Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Busted flat

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105 miles away from Austin the Harry Potter book on cd I was listening to ended. It was time to put in the next chapter. I had one hand on the wheel and one hand rummaging for the next cd when my right front tire blew. It felt like the road had changed from smooth gravel to rail road tracks. I dropped the cd, gripped the wheel, took my foot off the gas, and gently pressed the brake as I coasted to the side of the road. A maroon vehicle passed me and as I got out of my car I saw the vehicle make a heroic U-turn and come to my rescue. The nice man in the maroon vehicle pulled up behind me and stuck his head out of his window saying “Do you know how to fix that?”
“uh, no”. I replied sheepishly. Charles, that was his name, got out of his car and began working on mine. About 10 minutes later, a state trooper pulled up and asked if we needed anything. Charles told him that he thought we were ok, but the trooper stayed on the scene until the job was done. It was a good thing that he did, because the jack I had provided Charles with was not budging the bolts that had previously been tightened by the air gun at discount tire. Mr. State trooper had one of those 4 bar jacks. I suggest that everyone ditch their single bar jacks for one of these beauties. Charles worked in the hot sun as sweat poured from his body like water from a hose. He continually pulled his red bandana from his pocket to mop his face and clean his glasses. He cut himself on his knuckles and forearms. Seeing that my cell phone was not getting service in the area, I was blessed to have him help me out like that. After he fixed my tire, he said he would follow me for a while to make sure the tire was ok. He wrote down his number so that I could call him if there were any problems with it after he pulled away from me.
He never hit on me, if that is what you are thinking. He was just a good guy helping out a fellow traveler.

I am going to call him later. I want his address so that I can send him a proper thank you. I am thinking a few tickets to see a movie at the Alamo draft house.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good plan! It'll keep your Karma in check as well.

Glad you're back - we missed you...sniff.

LB

12:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

for future reference... a "jack" is used to lift the car up. A "tire iron" is used to loosen the nuts. Glad you survived!

1:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope you watched carefully so you can fix your own if this happens again! I have always carred a 4 way tire iron specifically because it makes it easier go out and buy one asap

10:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are you kidding! I am so thankful! Gosh Sarah, That could have been a disaster. WOW. I am glad you're okay.

C

9:16 AM  
Blogger Tracy Fennell said...

I think the picture is funny.

9:13 PM  

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