Well, I blew it.

My tire, that is.

We had an early morning WIC appointment today, so we dropped off Oren at school and headed towards town. Halfway there I ran over something, there was a loud bang sound and a kind of bump. I didn't see any tire bits flying behind me, so kept driving, trying to spot what I had hit. A few minutes later, the "check tire" light came on, telling me my tire pressure had dropped. Uh oh.... I drove a little farther, thinking that it was probably just a slight drop and I would be okay until after my appointment, and that as soon as it was done I would go down to Les Shwab and have them take a look. Well, a minute or so later, I got the feeling that something wasn't right and I should turn my music off. As soon as I did I heard a horrible grating-like sound. I pulled over right away, and got out to check. Sure enough, my front right tire was COMPLETELY out of air. Totally flat! With 5 minutes until my appointment, I knew there was no way I'd make it, so I called and let them know, and got that rescheduled. Then I headed around to the trunk of the van and grabbed the jack/lug wrench. I called Mark to let him know my tire was flat, and to ask where the lug wrench was, apperantly it was attached to the jack. Okay, odd place for it, but whatever. I reassured him that I knew how to change a flat, and let him go. He was a little upset that I had been stopped with lights flashing for 5 whole minutes, and no chivalrous knight had stopped to help! How sweet of him.

I got the rim cover thing off and had just loosend the lug nuts, and just about to place the jack under the frame, when a van pulls up and a guy steps out. One of the brethren from church thought he recognized the red-head kicking the lug wrench (easier to loosen the lug nuts) and stopped to help. Now, what's funny is that I knew what I was doing, and was perfectly capable of changing the tire myself. But when a gentleman stops and offers help, you don't tell him "No buddy, back off, I'll do it myself!" No, you graciously let him pretend he knows more than you do, especially if you know his wife, that way he can score some brownie points later when he tells her about his daring rescue of the damsel in distress. He was very nice and followed me to Les Schwab just to make sure the donut tire didn't give me any problems, and hauled to flat in for me.

At last I was able to find out what I had run over. Some one, at some point, had left a rather large bolt on the road, and I just happened to run over it. We knew what it was, because it tore throught the tire and was lodged inside of it. So my tire was no good. This is where I became glad that we maintain a savings account. My other tire was wearing pretty thin, so I ended up just replacing both and getting them rotated while I was at it.

What an adventure, and all this before lunch! Makes me wonder what the rest of the day will be like. I did get some good news though. They had the tires in stock so I got to drive away with new ones on and won't have to go back later. And Mark's work called needing to leave a message, and I checked with them. Mark has the whole weekend off! So we get to have some family time for Easter. What a great Easter gift!