Confession
I know nothing about tires, other than they need to be kept inflated. My tip is more about what to do to prepare for car trouble which came about for me recently because of tires. After more years of driving than I care to calculate I had my first blowout a couple of weeks ago. Oh, I’ve had flats, they are not that dramatic, but a blowout, now that is pure drama! I’m happy to say that I maneuvered my car safely to a stop in an emergency lane. After collecting my thoughts and calming my nerves for a minute I called AAA, grateful as I looked at my card to note I’ve been a member for 29 years. I was sure help would be on the way in no time flat (pun intended). That’s where the tip comes in.
The Tip:
For one hour I sat waiting for help to arrive to place my spare on my wheel so that I could be on my way. One hour! It was 91 degrees so I was thankful to have adequate fuel to use the A/C intermittently. I read everything on my phone and had to resist calling anyone to chat because I didn’t want folks to be concerned about me. But I had nothing to do, nothing to read . . . wait that is not exactly true.
I opened the glove box and rooted around finding the vehicle registration, an owner’s manual and insurance verification. BORING! Then I spotted two white envelops which I had forgotten having in the car. One contained a copy of my Living Will and the other a copy of my Health Care Surrogate document. https://crookedcreek.live/2017/01/25/death-decisions/ Realizing that I had not updated these papers in over a year, I spent that long wait reading, initialing and dating each page so that my time was productive after all. This is not what I recommend but it was a good alternative to having something more interesting to read.
Yeah, back to the tip: I now have good reading material in my car. I’m ready for any emergency. Don’t leave home without something to read in case of an emergency!
“I had to stop driving my car for a while… the tires got dizzy.” Steven Wright
Theme photo in title by Pixabay
Crooked Creek by Sue Mattingly 
Wise plan! And a notebook in the purse to jot down/work out brilliant ideas that come. And I almost never leave home without a puzzle book of some sort, just in case. I am a very poor WAIT-er. 🙂
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Me Too! I hate waiting.
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You were “booking”!!! I agree on the wait time. It seems interminable when we are in the midst of it. Thanks for the suggestions. There are a couple of crossword puzzles waiting for a new home in my glove compartment now.
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Interesting to note that after this experience, your advice is to have something interesting to read in the car. We usually keep Reader’s Digest in the car just for moments like these. It certainly helps to have something to pass the time — less frustration.
We had a sudden flat tire in North Carolina in Dec. on our way to Florida. I was driving and luckily realized something was wrong before I had driven very far. We were in between towns and, thanks to cell phones, located a tire place near by where we had the tire replaced. We had a long way to go on the spare so neeeded to replace it. The experience does make you slow down and realize our plans can change in an instant.
So glad you were able to get help and that you did not have ill effects from the heat.
On a different subject, does it seem to you that plastic bottle tops are getting harder and harder to open. It must be my weakening hands, but do they really have to be that hard to open (same with medicine bottles that push down and turn . I know that has nothing to do with cars and tires but I was sitting here with breakfast while writing this and tried to open the milk.
Have a good day and don’t forget to take a book with you today.
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YES! I keep those gripper things in each room off the house so I can remove those stubborn tops.
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Keep an emergency blanket in the car for cold weather emergencies and dehydrated water. Laughing of course but the first tip is good as well as reading material. Other good things: phone charge bank (they don’t keep charge for long but handy when the battery to the car is dead); 1 quart bottle of water; 2 qt of oil for older cars; jumper cables; non-freezing window washing fluid in the winter and premixed coolant.
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