Flat Tire

I changed my first flat tire last week.  A few years back I got a flat tire, but Bob was there and changed it for me.  I didn't even watch looking back, I probably should have, but it was cold outside and I didn't want to.  Anyway, I thought I knew how to change one, but sometimes you can never really be sure if you can do something until you actually do it.

I started driving down the street for my book club and right away I could tell something wasn't right with the car.  My first thought was maybe the parking break was partially on.  So I checked that, but obviously that wasn't the problem.  Then I thought maybe I had driven over a toy or something that the kids might have left under the car.  I got out to check and noticed right away that the tire was flat. I'm so glad it didn't happen when I was home.  Things could have been much more difficult.  Instead I called a friend in the book club to give me a ride.  

After book club she came over and helped me change the tire.  I would totally have given up without her, and let Bob do it when he got home.  The hardest part was getting the spare tire off of the car. It was underneath the car and of course the manual was in Japanese.  But we figured it out, and Andrea guided me through the whole process.

We needed the help of gravity to loosen and tighten the nuts.

 I made the kids come out and watch/help.

Tucker kept saying that he didn't need to come out because Dad promised that he would teach him how to change a flat tire.  I told him that dad can still teach him, but I'm doing it anyway so he should come out and learn what he can with me.

Poor Calista was not feeling good that day.  Like she probably had a fever and was throwing up the night before.

Once the spare was on I could tell it looked flat!  Not nearly as bad as the original tire, but it wasn't great.  So we drove slowly to the autoport on base to get it fixed.  Both front tires were pretty bald, so I didn't think was was worth patching.  The base did not have the right tires and would take five or six days to get them in.  We only have one car and wanted the tires sooner if possible.  So we headed off base.

The base people called the Japanese tire shop for me and set it all up so they were expecting me.  The small shop tire guy was super fast and efficient.  He started working before we were even all out of the car.  We walked around outside in the freezing cold for a little bit while he changed the tire and then we were on our way.

Timing was right for us to head straight to Tucker's baseball practice.  It was not how I planned to spend the day, but it was a mini adventure that took us out of our usual daily routine.