Ohio...

I love Ohio. I really do. Since my first visit here a couple of years ago, it's grown on me. They get four seasons (which I love) and, once you're out of the city, you'll quickly discover that it's not completely built up until you get to the next city.

I would be visiting old family friends, Ron & Gwen. Ron is like my Mom's third son. He's that close. I never pass up a chance to visit them. However, this visit was going to prove to be, at least at the onset, a chore.

As I was leaving Rochester, I decided bagels would be in order. You just can't get a really good bagel in Florida so, dammit, I'm gettin' 'em here. I set my GPS for Bagel Land in Brighton and away I went. As I got closer, I swear to God I could almost smell 'em as I approached the parking lot of the strip mall. 

I turned the wheel to the right to enter the parking lot and BAM!!

It scared the Hell out of me. I turned a bit early, it seems, and turned directly into the curb, rupturing my right front tire. It couldn't be fixed. The sidewall was blown out:

 

 

Needless to say, this isn't how I saw my drive to Ohio starting out. I was going to have to get a tow and buy two new tires (never replace only a single tire).

Now, just by happenstance, I renewed my AAA Premier membership on March 31. This tow would have been about $85. It's easy to see the value in AAA. If you don't have it,you should.

So, anyway, the wrecker comes and picks up me and the car and takes us to Dunn Tire, which is a highly reputable regional chain. 

 

Big time thanks to Jeremy at Dunn Tire on Monroe Street in Rochester for hooking me up and getting me on my way!

 

I explained my situation to the guy at the desk. Despite them being absolutely slammed, they worked to get me out of there as fast as they could. After about two hours, they were pulling my car around.

Now, I've often believed that every trip of any duration always suffers an "awshit". I'm hoping this was mine and (knock on wood) I'll be incident free for the rest of the journey.

The remaining drive to Ronny and Gwen's went off without a hitch. I arrived in Wooster, Ohio around 8:15pm, got settled, and started looking forward to what Thursday would bring...