We all do stupid things..right?

[Indagatrix]

So I'm driving home yesterday and I hear a funny noise from my lil pick-em-up truck -- so I start to slow down. Just then I see rubber fly off fromthe back region of my truck.

Great flat tire -- and I'm dressed in business attire on the interstate about 5 miles from the next town. So I get out to look at the damage....almost down to the rim. *sigh* Ok so I start to make a move to find my jack and tire iron when a nice man stops to help me out.

So I'm get my jack and tire iron out from the little cubby in my cab and hand them to the man and I place my hand on my seat to push myself back up and shut the passenger door of the truck. *Dread* I look in my hands -- Phone (got it), tissue to wipe sweat (got it), keys (...don't got it). Try to open door...locked.... look through window at driver door....locked. Go to driver door to double check...yep locked.
Me: "Ah, F*CK!"
Man: "What's the matter lil lady?" (Which is cute considering I stand a foot taller than him)
Me: "I locked my keys in the truck"
Man: "Oh tell me you didn't"
Me: "Yep did"
.......... (pause) (semi passes by)
I start dialing numbers.

See this wouldn't have been a big thing if I had been closer to home (still about 30-45 minutes from home) and if X wasn't home sick still.

I tried to call the Hi-Po and they tell me they don't provide services to the key-impaired any longer but offer to refer me to a locksmith. I tell them no thanks. By this time the nice man has helped me change the tire and he's digging thru his lil truck to see if he has anything that may get me in my truck. Nope. But he did find a business card for a wrecker service he's used before and calls them. Turns out they will let me in to my truck for $30 -- great give em a call. So me and the man wait on the side of the interstate for approx 30 minutes in 90 degree weather for the wrecker man. (Ya know black is very slimming -- but hot as hell standing on the side of the road).

So the wreckerman gets there and has a cool modified blood pressure cuff he uses to open my door slightly and a long blue rod he uses to trigger my lock. W00t! I'm in my truck! So then I drive the 5 miles to the next town and the first walmart I see so I can get a new tire. You know I never knew there were so many complicated things with tires....I thought being round, having tread and containing air was all that was required....seems there's an entire science to finding the right size. *sigh*

So after leaving work at 4:00 I finally make it home at 7:00 yesterday.

I've been making this commute for almost 4 years now and this is the first major f*ck-up I've had. That's not too bad right?

[kelkhil]

Well hey at least someone stopped to help you out. It seems that the world lately is full of people who don't give a d*mn about anyone. Even if they did it is too dangerous to even concider stopping on the side of the road to help someone because it could be a scam to get them to stop.

A few years ago I was opening an Airport in Northern Michigan and me and a coworker saw a truck on the side of the road with a flat on the way to work one morning.
We stopped to see if the driver was alright because they were just sitting in the vehicle. When we walked up we startled the poor lady. She was crying. She had been sitting there for about 45 minutes trying to get someone to stop. (No cellphone, no idea how to get the spare out from under the vehicle) No one even slowed down until we got there. My coworker let her borrow his cell so she could call her husband and we changed the tire for her.
She was so happy that she offered us 20 dollars for the help. (I guess she thought we were helping her for a tip?) The sad state of the world I guess. Help some one because you expect to get a reward not because they need help. It saddens me to think how unsafe something like that has become. Had I been alone in the car I probably would not have stopped. It just isn't safe anymore to do a good deed.
We turned down the money and went to work covered in break dust and road dirt. For all those unfamilliar with the TSA: White shirts do not like break dust and road dirt.

As far as the "science" of tires go...don't get me started.
When I ETSed from the Army I spent 3 years working in a Sam's Club Tire Department.

Glad everything finally worked out for you. ;D

[Aeron Serabien]

Ouch! Sounds like a miserable day. Glad you made it home safely.

Being a connesieur of decade old cars that break down every so often, I recommend looking in a travel club. you know, the kind that brings you gas if you run out or jumps your batteries or picks your lock. The biggest is of course AAA, but I use Better World Club: www.betterworldclub.com Much safer than hanging out at the side of the road!

[Julie Sturbridge]

Ouch! Poor Inda! At least it all worked out. Kelkhil mentioned the dangers of stopping as the good samaritan (i.e. it's a trap and you get ambushed], but there's also the issue of the person stopping seeing a 'target of opportunity' to rob someone on the side of the road--sort of a modern day highwayman. It really is a sad state when, both as the person who needs help and the person who wants to offer it, you need to worry about being waylaid.

That being said, I feel your pain. I've locked my keys in the car twice now. Once was in Cheyenne when I got home at the little airport there. That wasn't a big deal as I just took a cab the 2 miles to my house and got the spare key. But when I lived in Albuquerque, some friends and I rented a house up in Taos one winter to spend weekends up there skiing. Well, a friend was in town and we skiied the weekend away and were the last leaving the Taos House. I had the keys in the ignition as we loaded the car and, when I closed the door, I automatically just locked it as I shut it without thinking. Bad idea. Try finding a locksmith in a tiny little New Mexico town on Sunday night in the winter! Well...3 hours and $70 later I was in the car. But more imoprtantly, I learned how to open the car without keys!

Now? Well, I bought a Ford Escape about 2 years ago and got the little push-button keypad installed on the driver's door that opens the car when you input the code. Now I lock my keys in the car all the time...intentionally!