You two never showed us your sloth.
Posted on 09/16/2022 6:19:12 PM PDT by george76
I almost made it over Weston Pass in the winter. The deep ice finally got me. Had to dig out and go back. ;)
Bears Discover Fire by TERRY BISSON
I was driving with my brother, the preacher, and my nephew, the preacher’s son, on I-65 just north of Bowling Green when we got a flat. It was Sunday night and we had been to visit Mother at the Home. We were in my car. The flat caused what you might call knowing groans since, as the old-fashioned one in my family (so they tell me), I fix my own tires, and my brother is always telling me to get radials and quit buying old tires.The rest is at the link. It grows on you.But if you know how to mount and fix tires yourself, you can pick them up for almost nothing.
Since it was a left rear tire, I pulled over to the left, onto the median grass. The way my Caddy stumbled to a stop, I figured the tire was ruined. “I guess there’s no need asking if you have any of that FlatFix in the trunk,” said Wallace.
“Here, son, hold the light,” I said to Wallace Jr. He’s old enough to want to help and not old enough (yet) to think he knows it all. If I’d married and had kids, he’s the kind I’d have wanted.
An old Caddy has a big trunk that tends to fill up like a shed. Mine’s a ’56. Wallace was wearing his Sunday shirt, so he didn’t offer to help while I pulled magazines, fishing tackle, a wooden tool box, some old clothes, a come-along wrapped in a grass sack, and a tobacco sprayer out of the way, looking for my jack. The spare looked a little soft.
The light went out. “Shake it, son,” I said.
It went back on. The bumper jack was long gone, but I carry a little 1/4-ton hydraulic. I found it under Mother’s old Southern Livings, 1978-1986. I had been meaning to drop them at the dump. If Wallace hadn’t been along, I’d have let Wallace Jr. position the jack under the axle, but I got on my knees and did it myself. There’s nothing wrong with a boy learning to change a tire. Even if you’re not going to fix and mount them, you’re still going to have to change a few in this life. The light went off again before I had the wheel off the ground. I was surprised at how dark the night was already. It was late October and beginning to get cool. “Shake it again, son,” I said.
It went back on but it was weak. Flickery.
“With radials you just don’t have flats,” Wallace explained in that voice he uses when he’s talking to a number of people at once; in this case, Wallace Jr. and myself. “And even when you do, you just squirt them with this stuff called FlatFix and you just drive on. $3.95 the can.”
“Uncle Bobby can fix a tire hisself,” said Wallace Jr., out of loyalty I presume.
“Himself,” I said from halfway under the car. If it was up to Wallace, the boy would talk like what Mother used to call “a helot from the gorges of the mountains.” But drive on radials.
“Shake that light again,” I said. It was about gone. I spun the lugs off into the hubcap and pulled the wheel. The tire had blown out along the sidewall. “Won’t be fixing this one,” I said. Not that I cared. I have a pile as tall as a man out by the barn.
The light went out again, then came back better than ever as I was fitting the spare over the lugs. “Much better,” I said. There was a flood of dim orange flickery light. But when I turned to find the lug nuts, I was surprised to see that the flashlight the boy was holding was dead. The light was coming from two bears at the edge of the trees, holding torches. They were big, three hundred pounders, standing about five feet tall. Wallace Jr. and his father had seen them and were standing perfectly still. It’s best not to alarm bears.
I fished the lug nuts out of the hubcap and spun them on. I usually like to put a little oil on them, but this time I let it go. I reached under the car and let the jack down and pulled it out. I was relieved to see that the spare was high enough to drive on. I put the jack and the lug wrench and the flat into the trunk. Instead of replacing the hubcap, I put it in there too. All this time, the bears never made a move. They just held the torches, whether out of curiosity or helpfulness, there was no way of knowing. It looked like there may have been more bears behind them, in the trees.
Opening three doors at once, we got into the car and drove off. Wallace was the first to speak. “Looks like bears have discovered fire,” he said.
* * * *
You two never showed us your sloth.
Gravity never misses a chance to be gravity.
So reality is not just a mental construct?
Been on that road before. It’s not the worst one.
Yes, went there on Google Earth and it is a freeway compared to the road to my mountain property. I have had to drag trees behind my jeep coming back down from my place when it is iced up because the switchbacks so steep.
Something unusual must have happened causing this event here. The road is not that bad.
Looks like a freeway compared to what we are used to.
Looks like the company the driver worked for has removed some of the info at its website.
Wonder if that info referred to CoupFlu vaxx requirements...
Something unusual must have happened causing this event here. The road is not that bad.
inquiring minds would like to know if driver had heart attack..
I drove my map’s national road between France and Switzerland. This Alp’s roadway was paved, but no railings: only little stone pyramids indicated the edge.
Towns were little twinkles thousands of feet down. Yes, this was night-time!
Or a broken steering part. A broken tie rod can send you into a ditch in a heartbeat before you can do anything about correcting it or getting stopped.
I like to say that gravity never takes a day off.
Sounds like lack of maintenance may have caused this. If you do a lot of offroading a regular regiment of retighening nuts and bolts is mandatory, especially steering parts. I even had a steering column shaft come unsplined and free spin on me one time because the lock bolt had vibrated out. My fault, I should have checked it once in awhile to make sure it stayed tight.
Looks like Moki Dugway with trees...
Hired a 72 year old driver?!?
That looks like Black Bear pass.
Righteous air...
Yes! I remember well how there were never any accidents, and everyone lived to 500 years old before the VAX!
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