Good Ole PawPaw
7
December
So last night, I was on my way back from Atlanta. It was a great trip. I don’t know if any of you remember Nicole C. Mullen (Christian singer), but anyway, she was there performing with a lot of other people at the Revolve Tour and let me tell you, she is the deal. She has these backup dancers called the NCM Team and they are all 13, 14, 15 year old kids from the inner city that she travels around with and mentors and they are awesome. I love dancing with every fiber of my being (despite having the grace of a “puppy balancing on a beach ball”) and so I really dug these guys. Anyway, the Revolve Tour was really impressive and Court the Bourt is a HUGE rock star. No, really. Little girls stand in line and pay $3 for her headshot so she will sign it. She is accosted everywhere she goes by her fans. It’s amazing. I am super proud of her.
So, I’m on my way back from Atlanta. I made myself a special playlist for on the way there, and then a seperate one for on the way back. I’m just cruising right along when I completely lose control of my car. LUCKILY, the game traffic hadn’t begun to really get heavy and I managed to yank the steering wheel hard enough (which was a chore) to pull the ‘Trepid over to the side. I immediately burst into tears (you know, I can’t help it! I don’t mean to!) and activate the hazards. I see that this is very clearly a blowout, it’s pitch black (since I’m between Po-Dunk and Backwoods) and there are about 40,000 Alabama fans racing down I-20 in an attempt to return home, 50% possibly drunk or buzzed. I am clearly not going to be able to change my tire myself.
So I start crying again.
Thankfully, the hubster came to the rescue, which prompted the Cleburne County Sheriff to come to my rescue, which prompted a man named “PawPaw” to come with his wrecker and drag my car to the 205 Cafe and Stateline Gas Station and change my tire. So, I got to drive from Helfrin (or Helprin, but I think that’s a medication) going 45 on a doughnut tire with my hazards on. Needless to say, it was quite an adventure.
It’s amazing how one thing can render you completely helpless. This happens to me often, in regards to my car, mostly. One minute, I am just living life, and the next, I can’t go anywhere or do anything and I am at the mercy of a wrecker.
So, here is what my tire looked like:
Yikes! That looks really bad – glad you are okay!
Having a blowout/flat tire in heavy traffic {any Houston traffic} is my worst nightmare. There have been several times I’ve forgotten my cell phone at the house in the mornings and regardless of how late it makes me, I always turn around when I realize I left it and go pick it up. Scares me to death to think of being stranded without a phone – and most people here wouldn’t stop to help you in their rush to get to/from work.
Guess you should have taken the scooter, eh?
Heflin, AL must have been were you were. That is the home of my ancestors…or at least my great-grandmother.
Glad that you are okay. I would have cried, too. And I would have been dumb enough to try and change the tire.
And the dancing, we could dance side by side. Jay makes fun of the way I dance. He says it’s “cute”. Hmmmm
i’m glad you’re okay!! bless your heart. good thing pawpaw was there. for some reason, i’m imagining that he looks like the guy from Adventures in Babysitting…you know…long scraggly beard, gray pair of dickies, phlegm-filled guffaw, and a hook for his left hand. i hope he did look like that, cuz i’ve always wanted to meet him.
That is, easily, the most insane blowout I’ve ever seen.