Blowouts suck...

Thursday, August 8, 2013

I’d taken Jack to work at 6 a.m. because he needed to leave early for his college orientation that afternoon.  I was making excellent time on a reasonably deserted freeway as I drove home, thinking I’d have a chance to get some more sleep before having to get ready for work.  I was cruising at 70 mph when suddenly the Toyota started shaking madly.  I maintained control of it with some difficulty and pulled to the shoulder reasonably certain I’d had a blowout.  I checked traffic and opened the door to investigate.  I found the driver’s side rear tire with a massive hole in the side wall, which meant I’d have to change the tire closest to the freeway traffic.  Damn.

I pulled open the trunk to find that the spare was almost flat, but had little choice but to mount it.  Twenty minutes later I was driving the remaining five miles on 271 to the Wilson Mills exit at 50 mph.  I pulled into the Marathon station and spent a dollar putting air in my tire…and I HATE paying for air.

I spent the evening preparing for my kayak trip Saturday morning.  I reviewed the put in and take out points and wondered about the conditions I’d find and what progress I would make.  On any river or an interior lake, I can typically move at 4-5 knots per hour.  Lake Erie was an entirely different story.  Depending on the direction of the wind and the size of the waves, my speed could vary from about 1 knot to as high as 5 knots.  And no weather forecast could accurately predict conditions on the lake for a time much beyond an hour.  I decided that planning trumped training and took the night off.