So most of you know that my dad got into a motorcycle accident over the summer. In the beginning of July, I was his personal chauffeur to all doctor's appointments, work, etc because he couldn't drive because of the meds he was on. One day I took him to the hospital where they put the cast on his thumb. As I carted my (sling on the left arm and cast on the right arm) father home we heard a weird noise coming from the car. I pulled over and sure enough, I had run over a nail and I had a flat tire. GREAT! But it was a perfect time for my 22 year old self to learn how to change a tire because my father could be of no physical help. He walked me through it step by step and only helped me to kick the old tire a few times to get it to come loose. It was the perfect teaching strategy... dad tells you exactly what to do but he can only stand on the side of the car and take pictures to text to family members. I felt pretty accomplished after changing my first tire back in July!
Well as of today, I have now changed two tires in my life. A couple of weeks ago, the club gave me and Nicole a car... and yes it is a manual. Sylvain our assistant coach took us to a parking lot to practice for about 30 minutes and said ok you are ready and handed us over this bright gold huge car. The first week, we were scared to drive it because we couldn't get it into first gear without stalling it. And soon after we struggled with parking and reversing the car. I am finally starting to get the hang of it and I finally feel comfortable driving it! It is even fun! I rarely stall it anymore (maybe once a day) and it isn't even jerky when I drive.
So today Nicole and I were returning home from the grocery store and I was driving the car. We were almost back to our apartment when all of a sudden a huge truck veers into my lane. I have 2 choices... hit the truck head on or veer to the left and miss him. I chose option 2 only when I swerved to the left I heard a huge pop and Nicole says, "Uhh I think you popped the tire." I was still shaken up from the near on collision with the truck and then the pop.
So I pulled over (right outside our favorite pizza place) and assessed the damage. Sure enough, I had popped the tire. But I would still choose tire over collision any day. So I said, "Nicole I got this. I know how to change the tire." So we open the trunk and can't find the spare tire anywhere. We see the tool to loosen the nuts on the tire but no tire. Hmmm... We have no cell phone or anyone's telephone number to call to help us. As we try to figure out what to do, Nicole spots the tire underneath the car under the back bumper! YES! Ok now how do we get it out? We try and try and try and can't figure it out. Finally we decide to go ask our pizza guy friend who we know really well because we eat pizza there at least once a week, and he speaks excellent English. So I went in and told him our dilemma and asked if he could help us figure out how to get the tire loose so we could change it. Luckily he was able to figure it out and we got it out. Then he informed us that he must return to work and change his clothes since he was laying on the ground under the car. Whoops! Thanks pizza guy!
Now it was time for the real work to begin. I first jacked the car up. Then I loosened the bolts little by little and made sure to loosen them in opposites and not in a circle. Then I took the tire off and put the new tire on. I put the bolts back on and tightened them little by little in opposites again. And then I made sure to get them really really tight so I stepped on the tool thingy to tighten them all. And then we were on our way! SUCCESS!! The tire is a little flat, so tomorrow we will attempt to find air somewhere to put in it!
So thanks Dad for life lessons only a father can teach!
You're welcome, sweetheart!!!
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