Birds of a feather

So, the other morning I blew the bead on the front tire when I missed the little ramp at the end of my driveway and dropped off the curb (barely). Come to find out the tires on the car are really deteriorated, despite looking like pretty much new Eagles, and the bead was just shot and couldn't be repaired. I think the car must have spent a lot of time in the sun, just sitting and splitting. So, my plan was to just run the spare for a week or two and upgrade to a 15 inch wheel combo so that I can convert to discs down the road.

Tonight, driving with both of my sons, the spare failed! Fortunately I was like a 3/4 mile or so from home . . . and that spare just had an old steel wheel in it . . . and we're expecting the hurricane tomorrow and I don't want the car anywhere but the garage . . . and I had the little guys with me . . . anyway, I did a quick assessment and decided to just roll on home on that wheel, SLOW. The tricky thing is that it's a fairly dark and narrow road.

About halfway there a guy pulled up behind me in a truck and turned on his hazards, and followed me all the way home to my driveway. I got out to thank him and he said no worries - he owns a 41 ford coupe and his father has a 63 Galaxie and he knows all about limping home. What a deal!

Also turns out he was a fireman - now, that's twice in the last few months I've been helped out by a fireman here in town. The night that drunk hit my car it was two firemen (brothers) who saw it and tried chasing the guy into the next town!

Anyway, just kind of a feel-good interaction I thought I'd share. Car's home safe, secure, and in one piece, and tomorrow I'm ordering 15" Magnum 500s and rubber to match - I love it when projects get moved up out of "necessity." ("Geez honey, the car's just not safe!"[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 69convert on 9/18/03 11:51am ]</font>