After we had our fun at the shooting range, Paul had to get down to some serious car-fixing business. When we returned to the ranch after our White Mountain hike on Saturday, we discovered that Minty had gotten a flat tire on the way back. Paul had spent the rest of Saturday afternoon first trying to patch the tire, then running over to our neighbor, Gene, across the valley, to borrow his small air compressor to try to pump it up. That effort failed as the patch wouldn’t seal properly.
Therefore, he then had to race it into town to find the one guy who might possibly have either a Windstar tire, or be able to properly patch the one we had. Thankfully he was still at his shop when Paul got there in the late afternoon; however, the news we got from him was not good. He a) did not have anything that would match our vehicle in the way of tires, and b) though he was able to patch the tire, he said the tread was getting ready to split, which would make our return trip to Phoenix even more exceedingly hair-raising than it already promised to be with Jimminy in such frail condition.
We consulted together on Sunday afternoon, and decided that it would be safest to leave that evening, so as to drive on the roads while they were at their coolest, and hopefully save the tire from exploding on the way home.
Having settled that, then, after we finished our shooting, Paul headed back over to Gene’s to bring him back his compressor. And here’s where it a very cool and unforeseeable provision of the Lord was dropped in our laps. Gene had a family visiting him, and the fellow just *happened* to have a Windstar tire that was in terrific shape that he was willing to sell us!! So they spent a good deal of effort getting the new tire on our old rim, but once that was done and it was filled with air, we were good as gold for the trip home. What a relief and a blessing that was!
However, we had already counted on leaving after supper, and the kids had gotten everything packed, so we stuck with the plan, ate our quick early hotdog supper around the campfire, did a quick clean up, and took off for home just before 6pm. It wasn’t the fastest we’ve ever driven home, what with Jimminy’s lack of power; and I hated the mountain passes at night — night blindness is really the pits!! But we made it home just before 11:30pm on Sunday night….. and just as we pulled up to the curb, the last air seeped out of Jimminy’s back tire!!!
UN-BE-LIEVABLE.
Two flat tires, plus a $500 car repair that left us with a van with virtually no power and flickering headlights. Once again, a weekend to remember, in more ways than we would like.
Thankfully, these are the ways I like to remember the weekend: beautiful hilltop views of our ranch and beyond, kids hanging out around the picnic table,
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… and enjoying good times, many laughs, and great pics of my family.
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Having this place of retreat is a wonderful gift and blessing for our family, and we are ever grateful.
