First let me state that we had a great weekend at my aunt and uncle's visiting and loading the truck and trailer with wood! Everything was great and we started home (about 3 hour trip) at 2pm. At 2:30 (after getting gas) there was a loud bang and we blew a tire. Not on the trailer, like we had worried about, but on the truck. Big tires, and J was annoyed because he was sure his old bag phone would have had a signal, but our new RAZR phones didn't even have one bar. We were on a stretch of highway with a steep upward cliff on one side (to fields) and traffic whizzing by on the other (two lanes only) Fortunately we were in a place where the road was straight for a bit, so you could see us (lots of twists in that area - between D and W for those in the know).
So we did have a spare tire, but it was under the truck, and it was for the old set of tires we had (these were larger). Also, J had never pumped it up for 10 years. AND I had taken his million tools out of the truck so I could fit 5 kids in for the carpool, and he hadn't put them back before this trip. So he is trying to jack up the trailer (loaded down with probably 3000# at least, I am a terrible estimator) and the jack handle breaks, with the jack down. So we can't go even if we get the tire changed because the jack is stuck down.
My phone is out of batteries, so I take Jim's (which has none of the #s programmed) and start walking about 1/4 mile down the road to a place where I can crawl up the steep cliff and get into the field. Then I walk probably a 1/2 mile up the giant hills hoping to get a signal (this is the Palouse so the hills are big) Fortunately again, the wheat is young and soft so I am not cutting my legs to shreds. I get a signal, and try to call my aunt. No answer. I try again. No answer. I am a bit concerned, because AAA won't be able to do anything with this totally loaded down trailer, and I don't have my card (it is 3/4 mile down the hill) so I can't call, and I try one more time and she answers! Yay - J has requested a nail or some metal bar piece so he can try to work the jack (he ended up using his key ring, just call him Mcgyver) and a floor jack, which I guess he didn't end up needing after all. When I got down D was sweating in the hot pickup, there was no room for him to be outside and we trashed the interior getting out the jacks and tools - he didn't even have a seat! But we did have one Coke and some jerky. J actually got the tire on, and we limped along to W where we waited next to the shady park for aunt and uncle. They had tire pumps and water, and we killed a few hours waiting for the road to cool down (apparently the heat of the road is very bad for loaded down tires. *sigh* the things we would do over if we only knew!
Anyway, we got home a mere 9 hours after we left. GLAD to be here!
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