Day 2 (430 miles)

Breakfast is a 6 AM, so we wanted to get up at 5:30. I set the alarm on my phone, but it was apparently set for weekdays and Saturday is the weekend. Somehow I woke up at 5:50. I could walk today the back was feeling better. We ate, loaded the car and were on the road by 7 AM. It was already in the mid 70’s when we left. I noticed one of the tires was a little low and I stopped at two gas stations to get air, but they did not have any. I figured we would just stop on the way. After driving less than an hour Colleen said what is that noise? I slowed down a little bit and the noise changed. We were right by an exit so I pulled off. I got out and looked at the low tire HOLY CRAP it’s flat. I unhooked the camper and started to empty out the back of the car to get the jack. I started to jack up the car and then attacked the lug nuts. The first one wasn’t too bad the next one would not budge, so I moved on to the third. I grabbed the tire iron and started to pull. It was kind of like tearing a piece of paper. Just a little rip at first and then ripppppp! HOLY CRAP I just did something really bad to my back. And I still have to get the tire off. August helped me with the next one and we got it off. We tried another one and no luck. Ding ding ding, I have and idea. Switch the handle over and stand on it. That worked. I stood on the rest of them and got the tire off.

Now for the spare tire. I had a bad feeling about this. The last time I had to use it I could not get it lowered down. I probably spend an hour screwing around with it until I figured out the secret latch that was not working. And now I cant remember what I did. A couple of older gentleman stopped by (they were at bible study) and offered to help. They laid down under the car and tried to get the tire down. If I just had a long screw driver I think I can get the latch to release, but I packed my tools in the camper. Luckily I found a little screw driver that wasn’t packed away. Now if I can get the tire lifted up I might be able to reach the latch. Of course the guy in the white shirt is laying down lifting up the tire and I got it! I put on the spare and loaded everything back up. It was a total RV moment (if you have seen the move you will know). Luckily it was a full size spare. We got to Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland just after 2 PM. It was a long drive it is a good thing that sitting down doesn’t hurt my back. Now I am on a steady diet of Icy Hot patches and aspirin.

We went to Wal-Mart to get groceries and see if they could fix the flat. They said, because I drove on the flat the side wall of the tire was damaged and they could not fix it. My question is how do you not drive on the tire if you don’t know if went flat? Tomorrow I will go to Firestone (that is where I got the tires) and see if I can get a replacement.

I threw some charcoal in the fire pit and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. There were storms all around us and lots of lightning. It did storm at 1AM and the roof vent was open so Aug got rained on.