"If You Breakdown, He Will Come"

My favorite movie of all-time is "Field of Dreams" which came out in 1989 and it takes place in Dyersville, Iowa.  It's an amazing story of a man and his relationship with his dad and most of the movie centers around the baseball field that the son, Kevin Costner, builds. One of the iconic phrases in the movie occurs when Kevin Costner, pictured below, hears a voice on his farm and it says, "If you build it, he will come."

I have a little twist to my favorite movie and it occurred one hour south of The Field of Dreams," thanks to the amazing customer service of Allen Hermsen of Hermsen Automotive, in Tipton, Iowa. My son and his new bride, were traveling across the county from their wedding in Pennsylvania and going home to Colorado. They were driving an old school bus home when they had thermostat problems. 

They got to Allen's garage and in a short period of time he was able to fix the problem. Unfortunately, when they drove 20 minutes away to another town, they broke down. They called Allen and he was on his way with three gallons of water to flush the coolant line.  He cooled the bus down and they drove it back to his place and he worked on it again until it was perfect.

After working on the bus for many hours, Allen refused to take any more money for saving them, saying, "It's your wedding gift." He finally agreed to get paid and my son and daughter-in-law had to twist his arm to treat him to dinner where they thanked him for his kindness and his hard work. 

As an Uber driver in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I occasionally have riders from Iowa and I'll be talking about Allen and how he helped my son and daughter-in-law. I am also sending this blog directly to him. It's my way of saying to him, "Great job-thank you for your help."

My wife and I have lived in the South for five years.  The people here are incredibly nice and frequently go out of their way to help you.  The next time I have someone go out of their way or give incredible customer service, I'm going to think of my favorite movie and look up at the sky and say, "Is this Iowa?" (If you have never seen "Field of Dreams," in the final scene the father asks his son, "Is this heaven?" The son replies, "No, it's Iowa.")

Thank you Allen!