It wasn't long after merging on to 64 that I noticed a weird vibration and at first I shrugged it off as perhaps just being the surface of the road - 64 is under major construction - but something definitely didn't feel right. Due to the construction the shoulder is unusually narrow so I just made a plan in my head to pull off at the next exit (which was about 3 miles away - ugh). Luckily I was already in the right lane and my "Spidey Senses" were firing because as I went to pull off on the exit I saw my driver side tire from the boat trailer go flying off. I quickly - and safely - got as far off the road as I could - but again with all that construction it wasn't a great spot to be - but at least it was the shoulder of an exit ramp so folks coming by were already at a lessened speed.
So now what!? I call Andy, who was already at First Landing setting things up - so that puts him about 70+ minutes away from me. After some animated conversation we decided I would contact our nephew Drew whom we knew was in the area visiting his girlfriend at CNU. The idea being that hopefully he could buy a replacement tire for me and then we'd have USAA send a roadside person to put the tire on - not because we didn't know how to do that (I'm NASCAR Pitt Crew trained, thank you very much) but because it would be a very dangerous location to be changing a tire.
After almost two hours or so of sitting on side of the road, Drew arrived with a new tire and the necessary lug nuts. He had had to visit a few different stores to find the right tire. He was a welcomed sight - some human interaction was nice - though I did tell him over and over that since I had the tire and the guy was 45 minutes away that he was more than welcome to head back to CNU - but he wasn't having any of that.
So as the 45 minutes came and went and no sign of a repair truck I called USAA back only to find that it turns out the company they assigned us to doesn't change boat tires...ummmm....why couldn't they have figured that out 45 minutes ago!?!?! Emotions are running high at this point. So as USAA goes to find someone that will I contact Andy who at this point has taken things into his own hands and has contacted a roadside guy with a flatbed truck who just happened to have seen me on the side of the road as he was making another service call - otherwise he says he would have stopped to help me immediately - good 'ol Rusty!
So we canceled on USAA and waited for Rusty to arrive. About 10 minutes before Rusty got there a good Samaritan pulled over and asked if we needed any help (have to say that I was a little surprised that in nearly 4 hours of being on side of the road that no one else had stopped and that we hadn't seen a single state trooper that could have stopped). Awkwardly he asked if Drew was my husband - sigh - and then upon hearing he was my nephew the dude kind of grilled us on where my husband actually was - I didn't think I was putting off a damsel in distress vibe but who knows. Since we knew help was just a few minutes away we thanked the guy for stopping and essentially sent him on his way. However before leaving us he asked if he could lead us in prayer.....oh boy....this will be a memory Drew and I will never forget...holding hands with a stranger on the side of 64 hearing him say things like "we will learn from the broken tires of our life" and "forgive these people their sins..." etc. I know this guy meant well but boy was it all I could do to keep from laughing. Needless to say, after he left, Drew and I legit laugh/cried for a solid 10 minutes. Turns out Drew even recorded some of it.
Finally we see Rusty appear and he gets the boat up on his flatbed so he can replace the tire in a safer spot - smart move! He gets the tire on, ensures the lug nuts on both tires are properly torqued (Andy and I had a serious conversation about him buying a torque wrench immediately if not sooner - ahem) and then I was ready to get back on the road.
Drew was so amazing to have stayed with me that entire time. Not only did he miss out on time spent with his girlfriend but worst of all since they bumped the tee times up he missed the final round of The Masters and thus missed seeing Tiger Woods win his first major since 2008!! I am so grateful to him and hope my boys can grow up to be half as awesome as he is.
Of course, my fun wasn't over just yet. Rusty had noticed that my bearing cap was also missing and though he felt pretty confident I'd make it to First Landing without another issue my nerves were too shot to even risk it. So off I went to find an auto shop (and a bathroom!) so I could drive just a little more peacefully. I found what I needed but then had no clue what to do - the guys in the shop weren't all that helpful but a nice guy, who turns out to be a mechanic, stopped and helped me out. Turns out 'ol Rusty put the tire on backwards - lol - what is this day!? So after about 30 minutes there I was finally on the road to meet up with the family.
I'll admit I was pretty white knuckled the whole drive there - I've towed things plenty of times but when you have an incident like that it will take a bit to get those nerves to dissipate. I finally pulled into the campground about 6 hours after my original arrival time but I was so happy to be there, to see the family, and I got to catch them replaying The Masters on tv - I hope Drew did too.
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