re-tired

161:365

M took the car out this morning for what was supposed to be a quick wash before we all hit the car show. I was waiting for him to return to the hotel when he called. "We have a problem."

By sheer happenstance, he noticed that the front passenger tire was horribly worn. Cords showing, no tread...the sort of things you generally don't want to see on any of your tires. Driver's side was fine, passenger side was all jacked up. "We can't make it home."

He headed back to pick me up while I used the map software on my iPhone to search for a Chevrolet dealer. Luck! There is one right around the corner from the hotel! And yes, they service Corvettes! But alas, no service hours on Saturday. "Good luck finding any dealer with service hours today," she said. My heart sank.

I went to the next closest, Carl Black Chevrolet on the east side of Nashville. Specialize in Corvettes, have Corvette tires, and open today. We made an appointment for 1:30, but she told me if we could get there any sooner to do so. With that, M returned.

We headed to the park where the car show was held so Dad could take a look. He confirmed M's suspicions and we headed down to Nashville. It was a tense 20-minute drive, at least for me.

We explained the issue to Ted, our service writer, who immediately started tracking down replacement tires. A few hours later, and a hefty ding on the Discover card, we had two new front tires and were good to go again.

I am feeling so unbelievably blessed today. Blessed that the hotel guy pulled the hose in early so M had to go off-site to find a car wash. Blessed that he had to jimmy the car around to get it in the right spot to wash once he got there. Blessed that all this meant that he left the steering wheel in a turn position instead of straight, which cocked the tire out and was the only way he spotted the wear. The damage was all on the inside of the tire, and with extremely wide tires you don't often see the inside tread lines. Blessed that Carl Black Chevrolet has Saturday service hours, and blessed that they were so easy to work with in solving our issue. Good people at Carl Black. If you live in Nashville and you need a car, go see 'em.

Ted the service writer, upon seeing the damaged tire off the car (the only way to truly see it all), predicted we'd have gotten as far as maybe Paducah, KY before having "a massive blow-out."

M leaves tomorrow night for a business trip, and I start my new job Monday. Stranded would have been highly inconvenient, not to mention costly (no dealer anywhere is open on a Sunday). Let's not even consider the safety ramifications.

So today's image is of our poor tire, which managed to hold together long enough. Yeah, those are the cords showing. And yeah, that's bare metal also showing. Tires are definitely not supposed to look like that.

Blessed, I tell ya.

Here's to a safe trip home.

P.S. In other news, we did make it back to the show in time to see Dad pick up a Top 3 award in the '66 Mod category. Yeah! Way to go, Dad! I'm so proud of you! xoxo