When I felt the left rear tire go flat I pulled over on the shoulder of the Beltline, near North Hills Shopping Center in Raleigh. The timing, for once, was good. It was raining a little, true, but it was a Saturday afternoon and I didn’t have train to catch.
I had two of my sons, Bo and Mark, with me and this would be a good teaching moment.
I got out, went around to the trunk and, Oh, crap! There was no trunk key on the set of keys I was using.
Darn!
Well, nothing to do but walk to North Hills, call my wife, Donna, and ask her to bring me the trunk key. That was OK, I thought. This would teach our boys a little something about overcoming adversity.
When Donna arrived she gave me the trunk key and drove the three of us back to my car. In a jiffy I had the trunk open. I pulled the tire out and bounced it, only it didn’t bounce. This was getting a little bit ridiculous — the spare was flat.
Well, this will teach them about perseverance.
Good thing Donna had waited. She took us to a gas station, I aired up the tire, and then she drove us back to my car again.
You would not guess what happened next. Or maybe you would at that.
I didn’t have a tire tool or a jack.
Sheemaniny!
I borrowed the tools I needed from the trunk of Donna’s car and, finally, I was in business.
I loosened the lug nuts, jacked the car up, took the nuts off, and took off the flat tire. Then I tried to put spare on. But I couldn’t. The rim didn’t fit — it had holes for four wheel studs; I needed a five-hole rim.
All the teaching moments were gone now, and it had begun to rain harder.
Postscript: No, My car is not still sitting on the Beltline. I bought another rim and changed that $&%)# tire, OK?
Coming Monday: What Do You Suppose She Said?
