Thread: Close call...

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I decided to take the Chevelle with me this past weekend up to our beach house in Birch Bay (just south of the Canadian border) for some beach crusing over the 4th and I'm glad I did but...

Since I had so much stuff to take up I decided to put the car on the trailer and my son-in-law and I took off at about 5:30pm Friday heading north. We were just north of the Tulalip area on I-5 crusing at about 65mph in the fast lane and my rear passenger side tire blew on the car trailer! The back of the trailer was swaying all over the place and I looked in my outside mirror and at one point the back of the trailer was approx 4" away from the concrete barricade... Well, since I was in the far right lane and I wouldn't have room to change the tire there, I told my son-in-law to start waving wildly out his window and as soon as there was a little break I jumped over all 3 lanes to the other shoulder (that was REAL fun and quite a butt puckering experience). So, I get off to the side as much as possible to allow for a safe tire change, jacked up the trailer, took the spare off the mount, went to install it and it was the wrong lug pattern (thank you discount tires who checked it and said it was the right wheel when they ordered it and mounted a tire on it).

I had to disconnect the truck from the trailer, took the wheel with the shredded tire on it drove up to the 172nd street exit, got back on the freeway heading south and went to Walmart (only place I could find open) and after about an hour got a new tire on the wheel. The guy told me I was already and the paperwork was printing up inside so I went in to pay... there at the "Automotive" counter was a family (and I mean the stereotypical Walmart shopper family) buying milk, eggs, baby food, etc; all the while questioning everything that was being rung up! I went into overload at that point! No more Walmart (ever) for me! Anyway, finally got back, changed the tire/wheel and got to Birch Bay about 3.5 hours later (it is normally a 1 hour trip). About 6 beers later I got the car off the trailer...

BTW - On the way home, I lost all the trailer lighting as well as the turn signals on my truck! Got home, had another 6 beers and got the car off the trailer!

Life is good, I still got to spend the weekend with the family and the outcome could have been much worse!

Greg

wow. that is a road trip that you will not soon forget. glad everything turned out okay.

Someone was watching out for you on that one. It could have been really bad, glad it wasn't.

I share your feelings about Walmart. There is one a couple of minutes from the shop and we avoid it like the plague unless absolutely forced to go there. There is nobody to ever help you and they run one register at night so it takes longer to get through the checkout than to shop. They also shut the registers down at exactly 12:00 midnight to start the next days business, so you stand there for 15 minutes or more while they come around and close out the registers.

Don

Wow, I did not know that about Walmart Don!!!

How did you find out about the midnight shutdown???

bluevelle65 I had a similar experience with a '48 chevy on a trailer, never towed anything since!!! Glad to hear that your bowtie is safe and sound!

[QUOTE=Hot Rod Surfer;391600]Wow, I did not know that about Walmart Don!!!

How did you find out about the midnight shutdown???


Well, we leave the shop a lot of times late and need to pickup something to eat and Walmart is about the only game in town at that hour. The first time they shut the registers down I thought something had broken because all the customers and the couple of cashiers were just standing there, waiting for something. After a while a manager came around with a cart and collected the days receipts and closed out the registers.

Being the complainer I am, I said to the manager, "you have to be kidding, you shut down the whole system for over 15 minutes EVERY night?" She informed me that it is company policy to end one days business at 12 and start a new day. However, they were not exactly rushing the process.

A few more times we have been in the store at the same time and the same shutdown occurs each time. Walmart may have cheap prices but I'm starting to shop elsewhere even though it costs a little more.

Don

I feel your pain about wal fart...my family and I got fed up with them and have not been for almost a year now and I feel so much better.We go to Dollar tree and some other places.I have saved alot of money because when we would go we would get alot more than we wanted(kids seen it).So look around you will find other places.....Happy shopping

I can't go to Walmart I don't speak Spanish.
Creep

They shoot trailers dont' they?

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

They shoot trailers dont' they?

Yep Bob, right about now...

Greg