Enough for the day...

Today we had some plans. David and I thought it would be nice to drive to Glendale and meet Gretchen, Anders and Lars there and look around at the city, since it's where Chris works and they'd like to move. Chris would meet us at Subway for lunch, then we'd head home for our small group Bible study at our house tonight. We set out at 10:50, planning to meet GG at Chris's office at 11:30. Well, we weren't on the freeway more than a few minutes than we ran over something that David hadn't seen and it swung around in our wheel well, making an awful sound. In a couple seconds the tire sensor started showing that the right rear tire was flat. We were able to get over from the fast lane and I was hoping we could limp off at the next exit, Peck Road, but the tire was making a bad sound so we got over, then got onto the dirt shoulder.

Shots from the shoulder...

Of course the trucks were whizzing by just a few feet away. I used this opportunity to call Erin and chat and I think both David and I realized through this experience that our cell phones are really not much!

You have to say that at least the weather was really nice...

And turning to the right I truly admired the plants on the wall. There was also a call box lying there that someone had mowed down at some earlier time.

The snow on Mount Baldy was so pretty! We had a huge storm on Tuesday that brought lots of rain and snow to the mountains, then it warmed right back up.

Anyway... back to the story...

We were so bummed! I called GG and told her we would be late but no, David reminded me that we couldn't drive over there on that little donut spare tire! Nuts!

She called back and said that, since they were all dressed up to go out they'd just come on over and see us. Okay... we should be home by then. We'd called our Honda towing people and even though we couldn't hear them very well and they couldn't hear us very well, we understood that someone was on the way.

After several more calls to and from the towing people, trying to determine where we were, we knew they really were coming. Gretchen called, meanwhile and said that Anders seemed tired and maybe they'd just hunker down at home instead, which we thought was a wonderful idea all around. I hated to think of her driving all the way out here, just to fiddle around for a few hours, then drive all the way back in heavy traffic!

An hour and 15 minutes after calling, the tow truck guy came and put on the donut. Hooray! We pulled safely out onto the shoulder and got off on Peck, with the new tire making a strange thumping sound. Got home, pulled in the driveway and took a look... there was a big bolt stuck in the donut and we could hear air coming out! Uh oh... Quick! Back out of the driveway so it will be easier to tow this thing over to Costco to buy new tires! (David had been planning to buy new tires in the next few months.)

David backed it out and then he started the process of calling our Honda towing people again, this time to tow us 6 miles to Costco. No, they would only take us to the nearest Honda dealer. Honda dealer said they don't work on tires and couldn't fix the donut and it would take a few days to order a new donut. Okay, then if we can't go to the dealer they'd take us to the nearest tire store, Big O Tires, wherever that is. No, I want to buy tires at Costco. Finally, after more calls, getting cut off 3 or 4 times, etc., a tow truck arrived that would be willing to take the truck to Costco as part of our Honda towing package.

What's funny is you can see that the tire stopped losing air, probably because David must have rolled onto the bolt, closing the air hole.

While I was out in front with David waiting for the guy I just got to admire the beauty in the front yard, where everything is bursting out with new green leaves and a few flowers. The ground was soft after the rain and I pulled out a bunch of weeds that were making a showing.

The impatiens under the oak tree are better this year than they've ever been because I have a soaker hose just dripping on them all the time. They are a joy for me to look at.

I snapped a picture of our Valentine flag, just to prove that it really is February... it's just hard to believe, even for us!

Okay, the truck is loaded! David has a good book and is prepared to spend the afternoon getting the tires taken care of. I hope he's home in time to lead our small group! In the meantime I'm glad to be safely at home with time to take care of some stuff that needs doing.

Thank you Lord, for your protection today.