April 9th

April 9th, 2014
This is the story of how we had to buy all new tires + wheels. ugh.
. . .
In the mornings when we'd go to take Danny to work it would be freezing and our "low tire pressure" light would be on - we figured this was due to the drastic temperature changes. Thinking this was the case we would put air in our tires and be good for a couple of days. Then the light would come on again. We finally decided that this wasn't normal and that we should take the car in to get it checked. As usual whenever there is ANY CAR TROUBLE WHATSOEVER it is the start of Danny's work week. I tried taking the car in on Friday [the 4th] but the place we usually go to was completely full that day. As much as I was relieved that I wouldn't have to take the car in, I had this gut feeling like I needed to. So I made an appointment for the next day.
. . .
I managed to snag the last appointment they had on Saturday [the 5th.] Amanda + Josh were in town and us girls decided to get together and go to lunch and do a little shopping. Luckily Manny dropped Josh off way early and decided to chill at my place until it was time to meet up and offered to drive this time. [you can read about our day together here] After our fun little outing it was time to take the car in. After about 10 minutes of waiting, the dude came in rolling my wheel with him. Apparently our tire was literally falling apart, you could almost see through it in some places and it was insane how long we had been driving on it. [They others weren't far behind] The guy also said we had one heck of a guardian angel. He said he'd look in the back to see if they had any old tires that would work - they didn't. As I mentioned before, I had the last appointment, so the only thing he could do was to put on my donut and tell me to buy some new tires asap.
. . .
At this point I'm running late to pick up Danny from work. When he gets off I tell him the story. We had planned to go up to Salt Lake so Danny could watch the priesthood sesh with his bros, but there was no way we were making it on that donut. Apparently tire places don't stay open past 6 on Saturdays, that is, except one. Pep Boys was open down the street so we called ahead to let them know we were coming. We picked out the cheapest tire there and had them instal it for us. Simple enough right? In theory it would have been, but there was a new girl working there that all the guys were practically fighting for the chance to show her how to change a tire - which resulted in our keys getting locked in the car. They were about to whip out a wire hanger when the chick noticed our keypad and came and got the code. We wandered around in the store for 1 HOUR to get 1 TIRE put on. Danny was pretty frustrated. Especially because when we got out to look at our new tire, the hub cap was missing the "Milan" metal piece that covered the bolts and it looked awful. The guys at the shop said that it must've been the other tire place who lost it [even though they had no reason to take it off]. Whatever. We started driving to Salt Lake.
. . .
We're driving North on I-15 and get just past Trafalga + Lehi [mind you we are in the carpool lane] when we hear a POP and a whooshing noise, kinda like a balloon being let out. Danny and I just look at each other and I say there is no way that just happened. The air is coming out fast and we can totally feel it. We start booking it for the right shoulder [Which was hard to do because NOBODY would let us over!] So we get over and we are ridin' on the rim at this point and it sounds awful! So now, our other rear tire is completely flat. on the freeway. at twilight. awesome. Danny changed the tire while I had a panic attack every time a car stayed in the far right lane and zoomed passed us. 2 separate people pulled over to help, but by that point Danny was just tightening the last of the bolts. So now we're driving on the freeway with a donut. We take the next exit and map out the back roads to my parents house, since it's the closest thing to us.
. . .
After we pull in and get something to eat, Danny and I try to figure out what our next play is. We were going to borrow the Element, but apparently those tires are as bald as my dad's head and are about ready to go. After what happened today, that's the last thing I want to drive. We called Danny's parents and Dad said we cold borrow his car. Rich and Sarah were still at Mom and Dad's house and drove Dad's Buick down to us. For the next few days we get to drive Dad's car, and since I have school that requires parking permits registered by license plate, I have to drive Dad's car up to Hobby Lobby and walk the rest of the way to school. [luckily it was only for two days]
. . .
Fast forward to today, Wednesday, April 9th. Danny and I drive up to Sandy with the hopes of getting everything worked out. When we pull up to the house, we discover that our freakin' donut is flat! Mom and the kids aren't at the house either, so Danny has to shove me through a window to unlock the door so we can get our car keys that we left for my parents, just in case. After thinking things over, we end up getting the spare outta' Dad's car and putting it on ours. It barely fits and our car is a little lopsided, but we're good to go. We decided to go with Les Schwab since that's what us Jones' have always used in Oregon [plus they had a tire sale going on!] and it was only like three miles from my parents house. So we rolled down the hill into Les Schwab and told them our story. We wanted to keep the new tire we just had put on as like a full sized spare, so we ended up getting new wheels too.
. . .
We took Robert with us to drop off Dad's car in Salt Lake and on the way back to Sandy when he was sittin' in the back seat he says, "What's this?" and hands us the "Milan" cover for one of our old wheels [The one Pep Boys tried to blame Discount Tires for losing] So after that giant fiasco, we've got new wheels, new tires, a full sized spare and all the hub caps have all their pieces.
. . .
I would be totally fine if this was all the car trouble we'd ever get for the rest of our lives!