It happened. Our first road trip "situation". Moments after our jumping pictures were taken, I hit a rock on the road and we got a flat tire. Not just a cute little flat tire, but a nice big gash type of flat tire. There was no where to pull off (we are talking 2 lane road on the side of a mountain) and we had about 1 bar of good cell phone. Neither of us panicked but I did comment to Jamie that I have "learn how to change a flat tire" on my list of 50 things to do in life. (I should have crossed that off before "buy a souvenir from Delaware" but I have my priorities I guess)
I called the Hertz help line number and surprisingly the roadside assistance lady was of no assistance. She told me that she got a flat tire once and she just fixed it. Novel idea.
The first character of this story to arrive on the scene was Jack the park ranger. Jack is a retired test pilot from Boeing and he has been working at the park for seven years. Sweet old man, but had no clue how to change a flat tire. (I overhead Jamie asking him if she wanted to read the manual to him.) He called for back up. Before back up came, Antoine the motorcycle man came up and offered his help. He is an engineer at Boeing and was on a weekend road trip. In no time at all the donut was securely placed on the car. Jack seemed almost as appreciative as Jamie and I were. Next on the scene (are you envisioning this, we are talking a small road) was Howard the park ranger with maps. He helped Jamie plan out the best route to a tire place and also presented her with "the best map of Washington that one could have". The entire time this was going on, I really wanted a photograph to document the event, but I didn't want to bother these poor men. But before we were all leaving, Antoine pulled out a camera from his motorcycle and it was picture time! So yes, that is Jack with his arms crossed, Antoine in the leather and Howard took the picture.
A minor snag in the day, but I can officially say that I have never had a flat tire in a more beautiful setting. (No worries, we aren't driving on a donut any more, we got a new tire at a Walmart in Yakima.)
we used to go to the wal-mart in Yakima for FUN! ellensburg is about 30 minutes from there, and Yakima is a BIG city, comparatively.
ReplyDelete!!!!
so excited you're in that part of the world!
--Kelly
For the record, let it be known that the song we were listening to at the time of the Great Flat Tire of '09 was I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred. It was on the 80s mix a student made for us. Apparently we were too sexy for our tire.
ReplyDeleteGood job girls!!! Three Musketeers to the rescue...What were there names again "Brad P., Johnny D., and Leo D.??? Perfect..Big Day tomorrow...Have a great ride today..Aunt Pat
ReplyDeletethat Aunt Pat always tinks of the stars , looks more like Uncle Festus and the Italian Stallion to me
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