of nails and donuts

On Wednesday we drove down to Cornerstone farm and set up camp.

The right front tire of our van leaked the whole way down. I kept filling it
with air thinking it was nothing. After we set up camp I turned around
and realized the tire was completely flat! Not I hadn't changed a tire
in years! We're talking since college. So I found the jack system and
followed directions from the car manual. Got the tire off and then
bummed a ride up to a compressor to refill it. When I got there I
realized a nail was stuck in the tire. This is where it gets
interesting. I figured I'd roll the tire down the hill to the Rec. hall.
On my way I stopped to talk to a guy who was playing the soundtrack for
the movie "A Mighty Wind" which I'd just seen the evening before. I had
the songs going through my head all morning and then I turn around and
this guy is on the same frequency as my brain!

I kept thinking that I should ask for a ride with my leaky tire. "No, I
don't want to bother anyone." So I'm rolling this tire a quarter of a
mile just so as not to bother anyone. Then I remembered that this fear
of people is actually a form of conceit. When I got to the Rec. hall and
saw that half our stuff had been dropped there I was ready to ask for
help. I went down the hill and explained my woes to one of my pastors
and he gladly sympathized and handed over his car keys. After packing
everything in I drove off and nearly forgot the tire! So I opened the
back hatch of this MPV and crammed the tire on top. The hatch wouldn't
close but it had a nice sort of spring hold so I figured nothing would
fall out. So I set off down the road, driving slow so nothing flies out
the back and I get almost within sight of our tents but up a slight hill
when the hatch lifts up under the weight of the tire and the tire flies
out the back. When I'd been trying to roll the tire that quarter mile I
couldn't get it to stay up for fifteen feet before it would flop. This
time it hit the gravel, bounced a foot and rolled perfectly down the
hill picking up tremendous speed. I slammed on the breaks jumped out and
ran after it down the hill. Alas the tire slammed into the side of a
friend's trailer with a bang that no doubt sounded like bomb going off.
My friend was at his window in a matter of seconds to see me sullenly
waving a rolling the tire back up to the MPV.

Such were my trials on Wednesday night. But the grand end came when
another friend pointed out that I could have simply put on the donut
that was under the van and driven to have it fixed. Explaining the fact
that I drive our cars here at JPUSA as little as possible throughout the
year would take too long. Live and learn.