Settle back, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Its time for another saga in The Perils of Pauline (yeah, I know. Im not Pauline but I couldnt think of anything dramatic to go with Cathy). Anyway, here we go: Im driving home from work tonight, bebopping away to the oldies station out of Red Lodge, MT. There are two vehicles behind me, but theyre doing okay. No riding my tailgate, which is good. In front of me is a semi headed to the Wyoming Limestone. Hes running slower than me so I slow down because Im coming up on a no passing section. No big deal. Im still bebopping along, singing and nodding my head listening to my Halloween cat earrings jingle. We get past the no passing area so I turn on my turn signal to let everyone know Im going to pass him. I barely get over the center line (I think I was actually straddling it) when KAPOW!!! He blows a tire! Smoke, dust, limestone, whatever is in the air. I cant see. I hit the brakes, hoping and praying that the ones behind me know Im braking. I dont know where he is in front of me. Hes got rubber flying through the air and it just barely missed my right passenger side of the windshield because I was over the line. I figured hes stopped. Nope. I make it through the brown air and hes just a toodling on down the line, acting like it was no big deal (durn near gave me a hear attack). When he turned off into the Wyoming Limestone, I noted which tire it was. I know those semis run on a lot of tires but I guess I always thought that if one blew, it affected the others in some way. Guess not. He left rubber pieces all over the road for miles before he turned off and that right rear inner tire on his rig was pretty trashed. I have never experienced anything like this and it sure did shock me for a little bit. Whew!
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 00:33:08 +0000