![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dood, tires blow.
May. 11th, 2002 07:36 pmso i got up friday morning, swept my whole house because all the floors were really dusty and gross, and did the dishes and took out the trash. showered, had lunch, took more stuff out to the car, dropped off the drying rack and leftover cheese at jorn's, returned a book to edward mckay's, and got gas. so i got on the road to PA at around 1:15pm. i made pretty good time, so by 5:15 i was in northern virginia when i BLEW A TIRE. i was doing 70 in the left lane on route 81, and the car became really difficult to control. i put on my blinkers and slowed way down, and managed to get in the right lane and then onto the shoulder. i had never blown a tire before, so i didn't know what it felt like or what was going on, and i was all freaked out. when i got out and looked at it, the tire wasn't just flat, it was pretty much shattered. i've never seen a tire look like that except for the ones you see on the side of the road carless sometimes. i was four miles from the next exit, and i don't have a cell phone, so i didn't really know what to do but just sit down and wait for someone to help me. i had an emergency kit in the trunk, and i checked that and found a big yellow "CALL TOW" sign, which i put in the back window, and in about ten minutes a very nice trucker stopped and offered to change the tire for me (since i had a spare in the trunk). he also said that the way that tire looked, he was surprised i hadn't crashed when it blew (shut UP, what else do you say when this happens? the tire popped? it exploded? "blew" has to be the correct term, so put the innuendos away, muthaphuckas!). anyway, while he was changing it, the sheriff pulled up, and he stayed with me until the trucker was done changing the tire and i was able to pull back onto the road (which was really, really nice of him--not that the trucker seemed shady or anything, he seemed very nice, but it made me feel better about the whole thing just the same).
but here's the thing--my spare tire was one of those temporary donut things, and both the sheriff and the trucker agreed that it's only supposed to be used for short distances and it would never make it all the way to philly. so the sheriff recommended a gas station in the next town up where i might be able to get a new tire. so i stopped in strasburg, VA (it's now almost 6pm). the exxon the sheriff sent me to couldn't help me, but they recommended the mobil up the street. and the guy there was so, so nice. i explained the whole thing, and he took a look at my car and said, "you don't need one new tire, you need *four*--these would never pass inspection here in virginia!" but they didn't have the right size tires there at their shop, so he went somewhere else to see if they did. and they didn't. but when he got back, he made me a really nice offer--he had his brand-new neon rental car sitting out back, with four brand-new tires on it, and he offered to give me the tires off his car, since he could get new ones for his own car tomorrow. so i gratefully accepted and headed over to the burger king for dinner while they did the work. one hour, five chicken tenders, and $300 later, i'm back on the road. but i do have four very nice brand-new tires, and i discovered the exact location of the stonewall jackson museum, both of which will be useful in the future.
and i got to hatfield at 11:45ish last night. it was a very, very long day. and i got sunburnt all up my arm from driving, too.
today, however, was a very nice day--out to lunch and shopping with my parents, then to mom's friend chris's house (chris just got her master's degree and was throwing herself a party). chris's husband bob makes a really good mudslide. and it was a very nice time.
i don't know what i'm doing tonight yet--maybe hanging out here at home (the chancellors are coming over), or maybe calling lauren, or maybe calling dan mcginnis and going to the bar. but i'm kind of not feeling like going out--kind of feeling like watching the scifi channel instead. or maybe reading a book, or maybe watching my mom's bootleg copy of lord of the rings on the computer. :) happy saturday, everyone.
but here's the thing--my spare tire was one of those temporary donut things, and both the sheriff and the trucker agreed that it's only supposed to be used for short distances and it would never make it all the way to philly. so the sheriff recommended a gas station in the next town up where i might be able to get a new tire. so i stopped in strasburg, VA (it's now almost 6pm). the exxon the sheriff sent me to couldn't help me, but they recommended the mobil up the street. and the guy there was so, so nice. i explained the whole thing, and he took a look at my car and said, "you don't need one new tire, you need *four*--these would never pass inspection here in virginia!" but they didn't have the right size tires there at their shop, so he went somewhere else to see if they did. and they didn't. but when he got back, he made me a really nice offer--he had his brand-new neon rental car sitting out back, with four brand-new tires on it, and he offered to give me the tires off his car, since he could get new ones for his own car tomorrow. so i gratefully accepted and headed over to the burger king for dinner while they did the work. one hour, five chicken tenders, and $300 later, i'm back on the road. but i do have four very nice brand-new tires, and i discovered the exact location of the stonewall jackson museum, both of which will be useful in the future.
and i got to hatfield at 11:45ish last night. it was a very, very long day. and i got sunburnt all up my arm from driving, too.
today, however, was a very nice day--out to lunch and shopping with my parents, then to mom's friend chris's house (chris just got her master's degree and was throwing herself a party). chris's husband bob makes a really good mudslide. and it was a very nice time.
i don't know what i'm doing tonight yet--maybe hanging out here at home (the chancellors are coming over), or maybe calling lauren, or maybe calling dan mcginnis and going to the bar. but i'm kind of not feeling like going out--kind of feeling like watching the scifi channel instead. or maybe reading a book, or maybe watching my mom's bootleg copy of lord of the rings on the computer. :) happy saturday, everyone.
