Here is photographic proof of the latest annoyance...
One full inch of nail (total length undetermined) sticking out of my sidewall.
I don't know why tires hate me, but I'm sure starting to hate them.
So in my final recap of two weekends ago, I must now recount the mildly tragic story that occurred two Sundays ago...
Approximately three months ago, I made reservations to go stargazing at the observation laboratory on Kitt Peak. I was really psyched about it because: a) reservations are very hard to get, b) November has perfect weather conditions for astronomy-related adventures, and c) I've always wanted to know what the hell I was looking at when I stared at the stars, and Kitt Peak is staffed with genuine experts. Since Miguel was visiting, it seemed like a great activity. The football game and the air museum were primarily his kind of thing, but stargazing was something I really wanted to do.
Right here...
... at the elusive Kitt Peak...
We received a call from the Kitt Peak visitor's center at noon on Sunday saying the weather was perfect and that we were to report in at the observatory (about one and half hours west of Tucson) no later than 4:15pm. I was thrilled that the day had finally arrived and the weather was cooperating, having watched the forecast for weeks ahead of time and crossing my fingers that no cloudy anomaly would ruin the evening.
We killed some time driving around Tucson neighborhoods and admiring the creative architecture and landscaping... and might I add that I also killed a pigeon with my car... it was sitting on the road smack in front of me, and when I realized it wasn't going to move in time, I attempted to hit my brakes, at which point it flew straight up into my grill with a loud thunk...
(Pigeon's last moments...)
...and then came awkwardly catapulting in pieces along the driver's side of the car. As my window was fully open, I feared that chunks of pigeon flesh... or worse, a squawking pigeon head... were going to come flying onto my lap. This caused me to scream with a fairly hearty amount of gusto and duck to the right below the dashboard, all while driving approximately 30 miles per hour on a four lane road, during which Miguel frantically grabbed at the steering wheel.
After that drama abated, and my adrenaline ceased and desisted, we shared some lunch. Then it was nearly time to get on the road to Kitt Peak!!! Miguel insisted that we check the tire pressure and get air in the tires for the drive. Although I thought that seemed a bit silly seeing that I had just put air in my tires the month before, I gave in and agreed to err on the side of caution. I let Miguel pull out the tire gauge as I began daydreaming about the wonders of the constellations and my potential skills as an astronomer. And that's when I heard, "Uh Oh..."
And so it was... a nail in my tire on a Sunday afternoon at 2:15pm. We could leave Tucson no later than 2:45 in order to make it to Kitt Peak in time. I was frantic to find a tire repair shop that could fix the tire in less than 30 minutes. However, after 30 minutes of dejected driving around Tucson, with only one tire repair shop open (and a 45-minute wait), we were screwed.
And this is how I felt inside...
... so bummed.
I was mega-disappointed. Miguel said I was acting like a baby, but I told him to leave me alone and allow me to mourn in peace for a bit. I needed to deal with the grand let-down... a flat tire stymied me yet again! Of course, Miguel pointed out that we could have been driving 80 mph in the middle of the desert en route to Kitt Peak and had a tire blow-out, and then we both could have died, and that made me feel better. I realized it was, in fact, a good thing that we'd discovered the dreaded nail, although I still hate the fact that I get more flat tires per year than anyone else in America.
Weirdly though, the tire never actually went flat (I drove around on it... slowly... for the next couple days until I could get it into a repair shop).
As it turned out, instead of stargazing, Miguel and I went to see "Borat" at the last remaining drive-in theater in Tucson (or maybe America, for that matter) and had a great time...
We were both guffawing out loud throughout the whole movie -- my favorite part being the Jewish Bed & Breakfast scene where the innkeeper lady forces him to eat a sandwich before bed...
And speaking of bed, it's about that time... last day of classes tomorrow before Thanksgiving break!
1 comment:
That sucks that you missed Kitt Peak. I would love to go there sometime, I've been into astronomy since I was a kid. Tucson itself is so much better for stargazing than Dallas.
Those sidewall punctures suck because usually they can't patch the tire. I had a nasty tire blowout back in July due to road debris. It was scary!
Moment of silence for the pigeon.
Moment of silence over. Borat was hilarious. For some reason I seemed to laugh the hardest at the hotel room wrestling and the antique shop.
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