Flat Tire - Part II

It was only 8 days after Jane's flat tire, when I was driving up from San Diego. I was in the fast lane - for this story I will say I was going the speed limit.  I was at a place where the freeway was about 7 lanes wide, no off ramp for a few miles and there was not much of a center divider. I was in a great mood, the radio was going, the sun was shining, I was dressed for work in heels and a dress, and heading north.


All of a sudden, I felt the car start pulling hard to the right. What was going on?

It was only a few seconds later, when the I realized the front left tire was down to the rim the car was pulling hard and the back end was trying to flip around. I knew the tire was on the rim based on the horrible sound coming from the tire.  There was no real place to stop on the center divider - so I had to get myself across 7 lanes of quickly moving traffic on a rim. It was like playing frogger - I was the frog.  And to be honest, I am not sure how I did not collide with a large truck as I was making my way across.  I would say I saw my life flash in front of my eyes - but it was more like a truck.

But suddenly, I was on the side of the freeway - safe. There was only a foot or two between me and the freeway. As each car drove by, my car shook, which became quite unnerving as I sat there.

So being me - once I got the car stopped I went into fix it mode. First, call AAA - then try to fix it. Call made. It will be 60 hours.  But who wants to wait.  And who can deal with the shaking of the car for 60 minutes?

So first idea. There is tire fix it in the back of the car. So let's get that. So I get out of the car -- disregarding how close I was to the freeway and the fact that I was in high heels and a dress and grab the bag with the "fix it."  But then I spy the tire and see that the tire is barely sitting on the rim.  Tire sealant and inflation will do me no good!

I then look up and see that there is more space on the shoulder about 100 yards ahead. While I don't want to drive on the rim and ruin it - I also hated the shaking of the car and needed space to work.

So I roll the car up, and go to plan B.  Change the tire.  I changed Jane's tire, I can change mine.So I find the jack and wrench, and start lowering the spare tire to the ground.  But then I could not reach it to pull it off the tether. I looked down, had grease on my hands, and saw what I thought was dirt all over my legs. (Turns out it was actually bruises from the mountain bike race.) Frustrated and with greasy hands, I got back into the car to wait.  Argh!

Turns out, I would not have been able to change the tire anyway. The AAA guy showed up, got the tire and it was virtually flat. He then was only able to get the lug nuts off with a larger wrench and putting enough torque on the wrench to literally roll the car. Not sure I would have been able to do that in heels.  When he put the spare on, it lowered to the ground. So now, I thought - great the spare is flat too!

But he was able to put air in the tire and eventually I slowly drove down the freeway. I was just anxious to get off the freeway. I found a place to get my tires (under warranty). But to avoid the freeway would take me an extra 30 minutes to get there. So as I was driving, the car did not feel right (cause it had a little donut on it), and I keep thinking every noise was merely the small donut going flat, leaving me stranded once again.

But while all was crazy in my head, all was fine on the car - and just when I was thinking the day really stunk - I came up on the hill to this site.

And just this view reminded me that although I almost crashed my car and got killed and life is not perfect, I was fine, the car was fine -- and I was reminded of God's grace and that I had many blessings in this world.