The second day of school I had a lot on the calendar. I had a friend that had recently moved here from Virginia that I had randomly run into at the outlets two weeks prior and we had scheduled a play date at a park in Castle Rock. It was going to be quick as I wanted to get back to school in time for lunch to make sure the routine went well, as we really didn't get to do what was planned on the first day due to the medical emergency. Well, not far into my drive to Castle Rock I noticed the light on the dashboard indicating an issue with tire pressure lit up. I thought it was funny because that happens rather frequently in the winter when it's much colder outside and here it was hot and August. When we got to the exit in Castle Rock that we needed we were stopped at a signal and then once I tried to start going to make it the last mile to the park, I found the car was not wanting to move or move quickly. And then I hear the thudding. I'm grateful we made it all the way to the exit and that we only had a little more to go. I got to the park and pulled into the first parking spot I could find and got out to find this. I have never had a flat tire on the road before. It was a completely new experience. I was glad I knew where the spare was and I worked on getting it out and then I googled how to change a tire. Yep--I've never changed a tire! Thank goodness for google. But I was struggling to get the lugnuts off. They were tight! A couple of ladies walked by on the last of a morning walk and I started talking to them to see if I could grab any help or advice. Neither of them knew what to do either, though, so we decided I'd be best going inside the athletic center and asking for help. I wanted to wait for my friend, though, so I kept working on it, knowing that eventually I would head inside. Well, the ladies were nice enough to flag down the next man they walked past. He happened to be a park employee who also knew how to change tires. So, he hopped over and showed me what to do and had our tire changed to the spare in a matter of 10 minutes or so. He was a super nice guy and it turned out he is also the trail "designer" for many of the local parks. I was glad he was there that morning to help me out. By that point I knew I wasn't going to make it back to school for lunch so I dragged my feet and spent a lot longer with my friend at the park, as I did not want to deal with the tire situation. The tires were relatively new tires and I had also purchased a protection plan of sorts at Discount Tire. There happened to be a franchise just a few miles from where I was at, so after our park time I headed over to the store. They told me it would take two hours for me to get my tire repaired. So, we left the busted tire at the store and drove on our donut over to Walmart where Bree and I had lunch and then did some light grocery shopping. After that we returned to the tire center to check. It had been nearly two hours and they said it would be another hour before they got to our tire. I think I just about cried at that point because I needed to get home to get the boys from school (they aren't riding the bus this). My near-tears was enough to kick their butts in gear and just around the 2 1/2 hour mark our tire was patched up and back on the van ready to go. Thank goodness. Bree and I got home with enough time to run the groceries in and then head back out to get the boys. It had been an exhausting day! |
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