, Matt Stanton figured it was time to take his motorcycle out for a ride. His dad was staying in Blackduck, near Bemidji. And Matt decided to avoid the interstates and take back roads from Minneapolis on his bike to join them for a few days of camping and fishing. He was having a great ride up until he was right outside of Cromwell, Minnesota.

MATT STANTON: My motorcycle's drive belt just snapped, which meant I was stranded. And it was really hot out, tons of mosquitoes. And I was sitting on the side of the road wondering what I was going to do because I didn't have any cell phone reception. I was actually thinking about packing up everything on my back and just walking. There was all kinds of things going through my head, like I can hike until I get cell reception, I have camping gear, I can set up camp on the side of the road. But I don't know what's state property, what's private land. That's super dangerous.

But this gentleman just walked over down his driveway to his mailbox. His driveway was the only driveway for miles. My belt snapped, and I coasted to directly in front of this man's driveway. And he hollered over to me something like, are you OK, or what's going on? And I told him I'd broken down. It's like, I'm just trying to figure out what my next move is. So he said, hey, if you want, you can just wheel your bike into my driveway, get out of the road. So I did. I thought for a second like, I don't know this guy. Is this safe? But didn't have a whole lot of options.

So I rolled my bike down to his driveway. He had a tiny house with a gigantic garage. And he was a Ford guy. He worked at Ford his whole career. And he opened up his garage so that I could pull my bike into the shade, and he had a bunch of motorcycles. And so I was like, OK, this is the right guy. I told him what was wrong. I'm like, yeah, my belt snapped. Obviously don't have an extra one. And since it's a motorcycle and it's more specifically a Harley, you can't just go to any hardware store. I said, well, if I can use your phone, I can call my dad. And I called my dad.

ELLEN FINN: They had spotty reception, and Matt could hardly hear his dad. But they made a plan for his dad to borrow a friend's trailer and drive two hours to pick Matt and his bike up.

MATT STANTON: So I hang up the phone. And this guy, he overheard some of it. And he said, is your dad going to come from Blackduck to pick you up? And I said, that's the plan. And he said, well, you just need a belt, right? And I said, yeah. He goes, well, there's a Harley dealership in Duluth. Maybe I could bring you there. And I like, it's 110 miles round trip. And so I was just like, man, I can't ask you to do that. And he said, look, I'm retired. I got nothing else going on. Let me give you a ride.

So I got in his pickup. We drove to the dealership. I ended up buying the belt. And I had no cash on me. And so I'm thinking like, I've got to pay for this guy's gas some way. And so on our ride back to his house from Duluth, I kept dropping hints like, hey, do you need to get some gas? Are you going to stop at a gas station? I could maybe use some water or something. He saw right through my attempt, and he didn't stop. And we got back to his house, and we just chatted while I did the repair on my bike. I ended up finishing up. I had shared a beer with him in his driveway and left.

Just being in hard luck with no way out, and then here's this guiding light, this angel of a man. All he did was offer his space, and then he gave me a ride. But it was priceless. And it was kind of a weird feeling. The next day, I was thinking, I didn't properly thank him. Later, I remember talking to my mom, who lives in Texas, and telling her the story. And she was terrified for me. She's like, oh, my god, how could you be so trusting of someone?

Times are weird. It's hard to trust people when you meet them. A lot of bad things happen in the world. You've got to really be on guard all the time. But for some reason, this guy's presence was just so kind and friendly that I didn't worry at all. He was the perfect stranger to run into. It just felt so cosmic. Right place at the right time. Had I been a few miles down the road, it wouldn't have happened and I would have been stranded. It's one of those things that kind of restored my faith in humankind. For all I know, he doesn't even remember it. It was 10 years ago. But to me, it was such a big deal. Thanks for being so kind.

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CATHY WURZER: That was producer Ellen Finn with our Thank You, Stranger series. If you have a story about the kindness of a stranger, we want to hear it. You can call us at 612-361-1252. Or send us an email, minnesotanow@mpr.org.