Two flat tires in 3 days, what are the odds? Well for me, apparently, pretty good. I was planning on buying new tires in the near future, just not this quickly. What happened? The first flat, I was on my way home from work, I was very near home, just a few miles, I have a series of cattle guards to cross, they are large pipe structures in the road that people and vehicles can cross, but livestock (cattle, horses and the such) will not cross. The final cattle guard I cross to get into my neighborhood has 2 damaged places in the pipe and one of them gouged a hole in my tire. Within 5-10 seconds of crossing, my low tire light came on in the truck, I stopped to check and sure enough, I was losing air fast from one of my front tires.
I gauged how long I could drive before the tire was completely flat and headed home, I made it a little farther before having to stop, I didn’t care if I damaged the tire by driving on it, but I didn’t want to damage the aluminum wheel. I was close enough to my house to easily walk, I didn’t relish changing the tire in the dark and knew PB would take care of it, I just had to get to him. Cell phones don’t work out here, and even if they did, we don’t have a home phone. I noticed the lights were on at one of my neighbor’s house, he drove me home, we got PB, and he drove us back.
So now I have my spare on my truck, my low tire light is staying on because of that. It’s getting close to the end of the week, payday, that’s when I’ll get a new set of tires. I had to work 2 more days before that would happen, on my way out of my neighborhood, that same cattle guard got me again, this time I made it nearly to the town I was to work in that day, being daylight I would have changed my tire myself, but I was using my spare. So a quick phone call later and I had help on the way.
Living out in a rural area with miles and miles of nothing between towns, it’s nice to know that people will still stop and offer help when you are sitting on the side of the road. I love small town life.
Now I’m sporting two spanky new tires on the front of my truck, next payday I’ll get the rear two replaced. What this has reminded me of is to always be prepared. I had the ability to change the first tire, but not the second. I was prepared to sit out quite a long time on the side of the road, I carry water, snacks, a flashlight, I have good leather gloves, in winter I keep a blanket and heavy coat in my truck, I always have good shoes in case I have to walk. I do have a cell phone, but there are so many areas that have spotty or no cell phone coverage. I am fortunate that both incidents happened close to home.
I am also considering buying a second spare tire, you don’t expect to use your spare, you hope you don’t have to, but it happens, and usually at the worst time, having a second flat while driving on your spare is even less common, but quite possible, I know it’s a reality.
Are you ready for the unexpected in your vehicle? Are you prepared to spend the night in your vehicle if necessary? Don’t assume that living in the city would preclude that from happening, anything is possible and you should be ready for as many scenarios as possible.
Ladies, if you wear heels or sandals to work, do you have a pair of sneakers in your vehicle just in case? Do you keep water and emergency food in your vehicle? What about winter, do you have a way to keep warm if you had to stay in your vehicle without the engine running?