Set your goals high but not your expectations. ~Dove

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Summer construction gone wild

Almost two weeks ago I got a flat tire.  I shouldn't call it a flat because it's not your typical flat tire.  I was on the highway driving home from visiting with family and my 19 month old son was sleeping in the back seat.  He was very lucky in many ways, and missed the whole thing.

Like most roads in the summer time, there's construction being done, especially at night.  Road work is everywhere and we constantly see the orange signs, cones, barrels, and flashing yellow lights that remind us to use CAUTION. 

But what happens when caution isn't being used by the construction crew? 


This tire was in fact ON my car while driving down the highway.  This picture shows the tire on the back of my car just before getting it replaced.

It was quite a scary moment when I realized what happened that night.  As I was driving by the construction, there was a few men on the road using a jack hammer.  One of them actually jumped into the oncoming traffic (aka: ME) and it appeared he had lost control of the jack hammer.  I couldn't believe how close they were to the traffic while using this machine. 

Needless to say, I passed the construction site with caution and I noticed how loud the jack hammer had been.  I didn't think much about it until a few miles down the road my car sounded very loud.  Very loud.  So much it was like being in an airplane about to take off.  My first thought was my engine was about to explode.  I never thought I had a flat tire.  I quickly decided I needed to pull off the highway and even cut off an 18 wheeler in the meantime.  Something was wrong.

After safely stopping the car (and my son sleeping through this mess), I open my door and see my rear tire has smoke coming out of it.  I had been riding on my rim for a few miles.  Luckily my husband was a few miles ahead of me in his own car but he wouldn't reach me for another 20 minutes. 

So there I sat on the side of the highway just as the sun was setting.  It wasn't completely dark when I stopped, but the stars were out by the time my rescue came.

We decided we had to transfer our son to my husbands car, all while the highway traffic was wizzing by us.  It was quite the scene, I'm sure.  Ironically, J didn't seem to mind the move.  He stirred a little but was fast asleep by the time I buckled him back into his car seat.

I love the summer, but I don't have the same warm and fuzzy feelings about the construction.

1 comment:

  1. Up until a couple of weeks ago we had traffic on the main street we need to take to get to our house, and the two roads that lead on to that street from either side. So, basically, you had to navigate at least two construction sites to get home. SUCH a pain, and not something I enjoyed at all. Although my toddler did think the diggers were cool, so there's that.

    I'm glad your little guy slept through that whole ordeal. That must have simplified things considerably.

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