Damn Potholes!

What a way to start off a day. I'm on my way to work this morning, I had just driven past a rest area when BANG! I hit a giant pothole. I continue to drive, hoping my tire will stay in tact, considering I was less than 5 minutes away from work. No such luck, I was no sooner driving on the rim, wondering if the actual tire was still attached to it. The pot hole was in the far left hand lane, so I slowly maneuvered my way across four lanes of light traffic to what I thought was the breakdown lane. After I came to a complete stop, I put my hazard lights one and prayed to god that no one would hit me. I called Triple A and since there was a storm yesterday which ended in rain, which pretty much froze everything over this morning, there were multiple car accidents which required tow trucks. I was on hold for about 5 or 6 minutes, checking my phone every couple of seconds to make sure that the call hadn't ended. There was no hold music, so I wasn't too sure the status of the phone call. A representative eventually answered the phone and I explained my situation. She then asked me for my membership number and then the location of my car. If I had not been sitting about 1/4 of a mile in front of an exit sign, it would have been harder to explain where I was exactly. She then asked me if I was pulled over enough to the side or if I would like a police escort until the tow truck arrived. Normally I would have said no, but since I soon realized that I was not sitting in the break-down lane and that it was a regular lane that was leading to an exit in which many cars seemed to be taking, I told that I would like one. She told me it would be about 45 minutes. Which this morning, seemed like no time at all. My eyes were then glued to my rear-view mirror, watching the cars change into the lane I was in, swerving at the last minute not realizing there was a car there. After a few Mack trucks did that, my life was starting to flash before my eyes and I was really hoping either the police cruiser and or the tow truck would arrive. I then thought that maybe I should get my car on the snow bank, since it was low enough to drive over. It was iced over, but I managed to get my car over to the side more, which was much better.

About 15 minutes later, I saw a police cruiser approach my car, which on any other case would have been nerve-wracking, but in this situation, I couldn't have been more relived. He got out of his car and said to me, "You must have hit that pot hole in the far left lane back there... along with the other 15-20 cars that now have flat tires." In a way, I was sort of glad I wasn't the only one. He said there was another person a little further back than me who was little more important that he might have to attend to. Knowing that this wasn't a speeding situation, and that I could possibly make light of the moment, I simply stated, "There's someone more important than me??" He smiled and told me he didn't mean it that way. At that time, the tow truck had come and the police officer had a short conversation with him, most likely about all of the other people who needed his service. The police officer got back into his car and waited with his lights on while my deflated tired was being changed. My tire, only about 3 months old to me, was no longer of use and it will have to recycled, and sent to tire heaven. I was only an hour late to work, which I supposed could have been worse. At least I eventually got to work, safely!