An Epic Car Ride..

This trip to L.A. definitely got started off on the wrong foot.  Actually at first everything was going peachy! Dre and I were making super good time, there was tons of random car dancing, I had just saw a sign for a town called Los Banos (yes I have a picture of the sign but I'm not on my computer and this one doesn't have a card reader.. hopefully soon I can get it posted though), etc.  So I'm driving, and all of sudden I hear what sounds like a flat tire on the front right (which I had previously ran up on a side walk with).  I then proceeded to turn the music down, and started looking around for a place to pull over, but there was no where.  The shoulder was slim to none, but we could see an exit coming up so we thought we could make it (since we had no idea where we were).  Then all of sudden the sound went away, so we were thinking okay we're good!  Wrong!! Our brief moment of relief was swiftly crushed when the back right tire blew out. It was pretty much all I could do to keep the car on the road (much less in my lane.. good thing no one was around).

Of course at this point we had no choice but to pull over.  The even more unfortunate part was that we still had no idea where we were at, so we figured we couldn't call AAA until we figured that part out.  The lucky part is I knew how to change the tire.  Oh but wait! We got even luckier! After I had thrown the all our bags into the briar bushes (yeah.. the side of the road was covered with them), got the spare out, and was getting ready to jack it up, this tow truck pulls over.  He asked if we had AAA, which even more lucky for us, I had just got my car in the mail the day I drove down from Portland.  So he changed the tire, but in the mean time he told us to call AAA.

Now I don't know if this makes sense to the rest of you, but why would you call AAA for a tow truck when you already have one?!?  But we called anyway and because we were in the middle of no where the call dropped literally five or six times.  After the guy had put the lovely doughnut on, I was filling out the paperwork, and he was explaining where we could go to get a new tire because oh yes! This tire didn't just go flat... No no.. it literally shredded! Awesome.....

So he's explaining, and I ask "So this is just right at the next exit?" Oh no... It was sixty miles down the road!  Seriously, I wasn't joking by saying we were in B.F.E. The only signs I had seen were for two state prisons and a mental hospital (comforting right?!).  So after receiving that little morsel of good news, I went back to the car where we decided that we should probably wait for the next tow truck driver to show up, because the first guy had told us to call and they had sent out another truck.  After thinking it over, we really didn't get the point of it, so we called to cancel but the call kept dropping so we just decided to wait for the next truck.  Then the first guy (who was still sitting there behind us) got back out and asked what we were doing. We explained and he said just go up to the next exit.  We followed his lead to the next exit because he needed some info from the AAA people anyway, and perfect for us, when he pulled into the turn out we were literally directly under these power lines.  No joke, we both felt like our brains were starting to boil.. But we did get the call canceled and then proceeded to drive sixty miles on a doughnut, driving 55 mph.

After a stressful hour or so drive of almost getting rear ended 24 times (there was no traffic until our top speed could only be 55 of course), we finally made it to the exit and the tire shop, and let me tell you--- it was like the sketchiest place EVER! It was one of those places that you pull up to and know you're going to get ripped off.  Oddly enough though, we got it fixed for cheaper than expected and in about 15 minutes-- Not bad! ... which should leave you to believe that this story isn't over yet... and it's not!

So we're driving and the car just seems a bit off and it's kind of making that flat tire sound, so we pull over again to check and nothing. But then it keeps happening.  So we stop at truck stop, get a tire gauge and check the air pressure.  One of the tires was off, so I added more air and thought the issue was solved.  No.  At that point we just decided that since none of the tires were flat and the car was still drivable, we would just get to my aunts and take it in to get looked at in the morning.  Well this morning my Uncle Tom and I were looking at it and I figured out that the tire those guys was a different size.. just a little bit bigger to be exact.  Are you kidding me?!!

But at this point we have been told that it's drivable, especially since it's on the back, so since it's not my car (and I've already bought one new tire for it), it can be dealt with when we get home! So this was just our first day... today has went much better.  We went to Venice--Awesome for people watching!  However, since I can't upload pictures at the moment I don't want to ruin it.  So later my friends, I will have more blogging updates for you!  For now, this is the end of my short novel :O)