Can One Flat Tire Ruin A Whole Weekend?

Of course not, but it certainly can change things. This weekend I had planned on driving all three days as I usually do.  Here's a summary of what happened, but the most important thing is not what happened, but how I responded to what happened.  There's an old saying, "When you get a lemon, make lemonade." Here's my weekend lemonade story:

Friday morning: Good morning driving, very good on tips and on target for my goal for the day:

The clock strikes noon, or 12:15: After dropping off a rider, I was driving about 30 mph and I hit something in the road. It couldn't have been very big, I didn't see the car in front of me move drastically and when I looked in my rear view mirror it looked like a few pieces of wood scattering.

I pulled into a restaurant parking lot and it was obvious the tire was shot, or blown and unrepairable.  Meineke, which has taken very good care of my previous car, was not too far away, as was theI guess it was sharp?

2 pm: The tow truck shows up and brings me to Meineke.  The tire is ordered, but won't arrive until Saturday morning. It still made sense to use the same tire and not a substitute.

Saturday morning 9 am: Arrived at Meineke and about ten minutes later they started working on the car. It looked like I'd be out by 9:45 at the latest.  One problem: they can't take the tire off, because there is no key for the wheel.  The new cars have a lock on the wheels so they are not stolen.  We search the whole car and have no luck and Meineke tries several things to get it off without damaging it, but nothing works.

10:00-10:30 am: I contact my salesman at Ford, who is three miles away.  He comes over with about thirty wheel lock keys and none of them fit.(He didn't have the right box, it was in another box) Both Meineke and the dealership are closing around noon. The only other option is to get car towed to the dealership and have them look at in Monday. My salesman orders a new lock for me.

11:00-12:00 noon: Our insurance company is having issues and I can't get a tow online.  I'm calling them on the phone and after over an hour, I hang up and call again. There's no way of reaching Geico today. I call the Ford towing service which is free and first give them my old Vin number and then the new one and  they finally find me in the system. I get a tow and this is the car's arrival at Ford and I make it home after 3 pm.

The car even looks good even on a tow truck! The weekend was not what I planned, but there were some good things and here's a list, going backwards:

1. I was able to tip the same tow truck driver twice with CASH!

2. I found out I was missing something important for my car.

3. I got some extra sleep this weekend.

4. I saved about $100 in gas by driving only a half day this weekend.

5. I was able to get on the treadmill Saturday and Sunday which I never do.

6. I got some reading done and finally finished a book.

7. I got to spend some more time writing my book.

8. My wife and I went out to dinner Sunday night and then walked on the beach afterwards.

Finally, I had just re-written an older rider story where a guy from New York had lost his wallet at a wedding the night before with $300 in it. It had not turned up and he spent a good part of the day relaxing at the pool. He couldn't fly home, because he had no identification. He said, “There’s nothing I can do, so there’s no reason to be upset.” 

I took his advice from over three years ago and I had a pretty good weekend.