I wanted to be mad but I've been expecting it for some time, honestly. I believe the tires on my Excursion are somewhere older than six years. I have been hesitating to change them out because other stuff just seems more pressing and I am not making it a priority. Not to mention I am in the middle of a 3 payment plan of $800 a month for the repairs I was convinced were necessary when I just wanted an oil change and an inspection for my tag a couple months ago.
I came out in a bit of a hurry, it is my last day of the week and I really didn't want to be there as long as I was, but I guess I do have to work if I want money. After my shift, I walked out and I could immediately tell the back was lurching weirdly. As I got closer, I could see the rear driver side tire was flat. I called Wife to let her know what was going on, I had told her I would be home in 15-20 minutes and now this was going to slow me down a bit. I was mad and thought I would take Wife on her offer to come pick me up, but then what? I would still have to go back and deal with the tire, and it would be worse to do that during the day with the parking lot full of cars and the sun out, no thank you. I also once had to change a tire on the shoulder of I-37, coming back from Corpus Christi and that was super stressful. I always think back to a high school friend who got his leg crushed and amputated by a car that hit him while he was pushing a car back home. Of all the places where I could have been, I guess the empty parking lot at work is a nice alternative to having to deal with something like this at home.
I wasn't even sure if the spare would hold air, I believe it might be the same tire from when we bought the vehicle back in 2004. I had never used the spare tire for this vehicle. We've been lucky, in general, I have only dealt with a couple of flat tires in the 35 plus years I have been driving. They did used to be a regular thing the three summers I was roofing with my uncle. We would use my parent's older truck to dispose of the old shingles and it got so common I would carry a patch kit and fix them on the fly. That was a long time ago and I would call myself reckless because no way would I do that now. I go in and install new tires about every three years on cars that Wife and the family drive in. I honestly am about the only one that rides around in the Excursion, other than dropping off my kid at school, but that is a slow backroad drive, we never even get up to 50mph.
Anyways, it was a nice feeling of manhood that I was able to change out the tire by myself. Wife wanted me to call AAA or a tow service. I asked her "why?" I can do this myself, I just wish I had a little better light. I had to rely on the light of my phone, but I got it done in about 20 minutes. I have to put everything back in its place in the back of the Excursion but I'll do that after I go and install four new tires tomorrow, might as well. I'll be driving it for at least a few more years.
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