Adventures with Harvey

I thought I got a picture of the shredded tire, but this was the only picture on the camera.

This was one adventure I'm glad I missed. My hubby took Harvey, a couple of our boys, and a few neighbors into the nearby mountains (only a three-hour drive away!)(we have mountains in our backyard, but they weren't the right kind of mountains with the right kind of trees) to collect lodgepole pine trees that are dead so he could have lots of logs to lash into things for Boy Scouts. He wanted me to go along so I could sit in Harvey and tell people where to go and how to get there. I mean, where to meet him and where to collect the trees. I had way too many things on my plate that weekend, like driving kids here and there and washing my hair and doing laundry and generally doing anything that was not camping that weekend. Really, I had legitimate reasons to stay home. So I did.

He left on Friday morning as soon as our one son finished summer school. He was supposed to be back Saturday mid-afternoon.

He finally rolled in Saturday evening. Harvey blew a tire.

On the highway.

When he was driving fast.

It took out the drivers side mirror, dinged up the side of the car, and left tread along the side of the road.

Before Harvey, we used this setup.

They spent an hour bashing the lug nuts with an axe trying to break the rust loose so they could get the tire off and swap it with the spare. This was after they had to figure out how to jack up a old RV that weighs a lot more than a normal car, or even our old 15-passenger van.

I heard it all second hand. I am very grateful that their guardian angels were working overtime that day. No one was injured. I am grateful they made it home without needing a tow truck. (But that's why we have a AAA membership with RV coverage.)

I am also very grateful I wasn't there. It would have been one too many straws that week.

And two weeks later, we are now the proud owners of seven new tires. And a big ole bill. All the tires showed signs of dry rot.