Jen and her Flat Tires

Several years ago I was on my way to meet a gal in a different town at night. The highway I needed to drive was a dark road between tons and tons of Indiana cornfields. Out of the blue my car jerked, and I immediately realized I had a flat tire. I believe I had my cell phone, but there was no one to call. Therefore, I reached into the glove compartment, pulled out the car manual, and started reading about how to change a tire. Mind you, my car was not a small car. At this time, I was driving an SUV (an Oldsmobile Bravada). After 15-20 minutes of reading and then hoping someone would stop and save me from this task, I finally got out of my car. My spare tire was supported on the bottom of the car - the first step was to figure out how to get it down. As I was trying to figure that out, a policeman finally stopped to help. In fact, he did the whole job for me. Hallelujah!! When he was done he told me that he had driven by before. “But I saw you were just reading, so I kept on driving.” I told him, “I was reading the MANUAL!” Ha.

My tire changing adventures did not stop there. For some reason, not too long after I was once again single, I had a rash of flat tires with this same SUV. Recently, my mother sent me a letter that I had sent after the third flat tire. It was written in true “Jen Adventure” style, and I thought you might enjoy it.

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JENNY CHANGES A FLAT TIRE or THREE FLATS IN THREE MONTHS

January 28, 2003

Ahhh!  What is it with my car??? I totally caused the first flat by driving over a curb as I made a rapid and not so smart turn (in November).  The second flat (a couple weeks ago) actually was a slow leak from a nail lodged in the sidewall.  Today's flat is still a mystery.  By the way, all three flats happened at different locations on the car - at this rate, I still have the driver's side back tire to blow out on me. (I’m knocking on wood right now!)

This time I did what I wished I had done back in November:  I changed my own tire!!!  All by myself!!!  YEAH!  Ok, I had directions to follow (attached to the car - so I had to keep going to the back of the car to read the next step).  Oh yeah - and I had 3-year old Rachel - my never-ceasing music of encouragement. "When are you going to get in trouble Mommy?"  Her comment (which was repeated many times) was initiated by my words of instruction to her.  You see, just before I started the "jack" part of my adventure, I thought of all of those stories told about cars falling on people.  So, I put Rachel on an X (a place where she could watch but was out of all danger) and then proceeded to tell her what to do if Mommy falls asleep and cannot be "woken up."  (Basically I told her that if something bad happened, she was supposed to go through the parking lot - watching out for cars - and into the church - my flat happened at preschool - and then to scream until someone came to help.)  I think she was actually kind of excited about the "screaming part".  (ha)  Finally I told her to stop asking when I was going to need help - that if I needed help, I would be close to Death!

This experience was quite fun!  Rachel and I would cheer and dance when a major (and difficult) task was completed.  I would grunt loudly with each bolt that I loosened. Rachel finally asked, "are you in a lot of pain?"  I laughed. "No, I just think the noise makes it easier to turn these things."  Oldsmobile provides a nice plastic mat that I can put on the ground and use to keep myself from getting dirty.  I bet they didn't even think about a 3-year old who would jump on the slush right beside the mat and (oh yes) right beside my head (my head was somewhat under the car as I was trying to dislodge the spare tire from the bottom of the car!)  :-)  Into the back of the car went that mat once it became wet on both sides.  Oldsmobile also provides these nice orange work gloves - great for a 3-year old who has a hat & coat but no gloves in a 34 degree temperature.  As for me - 3 band aids were applied afterwards to replace the skin that is still on the road. --- It took a little trip around the learning curve to understand how to efficiently use the lever that lifts the jack - my knuckles hit the ground on the down turn more than once.

But I Did it!!!  Yeah!  I may never choose to change a tire again…or I may.  I wondered as I drove the rest of the day what poor soul by the side of the road might be enthusiastic about my newly acquired skill! It only took me 30 minutes to complete my change of tires; and that was with reading each instruction about 3 times before proceeding to the next task.  By the way, the preschool director did come over and offer the services of a "Daddy" that was at the preschool that day.  I thanked her but said I wanted to try it on my own - I was very excited about trying something new and perceptionally difficult.  When I went in to the school after completing the task (so that dirt and blood could be erased from my hands, coat, pants, Rachel...) the director was the first person I saw.  "I did it!" I cried.  She came right over and gave me a hug!  :-)  And then she found some band aids.  A bit later, Rachel came over and unsolicitly said, "I'm proud of you Mommy!"  Now that was worth any bit of blood, slush and grunting!!

I did have a small talk with God about these flat tires - "So, is this what you wanted me to do?  To change a tire by myself?  It only took 3 flats to get my attention.  I did it.  So, you can stop flattening my tires now.” 

I hope you all had a great (flatless) day today!!!
Love, Jenny
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Being able to say that I changed a tire has been great. Since that time, I have had to change two more tires on that Bravada. (Why??? I am not sure.) Once was on New Years Day 2005. The second time happened a week or two later when I was on I-69 between tons of cornfields in the dark after 9PM. That was scary, I had nobody to call, and this time NO ONE stopped to help. Let me tell you, semi trucks passing you at 70 mph can really shake things up! I also learned why it is so very important to try to get over to the passing lane when you are passing someone stopped by the side of the road. I thought a couple times that I was going to get hit!

The tire I had to change was the driver’s side front tire. I did it!! It took me awhile because everything was so dark. As I started working the jack, I saw how tippy the car was becoming. I instructed my two children to get out, run down the bank, jump over a tiny little creek, and stand by the fence that separated the highway land from the farmer’s land. I agree -- I was probably a bit paranoid, but I wanted to make sure that if I rolled my truck my children would still be safe. You know, I was a bit perturbed that I had to change my tire on New Year’s Day, but that was one of the best things that could have ever happened. I choose to believe it was a God thing. With that practice, I was able to change my 3rd ever tire in the dark with traffic passing at alarmingly close distances. By the way, after this flat tire, I finally purchased AAA insurance!

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