I would love to hear this story 
OK, it took a while to type it up, but here you go:
I left work and pulled out on to Hwy. 27 heading south towards LaFayette in my trusty S-10. Less than a half mile from the plant my left front tire blew out. It was a weird blow out. For the last few weeks I've notice the truck loaping a little at slow speeds like maybe it had a small budge on the tire. I guess it did. Half of the tire has great tread all the way across. About a quarter of it is worn down into the wire on the inside edge and turning up the sidewall. It wore through on a part of the tire that shouldn't have been touching the ground. Anyway, that's where the fun began.
I pulled over on the shoulder. In the bed I've got a doughnut spare that I acquired when I had to replace the rear end. I've got a small bottle jack and a 4 way lug wrench. Ought'a be easy, right? Yeah, it should. Doesn't mean it was. The spare probably has 30 - 35 psi. Supposed to be 60. Should be enough to get me to Rock Spring and finish pumping it up . . . so I proceed. The jack isn't an ideal jack when you are on a soft shoulder and a slight slope. Oh, look! I've only got 3 lug nuts to break loose! That should make it even easier! And it probably would have if the 19mm / 3/4" side of my Duralast "guaranteed for life" lug wrench wasn't rounded out. And if whoever put these wheels on last hadn't of tightened 'em to a bajillion foot pounds. I got two broke loose . . . rounded the third one. DAG NABBIT! What the heck am I gonn’a do now?
Some of my tax money paid off! One of Georgia’s finest pulls up, parks right on the edge of the white line and turns on his Blue Lights. It was a big relief when the traffic starting moving a couple more feet from my backside. Then, he opens his trunk and pulls out a nice floor jack and a good “Made in the USA” lug 4 way lug wrench. In no time at all, I finished the job, thanked the officer for his service and helped him load his stuff in his trunk. He pulled out and blocked traffic long enough for me to start pulling out into the road, then he made a U-turn and headed back north. About the time I shifted to third gear (5 speed) . . . maybe 100 yards or so after I got straightened out on the pavement, guess what? Yep, the doughnut broke loose from the rim. Guess it didn’t have enough air pressure to get me to Rock Springs after all.
Soooo . . . I pull back onto the shoulder. I called Joy. She’s on her way home from work and in a dead zone. Waited about 5 minutes and called again. She’s almost to LaFayette. I tell her where the other spare doughnut is that I had acquired in the same rear end replacement as the flat doughnut I had just put on. Two co-workers and a couple of complete strangers stop and offer help. Thanks, but help is on the way! Joy shows up with the spare . . . and a Dr. Pepper and a pack of crackers. I think she can read my mind! So, I pull out my wallered out 4 way lug wrench, my little bottle jack and the spare spare and get ready to do this again. Now I know I’m gonna’ have’ta take this wheel back off real soon, so when I put the changed the tire a few minutes ago, I made sure that I got them tight, but not too tight. Well, I got one of them too tight for my damaged lug wrench. After 15 minutes of digging through my truck, I found a good 3/4” six point socket. I’ve got a 1/2” drive torque wrench, but the socket is 3/8” drive. I’ve got one of those $4.99 40-piece socket sets. That’s the only 3/8” ratchet I’ve got with me. So I give it a try . . . and twist the drive almost off, but the ratchet mechanisum broke first. So we clean out the hatch on Joy’s Kia and dig down to the lug wrench only to find it’s too big. Dang’it! Another co-worker stops by to save the day. He doesn’t have any tools, but he drove back to the plant and borrows a 1/2” drive pull handle and 3/4” deep well impact socket. It makes short work of the third lug nut. But, now the jack has sunk down in the ground a little, and my truck isn’t high enough to install the spare spare. My co-worker pulls the scissor jack out of his truck and we get the truck hoisted up enough to install the second spare. Now this spare looked and felt rock hard when I was putting it on, but once the truck is sitting on it, it looks low. But not as low as the last one. It should make it to Rock Springs (about a mile away) without a problem. So we get everything packed up, my co-worker heads back to the plant to take the borrowed tools back and Joy and I pull back out onto 27 heading south. Whew! Glad that’s over. But it’s not. Only got about 100 yards and this one breaks loose from the rim. Back to the side of the road. I locked up the truck, put my first flat spare in Joy’s Kia, got my nearly new made-in-China lug wrench and hopped in the rescue Kia and headed south.
Joy asked me what I was planning to do. I said, fix this flat spare. How? Easy . . . with an air hose, some gas and a match. I can see by the look on her face that she thinks I’ve snapped and I’m gonn’a burn my truck, so I explain the “triangle” method of seating a tire back on the rim when you don’t have the proper equipment. On the way to the house, we stopped at Auto Zone and trade my chrome 4 way for a new black one. Made in China still, but somehow the black one looks tougher than the chrome one. I really don’t care, just as long as it will take off three lug nuts and “hopefully” put 5 back on (I bought three new ones while I was there changing the lug wrench).
Got home and pulled out the spare. Joy went in the house to try to find some matches. I break out my $39 Harbor Freight air compressor and get ready for some fireworks. Joy is still looking for matches and the tire seals off and starts taking air without any explosive assistance! I need to buy a lottery ticket. This is my lucky day! Woo Hoo! So, we load up the tightly pumped up spare and head back towards Chickamauga. I guess it true what they say about “Third time’s the charm.” The installation went pretty much without incident and this time I made it to Rock Spring and got some gas (flat or not, I was about to be walking). From there, I hit 27 south again and made it home . . . 4 hours after I left work.
Now I have to go try to air up my spare spare just in case I need it going to work in the morning. Hopefully, Rock Spring Tire has a pair of 14” tires that‘ll get me off these doughnuts tomorrow afternoon.
