my g/f traveled from Connecticut and is driving to Florida. She stopped at a rest stop in North Carolina and slept for about 4 hours. About 7am a young woman knocked on her window and asked her to help. She told a tale of how her car was broken down on the side of the interstate just up the road, and she walked to the rest stop to call triple A who said they would meet her at her car in a half hour, please be there. She claimed to be cold, and tired, and asked if my friend could please give her a ride. My friend is a very kind 58 y/o woman, who would give you the shirt off her back. As she pulled out of the rest stop she had one thought of "why am I doing this?" and they rode in silence for about 2 miles. There was a black SUV pulled off to the side of the road, and the woman pointed and said "thats my car, thank you!" as they stopped the car, the woman said "im so sorry to tell you this, but I am robbing you. I have a gun in my pocket and you need to hand me your pocket book." My friend said "sweetie Im sorry, but I have almost no money, and no credit cards, but if you will just stay calm, I will give you what money I have." The robber reached over and elbowed my friend in the shoulder and started to climb over her to get the bag. My friend said she was like a woman possessed and she reached up and grabbed this young girl by the back of the head and yanked as hard as she could and screamed at the top of her lungs GET OUT!

After a minute of tussle, the young girl spat all sorts of foul names at my friend while climbing out with the handbag. My friend said "please! dont leave me on the side of the road, at least let me have my keys!" The young girl grabbed the keys, and tossed them into the grass. Slammed the door and got into the passenger side of the SUV. They spun out. My friend has a spare key, and used it quickly to follow them. (bad move!) she was beeping her horn, and flashing her lights. She saw her handbag sticking out of the side window and they flung it into the grass. My friend pulled off and got her bag. They got her $50 and nothing else!

I told my friend how crazy she was! #1 DONT give rides to strangers! #2 if someone says they have a gun...BELIEVE THEM! #3 NONE of your stuff is worth your life! Give it to her! #4 dont get into a hair pulling contest with a gun toting bandit! OMG she is sooo lucky that some big guy didnt get out of the SUV to come stab/shoot/rob/kill her! PLEASE dont sleep at Rest stops! they are huge crime riddled areas! I wont even use them for pit stops! I make sure to go to busy places, like McDs or Target...There is NO security at 99% of the rest stops in this country, and if you get cornered in a potty, you are done!

Please say a prayer for my friends safe return to Florida. She is in South Carolina now, and will rest for the night. I put her hotel room on my credit card, so she wouldnt be tempted to sleep in another parking lot. She didnt want to pay $50 for a place to sleep. I was shaking after talking to her. How scary!

That's awful and your friend was very lucky. I hope she learned a lesson. You just cannot be too careful. You want to help people but you have to be so careful. I would never stop for anyone nor would I take them to their car after some sad story. I'd call the cops and let them deal with it. And I would never, ever sleep at a rest area. It's bad enough at times to stop at one to go to the restroom. You don't feel safe at all at least in some states.

There are a lot of homes in towns further south of us where robbers are coming into them while the people are sleeping and taking stuff while the people sleep. I figure these people are not locking their doors and windows (bet they are now), they don't have a dog and I bet the robbers have cased the joint. This has happened in four towns south of us.

Also, someone will come to the door, knock and if you answer they will ask for gas or some such thing. If you do not answer the door, they will break in. What's a person to do. It's a scary world out there We have always had a dog and we are, and have been, planning to get one again. Not just for that but because we want the company of a dog again.

My husband and I just had the conversation the other day, that if someone knocks at the door at night, find out who it is WITHOUT opening the door, preferably with a phone visible and held to your ear. If it's at all fishy-looking, call 911.

Dej, I'm so glad your friend is okay, and like you, I'm shaking just thinking about that!!!

How scary! You just cannot be too cautious these days. Sometimes I feel like I am overly cautious to the point of being ridiculous but then my son (in law enforcement) will tell me something that just creeps me out.....so I feel like it's better to be safe than sorry.

I had a lady pull up behind my car while I was loading groceries one day, put down her passenger side window and tell me some story about needing gas money to get to a town 50 miles north of here. She looked wigged out on something and she had me boxed in with her car. Luckily I had locked my purse in the car before loading the groceries in the trunk. I told her I had no money (which was true) but she could have easily pulled a weapon on me.

I hope your friend stays safe for the rest of her trip. It's a shame people can't even be safe in their own cars anymore. Thanks for helping her out.

Safety Tip: Be sure all the doors in your car are locked.....not just your driver's door. With newer cars it's easy to lock all at the same time but with older cars with manual locks you can be riding around with your back passenger door unlocked and someone could jump in. It happens!

I would never get in the car or let someone I didn't know get in mine. With that said, I have to admire your friend (glad she's OK) on her brave stunt. Following them, not so sure, but it is possible she was hoping for the cops to see her? I am sure she knows how dangerous it was and regrets it. Kind of reminds me of the granny here in Chicago that shot the 12 year old punk who tried to break into her house. I know, I know, 12? Hey, they aren't the 12 year olds we remember these days! She didn't kill him, just got him in the shoulder. Go granny! She has offered to mentor him if you can believe that!

Day or night we open the window a tad and talk that way to the party out there. Have done this for quite some time. When I had my German Shepherd I wasn't too worried. My what a big, my what a big dog!! That's what a salesman said. I don't like salesmen either. Can't be too careful at all.

We had someone banging on our door and ringing the bell at 1:30 AM a couple of weeks ago. We didn't really know what to do, so we just waited it out. I had the phone ready to dial 911 and looked out my bedroom window to check out the car. We don't know anyone from Ohio with a red car.

I just couldn't see a reason for it. They weren't broken down because the car was idling in my driveway and it was brand new. In this day, most people have cell phones, so why are you banging on someone's door in the middle of the night?

DH was hanging out in the living room near the door in case they tried to get in, but no way were we opening that door! They finally left - thank God!

Deb - I can't imagine the chances your friend took, but I sure am glad she is OK and has a good friend like you to make sure she had a hotel room. Yikes!

I'm only reading about it and I'm kind of shaking at hearing how scary it sounds.

It kind of reinforces my fear of traveling alone.

We've had our house robbed once, when I was the only one at home that week. Came home to find doors that I left closed opened, and things were moved. Scared the heebie jeebies out of me, and I was in my early 20s and capable of defending myself then.

Now I get worried that my parents are going to get mugged going from the car into the grocery store (or on the back out to the car) There are just too many scary people out there now. I'm only 41, but I dont remember the world being as full of thieves when I was younger as it is now.

That's what I miss about my big dog, TinyMonsters, he was 100+ pounds of stinky, furry dog, and I never felt scared when he was here with me. Always felt safe at home alone when my big Wookiee was around.

If I didnt have the MS and a bunch of fatigue, I'd probably go get another dog like him (I dont have the energy to do the training again, and I wont do another big dog like that without obedience training it)

Tiny looked the part of scary dog...big, loud, and scary looking when he was mad. But he was a big baby. He'd lick you to death before eating a person, but at least he was convincing at the act that he was going to eat the bad guys if they tried anything.

Yes, it is scary out there. I failed to mention that the dog was not snarling or even barking. He just came out of his dog house and looked around. He was a good, decent dog. Not ferocious or anything like that. I wouldn't want a dog like that. But I do suspect that he was very intimidating due to his size (over 100 lbs) and his breed. I wish I still had him.

We had a female German Shepherd after that who was a rescue dog. She had had some training somewhere along the line. Maybe she flunked out of being a seeing eye dog. I know when I walked her she would lean against me as to kind of move me out of the way when a car came by. So there was some kind of training as well as being good on the leash, etc. She was a tad smaller, being female, but still people were wary. She was a sweetheart as well. I was never afraid with her around either. I know I have great respect for dogs no matter what the kind.

I don't have much energy left to train a dog either but I do have my husband who can help. And he will as he wants to have one again too. We are really not looking to start with a puppy again though so hopefully we will luck out. A puppy is soooo much work. We shall see.

And yes, most people have cell phones. If they don't, then tough!!