Flat Tires
Let me tell you about how a few flat tires can make for a day-long adventure.
So, at 7:30 am I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to find the exact perfect moment to get up. The phone made up my mind for me by ringing very loudly. I scampered across the house trying not to wake the baby. Our caller ID showed my husband's cell number - he left for his teaching job at 7am and should have been almost there by this point. I answered a little gruffly, partly because I had that gruff morning voice you get when you first wake up and partly because I thought he had dragged me out of bed to tell me something interesting he'd seen on his way to work that just couldn't wait until the afternoon.
He said, "I have two flat tires. You need to come get me." He had to tell me this a few times because my brain was still half-asleep. Then I ran around the house trying to do the absolute minimum to get ready so Roy would miss as little teaching time as possible. I stayed in my pajama pants, but pulled on a shirt and sweater. I put on deodorant and tied my hair back. I picked up my sleeping angel and changed her diaper. I half-thought about putting her in the car in just her onesie, but then looked at the thermometer that read 38 F. She received multiple layers plus hat and shoes. I put shoes on myself, grabbed my purse, and flew out the door! I was ready in ten minutes - super!
My car was an icebox. I started driving down our road with my windshield covered in a sheet of ice! The heater was blasting on the windshield, but only enough to give me a little opening at the bottom through which to see the road. It took the whole mile-and-a-half drive to the highway for it to thaw with me driving at a very slow speed and hunched down in the seat to see out the windshield. Once on the highway with a clear windshield, I hit the gas.
Roy works at a high school in Ovid, which is a 45-min drive away from us. The first part of the drive is along Hwy 59, connecting Haxtun to Sedgwick. That's the highway that Roy was stuck on. I called Roy and asked where exactly he was. He said he was at a certain family's place that's between the two sets of curves in the highway near big grain bins. Easy enough.
Now when I say there are two sets of curves, I don't mean little curves. Whoever designed this highway was very polite to landowners and didn't cut diagonal across anyone's land. This particular highway only knows how to go straight north-south or east-west. The towns it connects, however, are not straight north-south of each other, so somewhere it has to turn. There are four big turns in the highway between Haxtun and Sedgwick and they're about as close to 90-degree turns as the engineers could design them. So the first set of curves changes you from going north to going east and then after a few miles it turns you back north. The second set does the same thing and then you're lined up with Sedgwick! Now if someone was to set you driving off north on this highway and not warn you about the big turns, you might get a little anxious after the first turn and wonder why you're going east when your destination is to the north and ask yourself how you could've gotten lost without ever leaving the highway . . . but that's probably just overly anxious people like me who feel that way.
Anyhow, back to the story. Twenty minutes into my drive I was past the first set of curves and could see the big grain bins in front of me. I slowed down, watching the ditch along the highway for Roy's car. I drove past the bins. I picked up my cell phone to call Roy, but he was already calling me to tell me I had drove past him. It turns out he wasn't just along the highway near the bins, he was at the place that has the bins. Silly me, I'm such a city girl for never thinking of pulling into another family's place. Somewhere in my mind I'm convinced that sirens are going to go off if I drive up someone's driveway without invitation. But then, Roy's family has known them for a long time and it was much safer for his car to sit in their yard then along the highway.
I drove up next to Roy's car. He threw one of his busted tires into my backseat (my trunk was occupied by a large stroller). In the car and back on the road, Roy explained my next task to me. He needed me to take the busted tire to Walmart in Sterling to get replaced and be back to pick him up at school at 11:30 am (they only had a half-day of school today). Then I would take him back to his car so he could put the new tire and his full-sized spare on it so that he could drive back to Sterling again to replace the rest of his tires! What a plan!
It was at this point that I did the math in my head. Please picture a triangle in your mind. Our home, Roy's work, and Walmart in Sterling make up the three points of the triangle. They are all about a 45-minute drive from each other. Driving Roy to school, I ran the times through my head and decided that I really didn't have time to go home and change. That's when I first regretted rushing out the door in my pajama pants and not grabbing any breakfast. I had also noticed that my gas tank was almost empty.
Leaving Roy's school, I went first to a gas station - the unmanned kind (like this one). When we drove past it on the way to school it was invitingly empty. When I got there, of course, there was a line. The person in front of me took forever and I blamed her gas-guzzling SUV. But then I forgave her when I hooked the old pump up to my own car. It was a funny pump like I had never seen (and now I regret not taking the time to grab my camera on the way out the door, too!) and it slowly chugged-chugged-chugged out the 10 gallons my car needed. I did a very impatient dance outside the car in my pjs while waving to Melise who was starting to get grumpy that we weren't eating breakfast and watching Sesame Street!
Getting back in the car, I assured my baby girl that breakfast was on the way. I drove down the street to a soda vending machine. Looking in my wallet, I only had a $20. The machine didn't say what size bills it would take, but it looked slightly younger than the gas pump I just left, so I started digging through the car for quarters. Luckily I found some sticky ones in my cup holder - just enough to buy one bottle of water! Ta da! I served Melise and myself a long drink and then hit the road again.
As we drove, I doled out the cheerios that I always carry in my purse. One for Melise, one for mommy. It kept us happy for a while. About ten miles outside of Sterling, though, Melise was done with the driving! She started screaming and hollering and it was all I could do to ignore my motherly instincts and watch the road. I kept reassuring her that it was just ten minutes more, no longer.
I lied about the ten minutes. When we got off the interstate, we still had to drive across Sterling to get to Walmart. That's no biggy, it should just take a few minutes . . . unless you hit every single red light! I believe there are seven lights between the interstate and Walmart and we stopped at every single one. Melise bellowed the whole way. I was sweating from the stress and cussing at every car under my breath to keep on moving!
I don't think I have ever been so relieved to see Walmart. I dropped the tire off with the Tire and Lube people and ran inside to find some food. Melise was a little dazed by our new environment, but turned to happiness as soon as we were settled back in the car with our cheesesticks and fig newtons.
I had also bought Melise some Take-and-Toss sippy cups so she could have her own water. First I had to read the directions on how to use the darn things - no joke! Then I served her up a glass of water. I gave it a sample sip and got nothing. Examining it, I determined that the vent hole was impressed in the lid, but wasn't ever punctured. I grabbed a nearby pen and broke the hole open (its very thin plastic). Sampling it again, I got very little water. I decided to use the pen to open up some of the drink holes too. I took a drink and determined it was perfect. Handing it over to Melise, she was very satisfied with her new cup.
At this point, I had a half-hour to burn before I went back to get Roy. I decided to run a few errands. I put Melise back in her car seat and gave her the cup to keep enjoying. I headed back down Main Street to the giant 5-way intersection. Okay, I know there are bigger, more intimidating intersections in the world, but this is plenty for me! Now, Sterling has streets that run north-south east-west AND it has streets that run parallel and perpendicular to the river. The two sets of streets meet right around Main St and have to merge together somehow! This intersection is one of those merging places. I think it used to just have a light in one direction (locals please correct me if I'm wrong) and a railroad track ran diagonally through it. They removed the railroad track and put the light in to govern all five ways. If I ever have to turn diagonally, I pray that I have someone to follow through the intersection!
A block away from the five-way, I actually chickened out, turned onto a smaller street and zipped along to the little street that enters the 5-way at a diagonal. At the end of that street is a drive-through coffee house. I'm a bit of an addict who hasn't been able to afford her own addiction, so this was a special treat I served myself in light of the stressful morning. As I waited for my drink to get made, I watched Melise in the back seat (I have a little mirror to see her without turning around). She was playing with her sippy cup. She held it over her body and tipped it over. It dripped down onto her chest.
I turned around and asked Melise what she was doing. She smiled and jabbered and held the sippy cup up again to drip. I put a hand out to her chest - it was soaked! Oh my goodness! I didn't bring the diaper bag, so I didn't have a change of clothes! I tried to take the cup away, but she let out a scream. I decided the damage was already done, so I let her keep the cup.
I drove downtown to a little music store, watching Melise drip water on herself the whole way. I pulled her out of the car. I was right, she was soaked. I wrapped her up good in her jacket and held the wet part to me as we ran into the store. I had been wanting a Sesame Street CD for Melise to listen to in the car for quite a while. I was disappointed when I found out that our Walmart stopped carrying children's music. I whined to my husband about where I was going to get music now and he said, "At the downtown store, of course." There's a music store downtown? Sure enough! Unfortunately, he carried limited children's music, but he promised to start filling out his racks with it again. With a few other CDs to try, I pulled Melise away from the mirrored showcase where she was admiring herself and ran back outside again.
I was starting to run out of time, but I just couldn't get over how wet Melise was. I just wouldn't be a responsible parent if I let her turn to a prune in her current outfit. So I jogged one block down from the music store to my favorite children's clothes store - Karousel Kids (shameless plug). It's a kids consignment store that's been around about a year. I ran in, saying hi to the owner, Leslie, on my way to the 12-18mo section. Leslie called to me that some of my own stuff had sold, so I had some credit. I grabbed the first pants and onesie I saw and took them to the counter. Luckily my purchase was less than my credit, so I was back out the door in a flash!
Melise got a quick diaper change (I always have diapers in my purse, both clean and dirty) and a change into dry clothes and then back in the car seat. I thought she would yell at me for being put in the car seat, but she only reached out for her cup, which I quickly confiscated. I whizzed out of town, this time finding all the green lights, and jumped onto the interstate.
The next hour-and-a-half of driving was just the opposite of the first drive: everything went smoothly. Melise slept the whole trip. We were both well-fed and hydrated. And we made it to each destination without obstacles. I got Roy from school back to his car and then he was off for his half of the adventure!
I hope you have all learned from my little adventure how much trouble flat tires can be! Especially when you live in the country. But then, it was actually kinda fun if you don't think about the long drives, the pajamas, the lack of food and water, the unhappy and soaked baby, the waste of gas . . . but I got a coffee, some music, and a story to tell on my blog. I think I'll just be the optimist this once and call it a good trip.
So, at 7:30 am I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to find the exact perfect moment to get up. The phone made up my mind for me by ringing very loudly. I scampered across the house trying not to wake the baby. Our caller ID showed my husband's cell number - he left for his teaching job at 7am and should have been almost there by this point. I answered a little gruffly, partly because I had that gruff morning voice you get when you first wake up and partly because I thought he had dragged me out of bed to tell me something interesting he'd seen on his way to work that just couldn't wait until the afternoon.
He said, "I have two flat tires. You need to come get me." He had to tell me this a few times because my brain was still half-asleep. Then I ran around the house trying to do the absolute minimum to get ready so Roy would miss as little teaching time as possible. I stayed in my pajama pants, but pulled on a shirt and sweater. I put on deodorant and tied my hair back. I picked up my sleeping angel and changed her diaper. I half-thought about putting her in the car in just her onesie, but then looked at the thermometer that read 38 F. She received multiple layers plus hat and shoes. I put shoes on myself, grabbed my purse, and flew out the door! I was ready in ten minutes - super!
My car was an icebox. I started driving down our road with my windshield covered in a sheet of ice! The heater was blasting on the windshield, but only enough to give me a little opening at the bottom through which to see the road. It took the whole mile-and-a-half drive to the highway for it to thaw with me driving at a very slow speed and hunched down in the seat to see out the windshield. Once on the highway with a clear windshield, I hit the gas.
Roy works at a high school in Ovid, which is a 45-min drive away from us. The first part of the drive is along Hwy 59, connecting Haxtun to Sedgwick. That's the highway that Roy was stuck on. I called Roy and asked where exactly he was. He said he was at a certain family's place that's between the two sets of curves in the highway near big grain bins. Easy enough.
Now when I say there are two sets of curves, I don't mean little curves. Whoever designed this highway was very polite to landowners and didn't cut diagonal across anyone's land. This particular highway only knows how to go straight north-south or east-west. The towns it connects, however, are not straight north-south of each other, so somewhere it has to turn. There are four big turns in the highway between Haxtun and Sedgwick and they're about as close to 90-degree turns as the engineers could design them. So the first set of curves changes you from going north to going east and then after a few miles it turns you back north. The second set does the same thing and then you're lined up with Sedgwick! Now if someone was to set you driving off north on this highway and not warn you about the big turns, you might get a little anxious after the first turn and wonder why you're going east when your destination is to the north and ask yourself how you could've gotten lost without ever leaving the highway . . . but that's probably just overly anxious people like me who feel that way.
Anyhow, back to the story. Twenty minutes into my drive I was past the first set of curves and could see the big grain bins in front of me. I slowed down, watching the ditch along the highway for Roy's car. I drove past the bins. I picked up my cell phone to call Roy, but he was already calling me to tell me I had drove past him. It turns out he wasn't just along the highway near the bins, he was at the place that has the bins. Silly me, I'm such a city girl for never thinking of pulling into another family's place. Somewhere in my mind I'm convinced that sirens are going to go off if I drive up someone's driveway without invitation. But then, Roy's family has known them for a long time and it was much safer for his car to sit in their yard then along the highway.
I drove up next to Roy's car. He threw one of his busted tires into my backseat (my trunk was occupied by a large stroller). In the car and back on the road, Roy explained my next task to me. He needed me to take the busted tire to Walmart in Sterling to get replaced and be back to pick him up at school at 11:30 am (they only had a half-day of school today). Then I would take him back to his car so he could put the new tire and his full-sized spare on it so that he could drive back to Sterling again to replace the rest of his tires! What a plan!
It was at this point that I did the math in my head. Please picture a triangle in your mind. Our home, Roy's work, and Walmart in Sterling make up the three points of the triangle. They are all about a 45-minute drive from each other. Driving Roy to school, I ran the times through my head and decided that I really didn't have time to go home and change. That's when I first regretted rushing out the door in my pajama pants and not grabbing any breakfast. I had also noticed that my gas tank was almost empty.
Leaving Roy's school, I went first to a gas station - the unmanned kind (like this one). When we drove past it on the way to school it was invitingly empty. When I got there, of course, there was a line. The person in front of me took forever and I blamed her gas-guzzling SUV. But then I forgave her when I hooked the old pump up to my own car. It was a funny pump like I had never seen (and now I regret not taking the time to grab my camera on the way out the door, too!) and it slowly chugged-chugged-chugged out the 10 gallons my car needed. I did a very impatient dance outside the car in my pjs while waving to Melise who was starting to get grumpy that we weren't eating breakfast and watching Sesame Street!
Getting back in the car, I assured my baby girl that breakfast was on the way. I drove down the street to a soda vending machine. Looking in my wallet, I only had a $20. The machine didn't say what size bills it would take, but it looked slightly younger than the gas pump I just left, so I started digging through the car for quarters. Luckily I found some sticky ones in my cup holder - just enough to buy one bottle of water! Ta da! I served Melise and myself a long drink and then hit the road again.
As we drove, I doled out the cheerios that I always carry in my purse. One for Melise, one for mommy. It kept us happy for a while. About ten miles outside of Sterling, though, Melise was done with the driving! She started screaming and hollering and it was all I could do to ignore my motherly instincts and watch the road. I kept reassuring her that it was just ten minutes more, no longer.
I lied about the ten minutes. When we got off the interstate, we still had to drive across Sterling to get to Walmart. That's no biggy, it should just take a few minutes . . . unless you hit every single red light! I believe there are seven lights between the interstate and Walmart and we stopped at every single one. Melise bellowed the whole way. I was sweating from the stress and cussing at every car under my breath to keep on moving!
I don't think I have ever been so relieved to see Walmart. I dropped the tire off with the Tire and Lube people and ran inside to find some food. Melise was a little dazed by our new environment, but turned to happiness as soon as we were settled back in the car with our cheesesticks and fig newtons.
I had also bought Melise some Take-and-Toss sippy cups so she could have her own water. First I had to read the directions on how to use the darn things - no joke! Then I served her up a glass of water. I gave it a sample sip and got nothing. Examining it, I determined that the vent hole was impressed in the lid, but wasn't ever punctured. I grabbed a nearby pen and broke the hole open (its very thin plastic). Sampling it again, I got very little water. I decided to use the pen to open up some of the drink holes too. I took a drink and determined it was perfect. Handing it over to Melise, she was very satisfied with her new cup.
At this point, I had a half-hour to burn before I went back to get Roy. I decided to run a few errands. I put Melise back in her car seat and gave her the cup to keep enjoying. I headed back down Main Street to the giant 5-way intersection. Okay, I know there are bigger, more intimidating intersections in the world, but this is plenty for me! Now, Sterling has streets that run north-south east-west AND it has streets that run parallel and perpendicular to the river. The two sets of streets meet right around Main St and have to merge together somehow! This intersection is one of those merging places. I think it used to just have a light in one direction (locals please correct me if I'm wrong) and a railroad track ran diagonally through it. They removed the railroad track and put the light in to govern all five ways. If I ever have to turn diagonally, I pray that I have someone to follow through the intersection!
A block away from the five-way, I actually chickened out, turned onto a smaller street and zipped along to the little street that enters the 5-way at a diagonal. At the end of that street is a drive-through coffee house. I'm a bit of an addict who hasn't been able to afford her own addiction, so this was a special treat I served myself in light of the stressful morning. As I waited for my drink to get made, I watched Melise in the back seat (I have a little mirror to see her without turning around). She was playing with her sippy cup. She held it over her body and tipped it over. It dripped down onto her chest.
I turned around and asked Melise what she was doing. She smiled and jabbered and held the sippy cup up again to drip. I put a hand out to her chest - it was soaked! Oh my goodness! I didn't bring the diaper bag, so I didn't have a change of clothes! I tried to take the cup away, but she let out a scream. I decided the damage was already done, so I let her keep the cup.
I drove downtown to a little music store, watching Melise drip water on herself the whole way. I pulled her out of the car. I was right, she was soaked. I wrapped her up good in her jacket and held the wet part to me as we ran into the store. I had been wanting a Sesame Street CD for Melise to listen to in the car for quite a while. I was disappointed when I found out that our Walmart stopped carrying children's music. I whined to my husband about where I was going to get music now and he said, "At the downtown store, of course." There's a music store downtown? Sure enough! Unfortunately, he carried limited children's music, but he promised to start filling out his racks with it again. With a few other CDs to try, I pulled Melise away from the mirrored showcase where she was admiring herself and ran back outside again.
I was starting to run out of time, but I just couldn't get over how wet Melise was. I just wouldn't be a responsible parent if I let her turn to a prune in her current outfit. So I jogged one block down from the music store to my favorite children's clothes store - Karousel Kids (shameless plug). It's a kids consignment store that's been around about a year. I ran in, saying hi to the owner, Leslie, on my way to the 12-18mo section. Leslie called to me that some of my own stuff had sold, so I had some credit. I grabbed the first pants and onesie I saw and took them to the counter. Luckily my purchase was less than my credit, so I was back out the door in a flash!
Melise got a quick diaper change (I always have diapers in my purse, both clean and dirty) and a change into dry clothes and then back in the car seat. I thought she would yell at me for being put in the car seat, but she only reached out for her cup, which I quickly confiscated. I whizzed out of town, this time finding all the green lights, and jumped onto the interstate.
The next hour-and-a-half of driving was just the opposite of the first drive: everything went smoothly. Melise slept the whole trip. We were both well-fed and hydrated. And we made it to each destination without obstacles. I got Roy from school back to his car and then he was off for his half of the adventure!
I hope you have all learned from my little adventure how much trouble flat tires can be! Especially when you live in the country. But then, it was actually kinda fun if you don't think about the long drives, the pajamas, the lack of food and water, the unhappy and soaked baby, the waste of gas . . . but I got a coffee, some music, and a story to tell on my blog. I think I'll just be the optimist this once and call it a good trip.
Posted by Susan at October 9, 2009 
Categories: Rural Living
Tags: ovid haxtun flat tire clothes sterling consignment sedgwick pajamas walmart coffee sippy cup
Categories: Rural Living
Tags: ovid haxtun flat tire clothes sterling consignment sedgwick pajamas walmart coffee sippy cup
I love Karousel Kids too! And I have also done the "sippy cup test and modification"...only to soon have a soaking wet toddler!
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