Day(s) Part Two

  

You might remember that Monday evening I discovered

screw in the sidewall of the rear tire.  Ugh.

Tuesday morning, first thing, I call AAA.  One of the really nice things about using AAA is one of their representatives is located right here in Wharton!  And, they respond very quickly. 

The AAA guy showed up within 30 minutes.  Now, the call was to change a flat but his assessment was that he could push the screw in tighter, thus sealing the hole, then add air to the tire.  Should be fine to drive on for an hour -ish. 

Just down the street from here there is an old gas station that’s been converted to a tire fixing/replacing business.  And, that was my destination with the thought that I could get the tire patched/fix.  I got there and noted that 1 there were already two vehicles there in various stages of shoelessness and 2 there was only one guy working.  So, I went to the office door – locked.  Hmmmm.

Okay, sitting outside in the car in July waiting for the one hard-working guy to talk to me??  Right.

After a while, what should appear - an old guy

Could he help me?  I explained the problem.  Hold on, he sez and walked away.  Several minutes later, he was back with the hard-working guy.  The two spoke back and forth.  Seems the hard-working guy spoke no English.  Well, said the old guy, that tire can’t be fixed and we don’t have a new tire that will fit the car BUT we can put on a good used tire.  And the hard-working guy walked away.

Remember my saying all things automobile are way out of my comfort zone?  This was so far out there that I couldn’t even come up with coherent questions/thoughts. 

I mean – how do you know if a used tire is good?  Seems to me if it's used, it is not good because somebody got rid of it.  Does it come with a guarantee?  If it blows out 10 minutes after I buy it, do I get a rebate?  Does it have, I don’t know, tread, rubber, steel, whatever tires are supposed to have?

Hard-working guy comes back rolling a tire – spoke with old guy who said cheap $60.

What came to my mind?

Okay – I know that’s not true.

After some mental dithering, I said – no thanks.  Think I need a new tire.  And I left, praying to all the gods and goddesses that the “plug” continued to hold. 

And, after another call for a recommendation, I went a little further down the street to another old converted gas station with tires stacked up around it.  Hmmm.

Sitting in the drive was a huge truck with no shoes.  Plus two more waiting patiently.

Still, one can only ask.  Nope, they don’t have any new tires that fit my car AND it would be a couple hours before they could even look at it.

Now, I am way past the recommended hour the plug would hold and no solution.

So, I decided to drive to Hungerford to an actual tire store, this time making rash promises to those gods/goddesses of cars to hold all together.  (And, lest you think I was driving a distance – Hungerford is 5 miles northeast of Wharton.) 

Hungerford is a census designated place (and I don't know what that means other than it's not a town, city or village) with a population of 347 people  

and a tire store.  

In I went, spoke with a nice person behind the counter.  We went out to look at the tire.  No, can’t fix it, have to replace it.  Fine!

Tap, tap, tap on the computer.  Ooopsie!  We don’t have a tire for that car. 

I must have looked like

because she hurriedly said – we can order one and get it here tomorrow morning and will put the spare on for now.  Okay that works for me.

I went to the customer lounge to wait.  And wait.  And wait.  An hour later I went out and said

 ???????????????????????????.

Lady leaves - I'll check.  Lady returns - they are telling her there is some sort of lock on the lug nut and is there a special tool to remove it.

I called son-in-law.  Explained the whole thing to him.  He was completely flummoxed.  No, nothing special about the tire lug nuts.  No special tools.  No locks.  No.

Lady leaves.  Lady returns – oh oops!  Not the lug nut.  There is some sort of hex nut on the gizmo that holds the spare that has to come off so the spare will come down and off.

Son-in-law says, well there’s a tool kit that came with the car in one of the back compartments but he’d never had a flat and never needed to deal with the spare.

Lady leaves.  Lady returns – Yay!  All is well. 

Lady leaves.  Lady returns.  The spare is in terrible shape.  How about they put a temporary used tire on the wheel until tomorrow when the new one arrives?

I have been there waiting for 2 hours now.  No, sez I, can I just leave the car here and get it tomorrow after the new tire is on?  YES!

And, I called my sister to see if she could come get me.

And, that’s pretty much what I did!  The End.

15 Jul 2021