This weekend, Kristin and I took a little trip to Montgomery to see my family. I have not seen them since the wedding and since my sister is pregnant I really wanted to go for a visit. We decided to leave as soon as Kristin got off work on Friday. The trip to Montgomery usually takes right at seven hours, but…

Yup, flat tires. “Tires? I only see one flat tire.” Please allow me to take you through the twenty-four hour period that led to this infuriating experience. Thursday I decided that it would be necessary to get all new tires on my car before we left on Friday. We had already planned to get new tires this month as mine were extremely bald. I decide to take a little trip to the “tire professionals” at Wal-Mart. They change all four of my tires in a very timely manner and I am very pleased with both the tires and the price.

Fast forward only twenty-four hours. We’re on I-75 heading north toward Alabama when a guy pulls up to me and shouts, “I think your tire is going flat”. I have not yet felt or heard anything when suddenly the steering wheel began to shake as though the car were responding to the trucker’s claim. I pulled over and began to assess the situation. The tire was completely flat. I popped the trunk and began unscrewing my spare. I would like to interject at this point to say that whoever invented the “donut” spare tire is a moron. The donut can hardly even be considered a temporary fix. —Okay, back to the story. so I unscrew the spare and pull it out only to be horrified by the empty space under the tire where the jack is supposed to be. I have never had a flat in this car and had no idea that the jack was missing.

Enter nice (but clueless) cop. He pulls up and I explain that I have no jack and ask if I can borrow his. He gets into his trunk and hands me the jack and then says, “Give me a second and I’ll find the rest of it.” To which I reply, “This is all of it.” To which he then replies, “You think?” At this point I’m kind of wishing he would just drive away. So I use his jack to change the tire. The whole time he is making comments like, “Wow, I can’t believe that my jack works on your tires.” Trust me, I am no automotive genius but I do know that jacks and lug nuts…standard. Anyway, we get the tire changed and we’re on our way at a top speed of 45mph (the highest speed the high-quality donut can handle). What luck! A tire shop just off the ramp! They get my car up in no time and replace the tires. Tires you say? I though you only blew one. Well, when they got the car up they noticed several nails embedded into my other rear tire. Unrepairable. They were in the sidewalls. So, let’s just say that I spent more that night on two tire than I had less then twenty-four hours earlier on four.

Update: I went to Wal-Mart and they refunded me for the two rear tires!