Full Feelings from Friday’s Flat

If you’ve ever driven from Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania to Mill Run during the daylight hours you can see the beauty of the scenery as the road meanders up and down through the forested hillsides, but if you’ve traveled that route after nightfall you can understand my concern when one of my tires decided to go flat. In the “mountain” areas, the cell phone coverage is sketchy at best and the houses and businesses are even more spotty.

The thrumming sound of a tire going flat increased as I approached the dark and closed entrance to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater. Can I make it to a gas station to add air? What can I do and where can I pull over if necessary to change a tire? My thoughts became moot when the tire decided for me. With a loud sigh, my tire gave up the spirit and the thrumming became a flapping sound.

I pulled into a wide area at the Bear Run Schoolhouse where my wife’s grandmother lived. No one lived there now and the building was dark. I got out of my car and of course, the flat was on the side that was next to the traffic of the roadway. Just ahead was the Bear Run Church and the light of the parking lot. I drove to a spot where I could at least see and be away from the roadway.

I retrieved the jack and spare tire and tried to change the flat, but the lug nuts wouldn’t budge. My limited strength in my injured arm couldn’t pry them loose. I had my cell phone out to call my daughter and have her husband rescue me, when a car stopped in front of the church. I dialed her in case the person stopping meant no good. I was mumbling into the phone when I say a gray uniform and a voice asking if I needed help. I stopped my rambling into the phone and disconnected.

It was a Pennsylvania Conservatory Park Ranger. He helped me change the tire and I was very grateful and relieved. After thanking him, I drove home. Once I was safe in my house, I decided to recall my daughter only to find that I’d dialed her old cell number and had been talking to a strange female. A male answered this time and didn’t seem too pleased that I called and bothered his spouse. I explained that I’d dialed a number that my daughter once owned, then beat a hasty retreat. That number has now been deleted from my cell’s directory.

This was the background to my post on Monday, sharing the full story of my concerns and my full feelings of my flat tire episode.