My First Trip to Seattle

A couple weekends ago I took my first trip to Seattle to attend my wonderful niece Brianna's wedding. On a good day Seattle is about 10 hours from Jordan Valley. It took me awhile to get things together but I was out of my house before ten. I was excited to get on the road. The sooner I started the trip the sooner I would be there.

About an hour and a half from Jordan Valley I got a flat tire. If you have never been to god's country let me describe it for you. There is nothing out here. An hour and a half form Jordan Valley puts you on highway 78 between Burns Junction and Burns. There are no trees, homes, or people but there are lots of cows. I pulled my car to the side of the road and got out of the car. I took out some things so I could get to the spare tire and jack which is in the back. I have never used the jack on this car so I took time to read the directions. I set the jack and start to jack up the car. Then I start to take off the lug nuts but the tire just spins because I had jacked up the car. So I lower the car and take off the lug nuts. For some people this may have taken a few minutes. I don't move that fast so it took awhile. In the time that I had done this about 8 cars or so had passed by. No one stopped so I figured I am in this alone. Just as I was thinking this a car pulled up and asked if I could use some help. When I heard this my street smarts left my head. They did not look like they would kill me. So I let them help. I was blessed. These two men in no time had my spare on my tire on the car. I thanked them very much and resumed my trip to Seattle. My plan was to stop in Burns buy some new tires and continue on my way.

About five miles out of Burns it happened again. My back tire went flat. I could not beleive my luck. I had no spare and I figured that I was close to Burns so I decided to drive in on what was left of my tire. I know this should not be done but I was bound and determined to make it to Burns. And I did. I pulled in the turning lane to the drive into Les Schwab and I say one of the employees pointing at me. As I pulled in they directed me to lift. No waiting here. The attendent said "you did not want to put on your spare" I replied "NO it is already on." I told him my story and told him to do what ever need to be done. After a few minutes he told me that the rim was fine but I did need four new tires. Since my car is all wheel drive all the tires need to be the same. He told me that he had two sets of tires. The most expensive and the next expensive. I told him to put on the next expensive. After a half hour I was on my way.

I was again excited to resume my trip. About twenty miles out of Burns a car pulled up beside me and held up a sign that said "Low Tire" I stop and found that again one of my brand new tires was flat. How could this be? I turned around and headed back toward Burns. It was my hope that I would be able to make it back to Burns even tho the tire was low. No chance. I made it about a mile when the tire was totaly flat. I pulled over and again went through process of getting out the spare and jack. I got my tire off and was trying to figure how the spare went on when again a car pulled over. This time it was a family and the son and husband were kind enough to put on the spare. Once again I was on the road back to Burns and Les Schwab. The same attendent was there to open my door. I told him that maybe it was the rim what ever it was just fix it. I sat down and about 15 minutes later the attendent joined me. He said that the tire sensor was broken which caused the tire to loose air. He was sure they had the part and suggested that I replace it both of the tires that had gone flat. He also told me that since I drove on the low tire it had destroyed it and they could not use it. Of course Les Schwab guarantees their tires even tho it was my fault. They refunded me for the tires that I had just bought and then sold me the only set the had, the expensive set.

After a short time I was on the road. The rest of the trip was uneventful. After all of flat tires what else could go wrong. I arrived in Seattle about midnight and took a long hot shower and went right to bed. This drive was full of lessons.

They included:

Check tires before a long trip.

Don't have a lot of stuff in the car. The more stuff you have the more that you
need to take out to get to the spare.

Always buy tires at Les Schawb.

Thank Dad for teaching you how to change a tire.

Thank you Mom and Dad for watching over me!