Yesterday was such a long day. I got off of work at 1:00 like usual and went to my car only to find that I had a flat tire. No big deal. I figured that I would just put on the spare, go get it fixed, and be on my way home. Right. If only it were that easy.
I started removing lug nuts from the wheel. There were two that proved a bit difficult to get off. I managed to remove one of them but as I was working on the second one, the stud broke halting all progress. Fortunately my friend Dahono had just left work and saw me having problems. He hurried home and brought back a small hacksaw that we used to remove the lug nut. I figured that I could drive to the nearest tire store with only 3 lug nuts holding the wheel if I traveled slowly.
I managed to get the spare tire on but the other lug nut that was difficult to remove was proving even more difficult to put back on. I did the best that I could but feared breaking the stud so I didn’t force it. By this time, Holly had showed up in the van with Alex and Hannah. I jumped in the car and she followed me in the van. I hadn’t gone half of a mile before I heard a pop on the tire. I thought that something bad happened so I pulled over and checked. I couldn’t see anything wrong so I kept going to the tire store. Just as I pulled into their parking lot though I heard another pop and the wheel started dragging on the ground. Good thing it happened where it did.
It turns out that I had broken off two of the remaining three studs on the way to the tire store. This wasn’t a part that they normally carried so they had to order it. I sat in the Firestone on 900 W North Temple from about 2:15 until 5:00 with Alex and Hannah. There’s not a lot for little kids, or adults, to do in a tire shop for that amount of time so needless to say it was pretty excruciating. The kids did great though.
Once we finally were able to leave, I realized that every single road into Davis County had been blocked by either an accident or construction and was severely backed up. We finally made it home a little bit after 7:00 and were all exhausted.
On a side note, I’d like to thank Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson for my lovely commute. Had he not delayed the Legacy Highway project for years, I may have had an alternate route and actually made it home in a reasonable amount of time. That would have just been horrible. I’d much rather sit in my car stuck in traffic for hours with two hungry, tired children. 
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