Rita: Lavendara Gives ‘Em Gas

CNN correspondent Ed Lavendara blogs from Lountze, Texas:

“We dropped below half a tank of gas a few hours ago as we made our way to cover a story we’re chasing north of Beaumont. We finally found a lone gas station still open, but you could only pay at the pump with credit cards.

Next to me were two families piled into a Cavalier and a Prelude. They didn’t have credit cards and were holding what looked like a few wadded up dollar bills. When they realized their cash was no good there they started getting nervous.

They just wanted to drive north as far as the gas tank would take them. So I told them to swing their cars around to my pump. We filled up their tanks on my credit card — almost 50 dollars worth. I’ll remember their smiling faces for a long time as they resumed their journey north again.”