My nearest neighbor is roughly a mile away. She is an elderly lady and she lost her husband a couple years ago. I was a pallbearer in the funeral and have always watched their place when they're out of town (we drive by a few times every day heading to town, grocery store, etc...).
One day I was driving by and spotted a SUV with out of state plates and a guy bringing a big box out of the house. With my phone in one hand poised to dial 911, I pulled into the lane, stepped behind my door, and asked who he was and what he was doing. Turns out it was my neighbor's son from NE and he was suprising them by installing a new toilet while they were gone.
We had a good laugh and they've always remembered my neighborly gesture.
On 2 other occassions I had to go over there armed, because someone was either parked outside their house on the gravel or had stopped by to case the joint "asking for directions". We live in a very low crime rate area in the middle of nowhere Western, IA. We typically know who's driving by and what they're driving. She is a full mile off the nearest pavement and people don't stop for directions.
In the first example, a distraught and well known crazy person was having a meltdown in her car outside the house. I pulled up rolled my window down and asked her to move along. I never showed the pistol I had in my right hand, but was ready if she wanted trouble (I already had a deputy on the way). Fortunately she moved along and headed to the nearest city park to continue her freak out, where she was given a talking to by the deputy about not pulling up outside houses, especially out in the country. "Those people have guns and don't care for strangers." LOL...
The second example was more sinister. Neighbor callled me up and said she was really scared. A couple stopped "asking for directions" and while the tattooed but attractive female did the talking, the male stayed in the care, scanning and looking suspicious. Asking for directions turned into asking to set up a tent in the yard and stay the night. My elderly neighbor refused, and the girl started telling her sob story. Neighbor shut and locked the door and called me. I jumped in the truck quick and busted a$$ up there and they were already gone. Neighbor was frightened but appreciated my comining up to help best I could.
That same couple was apprehended across the section from me by my other neighbor. They run a very larege farming operation with several grain bins. Fortunately, they also run cameras at their bin site, and neighbors wife saw the crappy vehicle parked behind a grain bin. Me and my elderly neighbor had already called and told them to be on the lookout. Deputies arrrived moments after neighbor confronted the strange vehicle. To make an already long story short, both were booked on national federal warrants issued out of Texas. The man never came to my elderly neighbor's door, because he had some of the worst meth sores the sherriff's office had ever seen and looked like a zombie.
Its crazy how weird $hit finds it's way out into the country even when you do your best to distance yourself from the city.
