Unfathomable But True

You wouldn’t believe, but this morning we had a flat tire again. This time it was the van. What in the world was going on? The passenger side rear tire had no air left. For a moment I was staring at it with really comprehending. This was the third flat tire on our trip. It is years ago that we had any tire problem. How could this be? When reality had settled in on me I remembered that we had a spare tire. Yeah, it was mounted under the rear of the van, but I had never needed it and had no idea how to get it down. So I opened the owners manual. It spoke about a wheel wrench and long tool which should be inserted into a hole between the bumper and the van body. The hole was really tiny and the long tool barely fit through it. With the attached wrench I moved it so the tire would descend down to the pavement. It came about 6 inch down then stopped. There was no way I could get it any further. I went back to the manual, reading more. Ah, our van had a 2. safety latch which could be released by placing the jack center on under the wheel and bring it up again to the full extent. That procedure should release the safety latch and the tire could be brought down, just balancing on the jack. Of course, it didn’t work. The thing did not come down, but was now dangling only a third of the way from its original position. So, I tried to bring the cable back up again. But that proved pointless as it neither would go up nor farther down. Corrosion had taken a toll on that swivel thing. Meanwhile I had gotten company. A trucker had come by asking me whether I would like him to get air into the tire again. he had only his tractor so I agreed and this friendly man brought 90 pounds of pressure back into the tire. That high pressure showed us where the air leak was. It was right in between the tread. Trucker coming by for helping I thanked the trucker for his help. Then I went onto the internet searching for an open tire facility on this Saturday. Tried three phone numbers all went unanswered – until I found a Chevy dealership which wasn’t only open, but also very close – 10 miles down the highway. There was probably still 50 pounds of pressure left so I got onto I-10 racing down the highway. But I was fearful that the spare tire could suddenly release hitting the pavement, which would be a near disaster. But I made it to the GMC dealer and after 2 hours I had my tire repaired and the spare removed – all for unbelievable 15 Dollars. I would have paid those guys a hundred for the job. And the company was BRASHER GMC at Weimar,TX Man, was I relieved when I was back at the trailer, ready to hit the road again. We reached Floresville, TX around 3pm and set up camp on Yalinda’s and Gary’s property. They are members at “Boondockers Welcome” and they sure are the most welcoming couple one could imagine. Yalinda had even prepared a supper, but we had to decline that for today, as we had plans to run into the big city to meet with members of the U.S.-Harwerths, my distant relatives. San Antonio by night After refreshing ourselves (it was 78F out here) we were ready to run all the way up to North San Antonio. Traffic was on the light side and we made it from Floresville in about one hour. Had a great meeting with Curt, Irene and their kids (which all have grown so much since last time) before we were heading back to Floresville. There is something here which every Texas traveler has experienced at one time. The area is strewn with stickers, those nasty little bastards which fasten themselves under your shoes, under doggy paws and can make life pretty miserable, if you don’t keep them out of your rig. Cause next time you walk through your rig on socks only or – worse God forbid – barefoot, you will scream when they take a solid hold under your feet. Molly can hardly walk a yard here without getting them under her paws and when they hurt us you can imagine how they hurt small doggy paws. But now I am sooo tired. The stress of this morning is still lodged in my bones and I need to retire to the rear of our rig. There I know, Bea is already counting the sheep. Good night friends… see ya’ll later.