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Guess What Silly Problem Kept Me Stranded 300 Miles from Home?

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I figured I would take a break from Frugal Fridays and briefly discuss my return trip from California (to Seattle, Washington). While I intend to share photos tomorrow of the fun time we had at Little Basin park in Boulder Creek, I did have a minor “hiccup” on the way home.

Fortunately, everything turned out fine. And since my wife and I didn’t have our kids with us things were easier, but it was still frustrating being stranded 300 miles from home and having to spend the night in a hotel! What happened, you ask?

We had another flat tire. If you’ve stuck around here for a while you may have remembered last summer (when we lived in Kansas City, MO) that we took a trip to the Omaha zoo and got stranded 200 miles from home with a flat tire and I was missing a lug nut wrench, though, the vehicle we have now is different than the one referenced in the previous post. Anyway, since then I swore I would have everything imaginable to deal with a flat tire, including:

Can you think of anything else? I doubt there’s much else to add! In fact, I swore up and down I had everything I could possibly need to change a flat tire on my own. To be doubly sure I even have AAA. If things got bad enough I could get towed somewhere.

In fact, I did choose to call AAA to change the tire since I was fatigued after 10 hours of driving and preferred to eat dinner while somebody else did my “dirty” work. Yeah, I’m getting old. Anyway, things didn’t work out quite so happily…

As it turns out our spare tire had a locking lug nut on it and, since I didn’t have the lug nut key (we bought it used) I couldn’t get the spare tire off! To make matters worse, we did plug the hole but there turned out to be a rather significant bulge on the inside of the tire that I didn’t feel safe driving on another five hours.

Beyond all that, a few months back we had new rear tires put on the vehicle where they had to remove the locking lug nuts on those tires (and replaced with normal lug nuts) but I didn’t think about having them check the spare tire for a locking lug nut. Believe it or not, I actually inflated the spare at the first of the year and never thought about looking at the lug nuts holding the tire on. Who does that?

So, ultimately, it was about 8:30 pm, the AAA guy couldn’t get the locking lug nut off and all the tire shops were closed for the night. Like I said, it all worked out because it was just the wife and I and the trouble happened where we could pull off the highway, eventually get a hotel, and there just happened to be a Firestone tire shop nearby where we could get the tire replaced at minimal cost. Oh, and they were able to remove the locking lug nut on the spare too.

I guess this just goes to show that no matter how prepared I think I am… shit still happens… to me, that is. Now the last of those pesky locking lug nuts is forever gone from our vehicles and I swear up and down that I’m finally and truly ready for a flat tire. At least, until our next flat tire. 🙂

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Damian Brindle

My latest book, The Survival Blueprint: How to Prepare Your Family for Disaster, can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJ49Y5X4

Comments

9 responses to “Guess What Silly Problem Kept Me Stranded 300 Miles from Home?”

  1. Rev. Dr. Michael E Harris

    The road flares that we all remember are hard to find. They are now marine flares and are found in the fishing/boating sections of stores such as Walmart. You cannot afford to buy them by mail as the shipping is so high.

    I get my marine flares at Walmart.

    Reply
  2. Myk McNezbee

    I’d add road flares to the list. Especially when changing a flat during the day or at night. At worse, you have a way of lighting a fire to keep wolves and Sasquatch away from you if you get stuck overnight again.

    Secondly I carry a Sears Diehard Portable Power. It can run your electronics AND it has an air pump in it! The perfect prepper tool in the car!

    http://www.sears.com/diehard-platinum-portable-power-1150-with-jump-starter/p-02871988000P?prdNo=3&blockNo=3&blockType=G3

    Love your site! Thanks for doing it!

    Reply
    1. Damian Brindle

      I do keep road flares for that very reason, just didn’t add them to the list. Thank you for reminding me. I never did purchase a portable power pack since I had other items to deal with flats, though, the jump start capability is nice!

      Reply
  3. Rev. Dr. Michael E Harris

    I am glad that things worked out well for you. I have locking lugs on my car, but the spare is a space-saver spare. I need to check it out so that I do not have a situation like yours.

    Reply
    1. Damian Brindle

      Hopefully you don’t have the same troubles… it was such an annoyance!!

      Reply
  4. Momma Kathy

    I recently purchased a can of fix a flat to go in my truck, just in case I get a flat. Do you suppose that would have solved your problem, at least temporarily, had you had some sealant? However, I have never had need to use such a product, and wonder, if anyone has used it and how would they rate it as a solution.

    Reply
    1. Damian Brindle

      I did have some tire sealant and, yes, I think it would have plugged the hole but the concern I had was the rather significant bulge on the inside part of the tire. I didn’t feel it was safe to drive another five hours with that particular problem so we waited.

      Reply
  5. Curtiss

    I fortunately have not been stranded, but it can get worse! In 2005I had a serpentine belt break on one vehicle and the dealer told me it would be two weeks. It had to be shipped from Germany. Just last month on a different vehicle the power steering hose was bad and it took a month for the dealer to get the part again from overseas. Two different companies years apart, both vehicles under warranty.
    Imagine being 300 or more miles from home and having to wait two weeks for a belt, sorry state of affairs!
    This last time the dealer told me they can get plenty of vehicles, but they don not like to send parts. Both vehicles are very popular, lots of them seen on the road every day

    Reply
    1. Damian Brindle

      Yeah, sounds like a REAL problem! The thing is that no matter how prepared you think you are… stuff happens. All we can do is to do our best and keep trying. 🙂

      Reply

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