Comments for Back to the "Wheel Store"

Back to the "Wheel Store": 07/18/06

Yesterday at 3 PM, Ian telephoned me at work to say he'd had his second blow out in a month (see the June 19th entry). This time he was on the 580 heading into Dublin in search of an air conditioned store to beat the heat. He's not sure if he hit something on the shoulder after he had to get out the way of a crazy driver who was driving too aggressively or if it was the heat (104° F) but something caused his right front tire to blow.

Fortunately I was done for the day and was able to leave work early to pick up Sean from day care so that the two of us could then meet Ian where ever he may have ended up. Shortly after Ian had called me and tried calling AAA (only to find they were over loaded by a bunch of cars suffering heat related problems), one of the Caltrans sponsored tow trucks stopped to help him change his tire and get him back on the road.

Ian limped his car down to Sears where Sean and I met up with him. Sean had been surprised to see me picking him up but understood immediately what was going on once I told him about Ian's flat tire. "Oh, we have to go the wheel store to get Daddy," he said and off we went. I hadn't been to the auto department at this Sears before but Sean had. I got lost in the parking lot while Sean kept pointing helpfully in the right direction. Of course, I didn't pay any attention to his directions (what in born flaw is it that makes parents ignore good advice from their children?) and had to call Ian. Ian of course pointed me in the exact direction that Sean had been trying to get me to go for the last five minutes. Sean fortunately found my inability to follow his directions very funny.

We had to wait with Ian for about ten minutes while he waited to pay. Sears was short staffed at the end of the day and there were lots of people in there with cars with heat related problems. I don't think they were expecting as much business at the end of the day that they found themselves with. Sean meanwhile gave me the grand tour of the place, showing me where the doors have the word "open" on the locks and where the different tires were.

At last Ian was paid and we were able to caravan to Carrows for dinner. Ian's car doesn't have AC and after two hours of dealing with a flat tire he was parched. Carrows is the last remaining building on a city block that had been a grotty motel and an abandoned movie theater. There is now a Target going up and some other sort of building. Carrows's parking lot has been moved to the front of the building and the manager was outside making sure we were able to find our way from the new lot to the store. Inside there was a lovely breeze of air conditioned air. Two waitresses kept us awash in ice water and we had a lovely dinner.