This is a bit of a backtrack. But we now have the time to tell the story. (a little me, a little Alicia)
A little background: Suburbans are notorious for a badly engineered spare tire release mechanism. They just don't work. I had intended to get it "fixed" before we sped our way west, thinking that IF we experienced a flat on a dirt road --- it would be BAD.
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So we are way out on a dirt road in Montana, on our way to a B&B for three nights (we've been camping for 11 days) ... and the tire pressure light comes on: ding ding. Kevin goes out to check the tires and a rear tire is low, way low. We are heading towards our B&B, but we don't know where the next "real" town is. So we decide to turn around and head for Phillipsburg, Montana which we drove through earlier today. We know that the spare will not drop. About sixteen miles away. We go about six miles and the tire pressure warning is dinging away. Kevin says we are not going to make it to Phillipsburg. We are out in the middle of nowhere ...
But there on the left of us is a taxidermy shop - what the heck. We pull in, a guy is in his shop and Kevin asks the guy if he can help us. WONDERFUL guy ... Mark. He has an air compressor and adds air to the tire. This only exposes the real problem ... a huge tear in the tire. You could hear the air coming out. A rock cut the tire.
Mark proceeds to help Kevin get the tire off the car, and then drives us the 10 miles to Phillipsburg to get the tire repaired, and then takes us back to his place and helps puts the tire back on the car for us. We tried to give him money but he wouldn't take it. ... he has that "pay it forward" attitude.
So we proceed on to Hamilton, the next "big city", assuming that we will buy new tires when we get to Jackson, Wyoming in a couple of weeks. We are driving along a scenic byway (another dirt road) ... a few miles along and the tire pressure warning comes on again! The repair did not work! At this point we have no choice but to continue on to Hamilton ... almost thirty miles away.
Kevin choose not to get out and look at it, since he will be driving those last 26 miles on a flat tire anyway -- and ruin the tire.
Luckily we get some cell service on the way to Hamilton, and we Google tire places and find that there are several. We turn onto the main drag with three miles to go to Les Schwab Tires, and the tire is flat. We pull into a Conoco station and fill it with air. We make the three miles to the tire place without destroying the rim. Two new tires and $500 later, we are good to go.
So why didn't we just use the spare? Because 2005 Suburbans are notorious for a stupid design of the spare release system. There is a "safety" mechanism that is now rusted and won't release the tire. Kevin knew about it and tried to get it fixed before we left Maine but wasn't able to. To help you understand how bad it is ... a determined guy at the tire place worked on it for almost an hour (at no cost) to try to get the spare tire released and could not get it! A trip to the Chevy dealer is now on the horizon.
The good news is that we are now sitting in the very nice B&B, are freshly showered, and are relaxing on the comfy sofa of our suite in plush terry robes ... and a fair bit of wine! A good end to a trying day.
This is what a good man looks like --
Think about your issues and when necessary --- Pay it Forward.
Thank you Mark Hill! you are a good man
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