The Elephant Takes One For The Team

The photo below is of a bolt. A three and 3/4 inch long bolt to be exact. It was sticking out of the passenger side rear tire of the elephant on Friday. I could hear it thumping when I left in the morning, but had an appointment I couldn't miss. I was a little early, so I picked a parking spot away from everyone. I checked the tires thoroughly and then pushed the Elephant a few inches forward and looked again. I found it easily because it was shiny from rubbing the pavement. It tried to move it and knew I had a leak when I moved it a little. It was raining, so I knew the tire was leaking as the water was bubbling around the edges of the bolt head. Rats. I considered going to see Thing 1 and getting it fixed right then, but went to work instead.

On the way home after work I put air in the tire as it was rather low. When I got home it was raining harder. I took the injured tire off and I put the little dinky spare on. Driving with the spare in the rain was no fun. Cornering was weird and uncomfortable. I had to drive it to take the tire to a tire repair shop. They didn't have time to fix it last night.

They tried to fix it this morning and the plug wouldn't hold. The bolt had gone in at a severe angle and had ruined the tire. It took them awhile to locate something used of the same size from another shop. Kiss that $50 goodbye.