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I forgot to mention that I got a flat tire the other day. You'd think that I would have shared that little tidbit with you folks as soon as it happened. But no, I like to keep thing from you.
The whole thing was mildly annoying, but it could have been much, much worse. I discovered the tire was flat as I was backing out of the garage. I put the car in reverse and after just a couple of feet, I recognized that horrible mushy feeling you get from having a flat tire. It took me by surprise for a couple of reasons. Reason number one was that I just walked past the tire to get in the truck. The tire in question was the left rear tire. So I had to pass the tire to get in the truck. And I didn't just rush by it either because I have to wait right there for Jake to climb up into his seat. Actually, I had to put all three kids into the backseat because I take them to school/daycare before I go to work. How could I have not noticed that the thing was flat. The only reason I can come up with is that I am possibly an idiot.
Reason number two for being surprised by the flat tire is that it was just fine last night. Last night being a trip to Shea Stadium. I must have hit something in the wilds of Flushing, Queens. But thank god that the tire held until we got home. I mean, I don't relish (hmmmm, relish) the thought of changing a tire on the side of the Grand Central Parkway at 11:30 at night.
The really annoying thing about this flat tire is way the good people at the Ford Motor Company have decided the owners of a Explorer Sport-Trac have to change a flat tire. Since the back of the truck is like a pick-up truck and there is plenty of room back there, they figured the best place to put the jack is behind the rear seat. Well - I hear you saying - what if you have something in the backseat? Something like, oh I don't know, say three kids in their three carseats? Well then you'd just have to take them out. Yep, take them and their carseats out of the back of your truck. And, of course, now that they are out of the truck they want to "help". Help does not include crawling under the truck and correctly positioning the jack. Help does not consist of hand cranking the spare tire down from the underside of the car. Help does not mean using that fake little lug wrench to struggle with and unscrew lug nuts that were installed with one of them there, fancy, mechanic grade, air wrenchs. Help does not even mean assist their Dad in keeping the baby calm and quiet. No, Jake and Bobby's vision of help means throwing the plastic hub cap piece like a frisbee and rolling the six sided lug nuts like two demented D & D players tring to defeat a dragon. Or whatever the hell Dungeons and Dragons players do. I never played, I just know the game had these wacky multi-sided dice.
So after I got the tire back on and the kids into their schools, I sped off to work. All I wanted was a place local to my work to take a look at the tire and stick a patch or plug in it, charge me $5 or $12 dollars and send me on my way. Alas, it was not to be. My boss sent me to the garage he uses all the time. Two guys from Ireland. That's not what the place is called, although that isn't a bad name. It's just that it is a garage run by two mechanics from Ireland. I can listen to an Irish or Scottish accent forever. Except when that lovely Irish lilt tells me there's sidewall damage to the tire and it can't be patched.
Crap. That means I have to buy a new tire. O.K. How much can a new tire cost? Evidently, they can cost a lot. I've replaced tires before and they were never more than 60 to 80 bucks apiece. Not this one. One Hundred and Sixty Dollars. And xx/100s. Well, I can't really complain because I've been luck with the tires on this truck. You may remember a small matter a year ago involving Ford Explorers and Firestone tires. Well my truck fell right into that little fiasco. Which meant that I got to put about 30,000 miles on the original set of tires before getting a bread new set of tires for free. And while I know that Ford didn't pay retail for the replacement tires, I feel pretty good that I got $640 worth of tires installed on my car for free. Except now I had to pay for one of them. Oh well, I'm still 30,000 miles and $480 ahead of the game.
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