Showing posts with label vehicles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vehicles. Show all posts
Monday, January 3, 2011
Friday, August 13, 2010
Travel Tips for Surviving the Family Road Trip
We've got a road trip planned next week. We're cheap/frugal/poor, so we don't usually fly anywhere, we just go places within driving distance. We do road trips more often than anything. We also don't have a TV/DVD in the car and our kids don't have Nintendo DS's, mp3's, or anything electronic. And usually we all arrive unscathed. Well, at least we're all still alive when we get there. So before we leave, here's a few tips to help your family survive those long road trips.
Here are a couple of ways to save some cash on your trip:
1. Stay with family or friends. We'll be gone 7 days and only one night is in a hotel. Hotels aren't cheap. Even cheap hotels aren't cheap. Especially when you have to leave in the middle of the night after finding bed bugs crawling on your pillows and check into a nicer hotel. Yep, done it.
Family or friends are usually glad to offer you a place to stay if they know you're coming through town, and sometimes they'll even feed you! And even if they can't have you stay, it's a good idea to stop and visit with them so they don't hear on Facebook that you came through their town and didn't even call! Don't be totally cheap here, do offer to pay for food, help with chores, or whatever they might need while you are there. And of course offer to return the favor if they're ever in your area.
2. Pack food and snacks. Make some cookies before you go. Or rice crispy treats. Or muffins. Try to avoid foods that get smashed or melt easily. Taking the family out to eat three times a day for a week will add a TON of money to your travel costs. Plan on eating out a few times, but pack some sandwich stuff, bagels and yogurt for breakfast, and snacks so you don't have to buy everything on the road. You might even pack a camp stove and some Mountain House meals. If it's a long trip, usually half way through you can hit a grocery store for more bread, fruit, etc. You'll want to re-stock the ice in the cooler anyway, and it's still cheaper than eating out.
3. Don't drive the gas guzzler. This may sound like a given, but if you're taking a camping trip, maybe the roads are good enough to drive your car instead of your suburban. Give it a thought before loading up the big ol' beast and spending three times as much for gas.
And now for some ideas to keep the kids from killing each other in the car.
1. Play classic games like I Spy, 20 Questions, etc. One we like is "I'm going on a picnic" where we take turns saying things we'll take on our picnic--one for each letter of the alphabet. Then each turn you have to remember everybody else's picnic items before adding the next letter item. Fun. With smaller kids you can do this one and skip having to recite all the other letter items. You can twist up I Spy by using colors, "starts with" some letter, or using things inside or outside the vehicle (I Spy outside in a Wyoming snowstorm using colors is pretty limited, but add the inside of the car and things get a bit better).
2. Write every passenger's name on one car tire with sidewalk chalk before you leave. Every time you stop, see whose name is on the top of the tire. Celebrate with a treat or something or just keep a count of who ends up on the top the most.
3. Play telephone. Or have one person write a word with their finger on the next person's arm and pass the word that way across the seat. Have the last person guess what the original word was. OR write letters on each other's backs and guess what they are. It's harder than it sounds.
4. Get a map of where you are going. If you're ahead of the game, you can order maps from each state's tourism department. Otherwise, buy a map. If you've got an "Are we there yet?" kid, this is $5 well spent. Mark your route. Have them navigate or count towns or answer questions about where we are.
5. Plan some surprises. My mom would circle random towns on the trip and when we got to that town she'd pull a "Razzle Dazzle Travel Gift" out of the trunk. These were things like a treat, or a small toy, lego kit, something to keep us busy for a while and break up the monotony. A couple of my favorites were plastic army men and rubber bands so we could set them up and shoot them down (in a van before the days of seatbelt laws) and bubbles we could use with the air conditioner vents. Total driver distractions, but SO fun as a kid. You can probably come up with things that aren't so dangerous ;)
5. Stop at rest stops and let the kids run around. Yes, this adds time to your trip, but kids need exercise! You can read the Historical marker while they run around the car 29 times.
6. Take some magazines. Crossword puzzles or word searches for the older kids. Other game magazines are good also. Magazines and books to read are also good if your kids don't get carsick. One game that kept our kids busy for hours used a magazine and a sticker. Stick the sticker somewhere in the magazine and have the kid find it. They might want to place the sticker somewhere else and have you find it (if you're not driving) or you can just re-stick it somewhere different for them to find or have them hide it for each other.
7. Sing songs. Get a handful of CD's or load up your ipod with music you all can enjoy and sing away. The people driving next to you won't notice, I promise. Well, unless you have your windows down.
8. Give the kids a pencil and paper and let them draw what they see or write notes or draw monsters or whatever. As simple as this is, it has been a lifesaver on some of our trips. One paper game we played was where one person drew the head of a monster and folded the paper over, then the next person drew a body and they got to open it and look at their creation and laugh. Kept them busy for quite a while.
9. Do some research about where you are traveling, or have the kids do some and be the tour guide.
10. Play license plate games. Find a license plate from as many states as possible and keep a list. Make words from the letters on a license plate. So if the plate is 142MNY, you could use MNY to make a word like MoNeY or you could use MNY to make a phrase like My New Yucca.
11. Let the kids take their pillows, stuffed animals, etc. and have blankets available for enforced quiet time in the car. You'll probably need some. We usually offer some reward for so many minutes of silence. It's totally worth it.
Just so you know, these are not fail proof. We still have the "she's touching me" and "he's breathing my air" times. But we're a lot better equipped to handle them if we've got an arsenal of activities and ideas to keep boredom at bay in the car.
I will be gone next week celebrating 15 sweet years with my hubby and a couple of birthdays and the end of summer break, but still have posts scheduled that I'm sure you'll enjoy, so be sure to check back in. We'll be playing I Spy. :)
Here are a couple of ways to save some cash on your trip:
1. Stay with family or friends. We'll be gone 7 days and only one night is in a hotel. Hotels aren't cheap. Even cheap hotels aren't cheap. Especially when you have to leave in the middle of the night after finding bed bugs crawling on your pillows and check into a nicer hotel. Yep, done it.
Family or friends are usually glad to offer you a place to stay if they know you're coming through town, and sometimes they'll even feed you! And even if they can't have you stay, it's a good idea to stop and visit with them so they don't hear on Facebook that you came through their town and didn't even call! Don't be totally cheap here, do offer to pay for food, help with chores, or whatever they might need while you are there. And of course offer to return the favor if they're ever in your area.
2. Pack food and snacks. Make some cookies before you go. Or rice crispy treats. Or muffins. Try to avoid foods that get smashed or melt easily. Taking the family out to eat three times a day for a week will add a TON of money to your travel costs. Plan on eating out a few times, but pack some sandwich stuff, bagels and yogurt for breakfast, and snacks so you don't have to buy everything on the road. You might even pack a camp stove and some Mountain House meals. If it's a long trip, usually half way through you can hit a grocery store for more bread, fruit, etc. You'll want to re-stock the ice in the cooler anyway, and it's still cheaper than eating out.
3. Don't drive the gas guzzler. This may sound like a given, but if you're taking a camping trip, maybe the roads are good enough to drive your car instead of your suburban. Give it a thought before loading up the big ol' beast and spending three times as much for gas.
And now for some ideas to keep the kids from killing each other in the car.
1. Play classic games like I Spy, 20 Questions, etc. One we like is "I'm going on a picnic" where we take turns saying things we'll take on our picnic--one for each letter of the alphabet. Then each turn you have to remember everybody else's picnic items before adding the next letter item. Fun. With smaller kids you can do this one and skip having to recite all the other letter items. You can twist up I Spy by using colors, "starts with" some letter, or using things inside or outside the vehicle (I Spy outside in a Wyoming snowstorm using colors is pretty limited, but add the inside of the car and things get a bit better).
2. Write every passenger's name on one car tire with sidewalk chalk before you leave. Every time you stop, see whose name is on the top of the tire. Celebrate with a treat or something or just keep a count of who ends up on the top the most.
3. Play telephone. Or have one person write a word with their finger on the next person's arm and pass the word that way across the seat. Have the last person guess what the original word was. OR write letters on each other's backs and guess what they are. It's harder than it sounds.
4. Get a map of where you are going. If you're ahead of the game, you can order maps from each state's tourism department. Otherwise, buy a map. If you've got an "Are we there yet?" kid, this is $5 well spent. Mark your route. Have them navigate or count towns or answer questions about where we are.
5. Plan some surprises. My mom would circle random towns on the trip and when we got to that town she'd pull a "Razzle Dazzle Travel Gift" out of the trunk. These were things like a treat, or a small toy, lego kit, something to keep us busy for a while and break up the monotony. A couple of my favorites were plastic army men and rubber bands so we could set them up and shoot them down (in a van before the days of seatbelt laws) and bubbles we could use with the air conditioner vents. Total driver distractions, but SO fun as a kid. You can probably come up with things that aren't so dangerous ;)
5. Stop at rest stops and let the kids run around. Yes, this adds time to your trip, but kids need exercise! You can read the Historical marker while they run around the car 29 times.
6. Take some magazines. Crossword puzzles or word searches for the older kids. Other game magazines are good also. Magazines and books to read are also good if your kids don't get carsick. One game that kept our kids busy for hours used a magazine and a sticker. Stick the sticker somewhere in the magazine and have the kid find it. They might want to place the sticker somewhere else and have you find it (if you're not driving) or you can just re-stick it somewhere different for them to find or have them hide it for each other.
7. Sing songs. Get a handful of CD's or load up your ipod with music you all can enjoy and sing away. The people driving next to you won't notice, I promise. Well, unless you have your windows down.
8. Give the kids a pencil and paper and let them draw what they see or write notes or draw monsters or whatever. As simple as this is, it has been a lifesaver on some of our trips. One paper game we played was where one person drew the head of a monster and folded the paper over, then the next person drew a body and they got to open it and look at their creation and laugh. Kept them busy for quite a while.
9. Do some research about where you are traveling, or have the kids do some and be the tour guide.
10. Play license plate games. Find a license plate from as many states as possible and keep a list. Make words from the letters on a license plate. So if the plate is 142MNY, you could use MNY to make a word like MoNeY or you could use MNY to make a phrase like My New Yucca.
11. Let the kids take their pillows, stuffed animals, etc. and have blankets available for enforced quiet time in the car. You'll probably need some. We usually offer some reward for so many minutes of silence. It's totally worth it.
Just so you know, these are not fail proof. We still have the "she's touching me" and "he's breathing my air" times. But we're a lot better equipped to handle them if we've got an arsenal of activities and ideas to keep boredom at bay in the car.
I will be gone next week celebrating 15 sweet years with my hubby and a couple of birthdays and the end of summer break, but still have posts scheduled that I'm sure you'll enjoy, so be sure to check back in. We'll be playing I Spy. :)
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
New Car, New Car Kit
We recently added a second vehicle to our family. This is a good thing. I'm seeing some substantial fuel savings over driving the suburban everywhere we go. This car has been in the plans for a few weeks, so I started gathering gear for a vehicle emergency kit before we even bought it. Who wants to drive around in a naked car? Get some gear in your trunk!
Here's the contents. It's not perfect, and wouldn't make a very good bug out kit for longer than a day or two, but it's got most everything I need in it for the emergencies I am most likely to face.
Water
Emergency Food brick (the other one is still in the suburban)
Hard candy
Basic first aid--bandaids, tylenol, excedrin, kid tylenol, etc.
Hand crank flashlight with charger I can plug my phone into
Hand crank radio
Hand sanitizer
Toilet paper
Baby wipes (they're actually in the front of the car where they're more accessible)
Assortment of feminine hygeine
Pullups--we still have a bed wetter and an emergency stay overnight somewhere will be so much less stressful with these already on hand
Emergency blanket
A couple of cheapo rain ponchos
Fire starting kit (in the cookie tin)
Light sticks
Bug spray
Long sleeves for everyone
Jumper cables I've already used twice.
Seriously, there isn't much in here you can't just gather from around your house. I had to go buy the ponchos, emergency blanket, hard candy, and the box it's stored in. You might need to buy a flashlight or jumper cables or something, but in the meantime, get what you can together and get it in your car. Half a kit is better than no kit. You can put it in a cardboard box. I've had a car kit challenge going on the facebook page and today I'm upping the ante. Get a picture of your kit in your trunk and post it on the facebook page by this Saturday night, May 8th, and I'll enter you in a drawing for a SOL Survival Pak by Adventure Medical Kits. This little kit takes the critical survival items and packages them in an ultralight, waterproof dry bag. Includes compass, mini rescue flash signal mirror, slim rescue howler whistle, waterproof and windproof survival matches, waterproof tinder quik, heatsheets survival blanket, survival fishing kit and duct tape. Add that to your kit. Nobody's sponsoring this, it's just me. I want you to get some preparedness gear in your trunk!
As a side note, if you drive a van or SUV where your kit will be visible to the passengers (ie. NOT locked in the trunk), you probably want an opaque container. This will help keep your food/water from exposure to light and small children. ;) It will also make it so everybody and their brother dosn't see the gear in the back of your vehicle. Might save your gear from theft as well depending on where you live. Really, the most theft I worry about is the kids sneaking the candy when I'm not looking!
Now, for at least the third time, get some gear together and outfit your vehicle! You'll be glad you did.
Here's the contents. It's not perfect, and wouldn't make a very good bug out kit for longer than a day or two, but it's got most everything I need in it for the emergencies I am most likely to face.
Water
Emergency Food brick (the other one is still in the suburban)
Hard candy
Basic first aid--bandaids, tylenol, excedrin, kid tylenol, etc.
Hand crank flashlight with charger I can plug my phone into
Hand crank radio
Hand sanitizer
Toilet paper
Baby wipes (they're actually in the front of the car where they're more accessible)
Assortment of feminine hygeine
Pullups--we still have a bed wetter and an emergency stay overnight somewhere will be so much less stressful with these already on hand
Emergency blanket
A couple of cheapo rain ponchos
Fire starting kit (in the cookie tin)
Light sticks
Bug spray
Long sleeves for everyone
Jumper cables I've already used twice.
Seriously, there isn't much in here you can't just gather from around your house. I had to go buy the ponchos, emergency blanket, hard candy, and the box it's stored in. You might need to buy a flashlight or jumper cables or something, but in the meantime, get what you can together and get it in your car. Half a kit is better than no kit. You can put it in a cardboard box. I've had a car kit challenge going on the facebook page and today I'm upping the ante. Get a picture of your kit in your trunk and post it on the facebook page by this Saturday night, May 8th, and I'll enter you in a drawing for a SOL Survival Pak by Adventure Medical Kits. This little kit takes the critical survival items and packages them in an ultralight, waterproof dry bag. Includes compass, mini rescue flash signal mirror, slim rescue howler whistle, waterproof and windproof survival matches, waterproof tinder quik, heatsheets survival blanket, survival fishing kit and duct tape. Add that to your kit. Nobody's sponsoring this, it's just me. I want you to get some preparedness gear in your trunk!
As a side note, if you drive a van or SUV where your kit will be visible to the passengers (ie. NOT locked in the trunk), you probably want an opaque container. This will help keep your food/water from exposure to light and small children. ;) It will also make it so everybody and their brother dosn't see the gear in the back of your vehicle. Might save your gear from theft as well depending on where you live. Really, the most theft I worry about is the kids sneaking the candy when I'm not looking!
Now, for at least the third time, get some gear together and outfit your vehicle! You'll be glad you did.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Rotating the Car Kit and Update on the Survival Bars
A couple of weeks ago, we took a little drive up the mountain and hiked around in the snow and mud and long story short (I know that rarely happens here) we needed to use the toilet paper from the car kit. Now, last summer we had a roll in the console AND a roll in the car kit and wouldn't you know it, this spring neither of them are there. Luckily sweet husband had some in his day pack, so we didn't suffer, but I decided that probably wasn't the only thing missing from my kit, so it was past time to rotate and restock. Seriously folks, this is one reason you don't just put a kit together and forget about it.
I was only missing a couple of items from my kit when I got around to sorting through it this week, but I did do some rearranging, like putting all the first aid together instead of in two different baggies, and some rotating like fresh waters. I also checked on the homemade survival bars that are in my kit. They've been in existence for over a year and have been riding around in the back of my car for most of that time--through the heat of summer and the freezing of winter. Amazingly, they looked quite the same as when we made them. Still hard as bricks. Really, if you read the comments on the original post there are some good ideas to make them easier to eat--I'm not so sure the brick shape is the best idea.
One was still intact and the other had broken open which is actually a fine thing so I could see how the inside was doing. Yep, just as dry and hard as the outside.
Then I wrapped them back up in the foil and put them back in the box. We'll check on them again maybe next year. :)
I was only missing a couple of items from my kit when I got around to sorting through it this week, but I did do some rearranging, like putting all the first aid together instead of in two different baggies, and some rotating like fresh waters. I also checked on the homemade survival bars that are in my kit. They've been in existence for over a year and have been riding around in the back of my car for most of that time--through the heat of summer and the freezing of winter. Amazingly, they looked quite the same as when we made them. Still hard as bricks. Really, if you read the comments on the original post there are some good ideas to make them easier to eat--I'm not so sure the brick shape is the best idea.
One was still intact and the other had broken open which is actually a fine thing so I could see how the inside was doing. Yep, just as dry and hard as the outside.
Then I wrapped them back up in the foil and put them back in the box. We'll check on them again maybe next year. :)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Vehicle Emergency Kit
Here's a little kit I put together a while back for my vehicle. And yes, it was in the suburban when I had the flat tire, so if it had happened somewhere where Incident Management Team was not available to fix my jack issue, I would not have died waiting for my sweet husband to come save me. I've had a partial kit thrown in and out in no particular container for some time, but figured I'd better get it organized so stuff wasn't floating around and I'd know what I had. So I swiped an Action Packer container sweet husband hadn't used in months (you know, the one from the food room) and packed it up. This also served to make some more space in my food room to put a couple buckets of oats . . . :)
This kit takes minimal space in the back of my suburban and could easily fit in a car trunk as well. Yeah, you'll have to pack your groceries around it, but it's worth it to have a little preparedness with you!
We only have the one vehicle. If you have more than one, make one for each one you drive, or be ready to swap your kit over to the car you're driving that day.
Here's what's in my kit (most of it's in the picture):
This kit takes minimal space in the back of my suburban and could easily fit in a car trunk as well. Yeah, you'll have to pack your groceries around it, but it's worth it to have a little preparedness with you!
We only have the one vehicle. If you have more than one, make one for each one you drive, or be ready to swap your kit over to the car you're driving that day.
Here's what's in my kit (most of it's in the picture):Bottled Water
Flashlight (the shaky kind--I'm actually not a real fan of this flashlight, but had an extra so in the kit it went. I also have a LED light on my key ring.)
Batteries if you have the kind of flashlight that takes batteries
Light sticks
Flashlight (the shaky kind--I'm actually not a real fan of this flashlight, but had an extra so in the kit it went. I also have a LED light on my key ring.)
Batteries if you have the kind of flashlight that takes batteries
Light sticks
Food--I have hard candy, old MRE crackers, and my Homemade Survival bar bricks
A couple of cheapo rain ponchos
A couple of cheapo rain ponchos
A couple of cheapo space blankets
Wet wipes
Toilet paper roll (anybody with kids has experienced this emergency)
Diapers/Feminine needs (okay, I don't have diapers in mine since my kids are thankfully past that stage, but I used to keep diapers in the car when we used them and a change of pants/clothes for the diaper wearer or potty trainer)
Basic first aid kit (can't tell you how many times we've needed a bandaid at a ball game or the park)
Blanket
Umbrella
Toilet paper roll (anybody with kids has experienced this emergency)
Diapers/Feminine needs (okay, I don't have diapers in mine since my kids are thankfully past that stage, but I used to keep diapers in the car when we used them and a change of pants/clothes for the diaper wearer or potty trainer)
Basic first aid kit (can't tell you how many times we've needed a bandaid at a ball game or the park)
Blanket
Umbrella
Hand warmers
A cute little buddy burner like cub scouts make with the cardboard rolled up in the tuna fish can and then doused in wax (just had one of these laying around, so I tossed it in)
Fire starting stuff in an old cookie tin (matches and dryer lint firestarters)
Hand sanitizer
Hand sanitizer
Long sleeves for everybody (light jacket or button up shirt)
A box to hold it all
Cash (coins and bills) or a prepaid visa card thingy (stashed discreetly)
Outside the box:
Jumper cables, tool kit, extra car fluids (oil, power steering fluid, wiper fluid, antifreeze, etc.)
Jack, tire iron (which I now have both of ;-)
Jack, tire iron (which I now have both of ;-)
That's about it. Seriously, we can't all drive around with Incident Management Team's truck of goodies (what a shame), but your car is naked without some gear in it! Plus, you'll feel better driving around knowing you won't be one of those people stranded for days who survived on chewing gum and restaurant mints until somebody happened to find them.
Don't stop now! Click comments and read on for more great ideas!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Doctor--Lessons Learned from Being Half Prepared
I was almost too embarassed to post what happened to me yesterday, but not quite, because it's actually kind of funny and there are some fantastic lessons to be learned which hopefully you will be able to learn from my experience and not your own. Let me give you a little background.
I had a back surgery 9 years ago to correct a herniated disk, and have felt fine until the last couple of months when my back has really been hurting in the same place as before, so I've been going back to my doctor to figure out what's wrong. No big deal, except to get to a back specialist (and I DID prefer the one that did the original surgery) I have to drive 2 1/2 hours one way part of which is on "the most dangerous stretch of highway in the state". I'm still in the middle of figuring out what is wrong with my back, so I had an MRI done a little over a week ago and had to go yesterday for the results.
More background: Before I got married, I did some work on my own car. I took an auto mechanics class in college. I owned my own socket set and combination end wrenches. I CAN change a tire and also a fuel filter and the oil if I have to, but haven't done much since I married my sweet husband, because hey, why should I if he's so good at it? And I drive an 89 Suburban we affectionately call the Beast.
Even more background: We pray every morning as a family, and yesterday morning my son prayed that I'd get to the doctor and back safely.
So yesterday I was on my way to the doctor's office alone in the Beast and had made it out of our desolate county, past the dangerous stretch of highway, and about 5 miles from my exit on the interstate when the Beast started shaking. Thinking it might be the road, and knowing my exit was coming up before too long, I moved from the center lane to the right lane and when I did, the shaking got worse. Now here's where about 50 things go through my head at the same time--I realize it is NOT the road, but rather something wrong with my vehicle. I look ahead and see an exit I can take, and I pray real hard that I will get off the road safe when BANG!!! I am jerked back half way into the center lane by a blown front driver's side tire and as I'm muscling the Beast back to the right side of the road I see one very wide piece of shoulder right about where I can get to it, and amazingly I was able to limp the vehicle to that spot and stop WAY off the road without losing control or hitting any of the 700 other cars on the interstate. Whew.
I took a deep breath and thought, "where's my spare tire?" Hmmmm. Well it's obviously not in the front, so I got out and walked around to the back and voila--there it was in the back all covered with a piece of carpet and I remembered having to pack things around it every time we go camping--duh. Now, how do I get it out?
About this time, a sweet young mother had stopped and came to see if I was okay, so I used her cel phone (I'm a holdout here and don't have my own) to call my husband and ask him where the jack is because it is not with the tire. A Samoan looking guy also stopped and I'm thinking maybe he can get the spare tire out--I am on the way to see a back doctor after all.
He had a 6 ton jack which was still new in the box and he was so excited to get it out and use it, but my Beast has been "jacked up" and had extra large tires put on it, and his jack wouldn't reach any place on the axle or frame, much less be able to lift it high enough to put the spare tire on. I found my jack under the front hood (weird, I know) but it was just as short as his and was also missing a part to be able to raise and lower it.
He kept telling me how lucky I was, and then said, "You must have said your prayers." Well, yes. Actually I did. And so did my family.
Now in all my rummaging around finding the tire and jack, I was unable to locate a tire iron to loosen the lug nuts. And here I start laughing at myself. I WRITE FOR TWO PREPAREDNESS BLOGS and I don't have a tire iron or a jack that will lift my vehicle!!!
As I'm standing there shaking my head at the irony of my situation, the Highway Patrolman arrived. He had been called out to an "accident" which must have been how bad it looked to the other drivers, but it turned out it was only my flat tire. He had a tire iron that would work, but no jack, so he called in the Incident Management Team who arrived shortly with their truck full of goodies. They had a hydraulic jack, an impact wrench with sockets to get the lug nuts off in a hurry, a big hammer to bend the metal part of the fender back out that had been banged up by the blown tire AND an air compressor to fill my spare tire so I didn't have to drive to a gas station and top it off. I want their truck.
I arrived at my doctor appointment a half hour late, but alive and well, and after waiting another hour and a half got to see the doctor for a whole 3 minutes. I won't be needing surgery again and he referred me to his partner who specializes in non surgical back treatments. Seriously? Could we not have done that over the phone???
After the appointment I went looking for a tire since my spare was not the same size as my other tires and I knew I had a 2 1/2 hour drive home. Turns out that tires for 16 1/2 inch rims are hard to come by these days but the BigO guy called around until he found one at a competitor's store used but like new. Got it installed, hit the store for a couple other things, and headed home.
Total cost for a 3 minute appointment with a back specialist including copay, gas, new tire: $203.45, 11 1/2 hours, and at least 5 years off my life for that experience on the interstate.
And here's my new tire on the scraped up rim:
I had a back surgery 9 years ago to correct a herniated disk, and have felt fine until the last couple of months when my back has really been hurting in the same place as before, so I've been going back to my doctor to figure out what's wrong. No big deal, except to get to a back specialist (and I DID prefer the one that did the original surgery) I have to drive 2 1/2 hours one way part of which is on "the most dangerous stretch of highway in the state". I'm still in the middle of figuring out what is wrong with my back, so I had an MRI done a little over a week ago and had to go yesterday for the results.
More background: Before I got married, I did some work on my own car. I took an auto mechanics class in college. I owned my own socket set and combination end wrenches. I CAN change a tire and also a fuel filter and the oil if I have to, but haven't done much since I married my sweet husband, because hey, why should I if he's so good at it? And I drive an 89 Suburban we affectionately call the Beast.
Even more background: We pray every morning as a family, and yesterday morning my son prayed that I'd get to the doctor and back safely.
So yesterday I was on my way to the doctor's office alone in the Beast and had made it out of our desolate county, past the dangerous stretch of highway, and about 5 miles from my exit on the interstate when the Beast started shaking. Thinking it might be the road, and knowing my exit was coming up before too long, I moved from the center lane to the right lane and when I did, the shaking got worse. Now here's where about 50 things go through my head at the same time--I realize it is NOT the road, but rather something wrong with my vehicle. I look ahead and see an exit I can take, and I pray real hard that I will get off the road safe when BANG!!! I am jerked back half way into the center lane by a blown front driver's side tire and as I'm muscling the Beast back to the right side of the road I see one very wide piece of shoulder right about where I can get to it, and amazingly I was able to limp the vehicle to that spot and stop WAY off the road without losing control or hitting any of the 700 other cars on the interstate. Whew.
I took a deep breath and thought, "where's my spare tire?" Hmmmm. Well it's obviously not in the front, so I got out and walked around to the back and voila--there it was in the back all covered with a piece of carpet and I remembered having to pack things around it every time we go camping--duh. Now, how do I get it out?
About this time, a sweet young mother had stopped and came to see if I was okay, so I used her cel phone (I'm a holdout here and don't have my own) to call my husband and ask him where the jack is because it is not with the tire. A Samoan looking guy also stopped and I'm thinking maybe he can get the spare tire out--I am on the way to see a back doctor after all.
He had a 6 ton jack which was still new in the box and he was so excited to get it out and use it, but my Beast has been "jacked up" and had extra large tires put on it, and his jack wouldn't reach any place on the axle or frame, much less be able to lift it high enough to put the spare tire on. I found my jack under the front hood (weird, I know) but it was just as short as his and was also missing a part to be able to raise and lower it.
He kept telling me how lucky I was, and then said, "You must have said your prayers." Well, yes. Actually I did. And so did my family.
Now in all my rummaging around finding the tire and jack, I was unable to locate a tire iron to loosen the lug nuts. And here I start laughing at myself. I WRITE FOR TWO PREPAREDNESS BLOGS and I don't have a tire iron or a jack that will lift my vehicle!!!
As I'm standing there shaking my head at the irony of my situation, the Highway Patrolman arrived. He had been called out to an "accident" which must have been how bad it looked to the other drivers, but it turned out it was only my flat tire. He had a tire iron that would work, but no jack, so he called in the Incident Management Team who arrived shortly with their truck full of goodies. They had a hydraulic jack, an impact wrench with sockets to get the lug nuts off in a hurry, a big hammer to bend the metal part of the fender back out that had been banged up by the blown tire AND an air compressor to fill my spare tire so I didn't have to drive to a gas station and top it off. I want their truck.
I arrived at my doctor appointment a half hour late, but alive and well, and after waiting another hour and a half got to see the doctor for a whole 3 minutes. I won't be needing surgery again and he referred me to his partner who specializes in non surgical back treatments. Seriously? Could we not have done that over the phone???
After the appointment I went looking for a tire since my spare was not the same size as my other tires and I knew I had a 2 1/2 hour drive home. Turns out that tires for 16 1/2 inch rims are hard to come by these days but the BigO guy called around until he found one at a competitor's store used but like new. Got it installed, hit the store for a couple other things, and headed home.
Total cost for a 3 minute appointment with a back specialist including copay, gas, new tire: $203.45, 11 1/2 hours, and at least 5 years off my life for that experience on the interstate.
And here's my new tire on the scraped up rim:
Here's what I did right:
I prayed.
I got as far off the road as I could.
I had a spare tire with air in it.
I had the knowledge and ability to change my tire myself if I had a jack and a tire iron.
Here's what I learned (some of these I already knew, they just got pounded in again yesterday):
When a tire blows, your vehicle pulls really hard in the direction of the blown tire.
Never assume you have a jack and a tire iron in your vehicle.
Just because you have a jack doesn't mean it will work.
Know where your spare tire, jack, and tire iron are (and how to use them).
A full size spare is better than a donut spare (unfortunately mine was somewhere in between).
There are some very good people out there willing to do a lot to help others.
A cell phone is sometimes a good thing.
Prayer is always a good thing.
Your assignment is to go to your vehicle (take your husband or someone with you if you need to), find your spare tire and make sure it has air in it. Find your jack and make sure it will lift your vehicle. Find out where to put it on your vehicle. Find your tire iron and figure out how to use it. Heck, for extra credit you could take your tire off and put it back on.
And next time you're buying tires, hunt down a used rim the same size as the ones on your vehicle and have the tire guys mount your best old tire on it. You now have a full size spare instead of a ridiculous donut spare.
Hope you learned as much as I did . . . :)
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