To the editor:

It was peak weekend in October. Traffic was backed up to Gnaw Bone and the Brown County Antique Mall parking lot was full. I was standing by the front counter when a lady walked in with a bag slung over her shoulder.

She said, “I have a problem.” I said, “What can I do to help?” She said, “My Uber driver had a meltdown and dropped me off here.”

So, here’s the story.

The lady had flown in from New York and was to meet friends and catch a ride to Brown County. The purpose was to place a bench at Yellowwood in memory of a friend who had passed. Apparently, this lady and the couple had been friends in New York. The couple had moved and the husband’s favorite place to camp was Yellowwood. To commemorate his passing, friends were gathering to have a weekend together. The New York flight was late, so she told everyone to go on and she would find her way down the next morning.

Saturday morning, the lady gets an Uber driver and it’s her first week on the job. She has an empty gas tank, so the lady from New York pays to fill her tank and off they go to Brown County. Uber driver starts freaking out with backed up traffic on State Road 46, spots Brown County Antique Mall, pulls in and says she’ll have to get out.

After she told me this story, I think we laughed. It was pretty funny. New York lady asks if I could get her a taxi or Uber. I know I laughed then and said, “I have a husband!” She said, “I’ll pay him to take me to Yellowwood.” I told her she could offer but he wouldn’t take it.

My husband, Terry, drove her to Yellowwood to meet her friends. It took an hour to make the trip with the drive and the connection. Along the way, she said she worked for People Magazine.

We received a thank-you note this weekend and were surprised to read that her name was Liz McNeil, East Coast editor of People Magazine.

You just never know who you will meet in Brown County.

Cheri and Terry Sumter, Brown County Antique Mall

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