The Details

I would like to clarify. I did not change the tire last week. I got out of my car and said about 381 Oh My God's while Kelly kept saying "it's okay, it's okay." To which I replied "Oh my god." Then, after about 2.5 minutes of this, before the shock could wear off and before the tears could really start, my guardian angel appeared. He drove a red pick up truck and wore a work shirt with his name embroidered on it.

David.



David quickly got to work finding my jack (beats me where it was?), taking off the tire, getting my spare down from under the car, and whipping it back on the car. All while Kelly and I cracked jokes on the side of the road. David got really dirty and covered in grease and other car goop. Luckily the entire back of my 4Runner was filled with nine bags of clothing I've been hauling around for the last month, meaning to take to Good Will. So I passed him my 2002 Delta Gamma Anchorsplash shirt to wipe his hands on. I told him he could keep it. I owed him.



About ten minutes into David's tire changing extravaganza, another pick up pulled up behind us. It was another friendly guy, checking to make sure we were okay. I told him David seemed to have it under control, but he hung around and watched anyways. I think he wanted to be in on the excitement. Once the spare was on, he jumped out with his air pressure gauge tool and checked the air pressure. It was so low it didn't even register. So he advised that I drive the three miles to Crobsytown and put some air in it. This I knew how to do. But I didn't have the little tool thingy, so he gladly gave me his. I told him I owed him one, the next time I saw him. So on we went on our way. Once we got to the gas station in town, I got out to put some air in the tire. David showed up a few minutes later, just to make sure we were still doing okay.



All the while through this saga, Kelly and I are on our phones, giving the boyfriends, brother and dad a play-by-play. It went something like this: "yes, we are changing the tire now. or um... he is changing it." Mark felt bad that I was stranded on the side of the road, but was more bummed out because he had a sore throat and a cough (gee thanks.) Wes was panicking about these two guys who had stopped to help us ("how old are they?! do they look like they are going to kill ya'll?") My brother just laughed at us. And my Dad wasn't concerned at all that his two daughters were alone on the side of the road in the literal middle of nowhere, a mere 30 minutes away from darkness. He said once he heard that we were in West Texas he wasn't worried because "people are nice in West Texas."

So, thanks to some help from a couple Good Samaritans, we survived the ordeal and got to Lubbock with a story to tell. On the drive back, we found the exact hill where the tire blew and waved good riddance. As the say, happiness is Lubbock, Texas in my rear view mirror.