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Monday, August 17, 2009

Two New Tires and My Puerto



There we were coasting down Highway 81, having nice conversation and watching the road pass by when suddenly we heard bang, thump-thump-thumpthumpthump. I immeadiately new it was a flat tire, back right, as M carefully pulled the car over to the side of the road. My reaction, let's call triple-A. M's reaction, let me put on my sneakers and we'll change the tire. Luckily we have both changed tires before so while he put on his sneakers I emptied out the trunk to get out the spare and the jack. Together we found the jack point and then M quickly got the old tire off and the new tire on.

Luckily for us we weren't too far from the next exit, with a gas station. So while M filled the spare tire with a little more air I used the internet on his laptop to google search tires in the nearest town. If you are ever in Broadway, Virginia looking for tires, I would highly recommend Broadway Automotive and Tire Center. Not only were the people really friendly but they were able to find me two** new tires that matched my other tires and got them on the car and ready to go in the time it took M and I to get lunch at the Subway just down the street.

Lesson's Learned:
  1. Make sure your spare tire has air before a long road trip.
  2. Get flares or emergency triangles for my car emergency kit.
  3. Have a non-digital tire pressure guage.
  4. Be thankful that Dad forced you to learn how to change a tire when you had a flat in high school.
The other adventure of the day came when we were looking for dinner. Due to the tire debacle we are a little behind schedule and ended up in Marion, Virginia to get some gas and dinner. As far as we are concerned Marion is a diamond in the rough. From the outside Marion appears to be a sparsely populated Southern Virginian town. Highlight #1 was the fact that the bathroom at the gas station was the cleanest gas station bathroom I have ever been to. Thank you Chevron in Marion! Highlight #2 came after asking the gas station attendant for a dinner recommendation and ending up at My Puerto, an authentic Mexican restaurant. Who would have thought in the middle of Southern Virginia you could find such delicious Mexican food and a friendly wait staff who was willing to chat with me in Spanish? Now we have full tummies and the goal to make it past Bristol, Tennessee tonight.


**We ended up getting two new tires because the tire that broke was one of the two that was a little run down. So we figured it was better safe then sorry and decided to replace both the rear tires.

1 comment:

Stephanie said...

I'm jealous. I love a good road trip. My car broke down in Virginia the first time I drove to San Diego.

Good luck!