Perspective

As I sat on the shoulder of Route 17 yesterday I was thankful that I was pretty much alone at the time the tire decided to go off on its own. With the exception of another car some 1/4-mile behind me there was no one in view. Being a divided highway with two lanes each way and a very wide median also made that particular stretch much safer than others. The tire rolled off the shoulder instead of heading on to the median and then down hill to the west bound lanes of the highway. Add the fact that the fields on the shoulder sloped ever so gently upward meant the tire, when it finally rolled to a stop, rested in an area where it could be easily retrieved. I can’t say I was lucky but things could have been a hell of a lot worse.

I also thought of the trips made with a travel trailer and thought of how much more complicated the situation might have been!

Having been a casual observer of the Daytona 500 last Sunday, I also remembered seeing tires going down the track at far greater speeds than those At which I was traveling and couldn't imagine what it would be like to be going 180+mph and watching your rear tire pass you! It's scary--and surreal--enough at 60 mph.