Not What I Was Expecting Today

Phil scheduled a full van checkup-up today. He drove the truck, and I was in the van: the courtesy shuttle doesn't deliver farther than 25 miles, and we didn't make the cut.

Before we reached the end of our road, Phil turned around. The truck was crow-hopping, and braking a bit funny, and he decided there was no way he wanted to drive us all home, and drive us all back again in the afternoon. So I followed him back down the road to home. We'd bring the van another day.

Phil had the packages set to mail for Christmas, so as soon as we got back to the homestead, I took the package and headed back up the road, headed to the post office.

Halfway up the road, the "flat tire" light came on. I called Phil to see if I should head home (rapidly running out of vehicles that would carry me the remaining miles to the post office!), and he said I should be able to make it, but go slowly and carefully.

The front tires had needed filling a week or two back, so after I mailed my boxes, I checked them and saw no real evidence of flattening, so I started home.

Back on our road (phew!), I heard an unwelcome sound, like a rim on the road. I pulled over again and saw that the left REAR was really quite flat.

Foolishly, though, I didn't think it was as flat as it could be, so I went a bit more before I called Phil. "Pull over! We'll come!"

Soon he and the boys roared up in the truck, and he managed to get the tire pumped again. The sideways appeared to have some damage, but since the tire held air, it wasn't as bad as it could be.

Phil found the hole in the tread and plugged it. However, the plug didn't work. And since I drive the car periodically, and sometimes drive Phil to and from the airport with boys in tow, having a working, reliable vehicle is high on my priority list. Even had the hole plugged well, the fact that the sidewalls were weakened (argh!) felt like a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at the least opportune (and most cold outside) moment.

So Phil and I put on the spare and we drove the 90 minutes to the Costco Auto Center.

We arrived home after 7pm, after a day of nothing but driving around.

But I did get the Christmas presents mailed!