A bit of bad fortune followed by a bit of good fortune

I woke up with the urge to go somewhere. And to get a shower. And maybe pick up some supplies. So I headed north on Ogilby Road with the intent to go to Blythe and Ehrenburg. But when I got to the junction of Highway 78 I remembered Brawley was closer. And has showers at the Flying J. And, like Blythe, has a Dollar Tree and Grocery Outlet. And, unlike Blythe, has a Walmart. So across the desert, past the mine, over the dunes, and down into farmland.

The shower was excellent. I also gave myself a haircut. (More like a hair removal.) I scored a few things at Dollar Tree, then Grocery Outlet. 

The Grocery Outlet cashier asked how my day was going. “So far, so good. How about you?”

“Can’t complain.”

“I bet you could if you tried.”

He chuckled.

My “so far, so good” was about to become less good. As I approached the Rolling Steel Tent I noticed the rear tire looked rather low. Or had I parked in a divot? Nah, it was low by about a third. A puncture, no doubt. Aw crap.

I didn’t want to wrestle with the spare and the jack. I didn’t even want to mess with my compact air compressor. I asked the all-knowing Google brain if there was a Discount Tire in the vicinity.  Yes, eleven miles away in El Centro.

The question was how fast was the tire leaking. That would depend on when I ran over a nail. Was it this low after forty miles or after one? If it was a slow leak I would probably have no trouble driving another eleven miles without destroying the tire.

I made it. 

I chose Discount Tire because it’s where I bought these tires. I have a road hazard warranty, and I’m in their nationwide database. 

It was only about ten minutes before they had the Rolling Steel Tent in the work bay. After another few minutes the technician came into the waiting room, confirmed it was a nail, and said it could be patched because the hole was in the tread, not the sidewall. Good. They were all done a little later. Jacking up the van, removing the tire and wheel, unmounting the tire from the wheel, cleaning the inside of the tire, patching the hole (on the inside rather than using a plug), installing a new the valve stem, remounting the tire to the wheel, balancing it, and reinstalling the tire and wheel. No charge because of the warranty. Yay!

This is the repaired tire. You can see where the sidewall had rubbed the pavement.

Then I needed to make a decision: drive back to where I had been camped, or go somewhere else? I chose the latter. That’s why I’m writing this in Slab City. Or its less crowded, less troublesome outskirts. I think I’ll stay only a night before continuing on. Joshua Tree, Mojave Preserve, Death Valley…? We’ll see.