"Demo in Houston 2"

It seems every time when I post a plein air painting I will have a story to tell. This painting is the second demo I did in my Houston workshop. The workshop was very successful and we all enjoyed it. After it was over, I packed my stuff and thanked my organizer Nancy, I jumped in my Honda started my trip back to Austin. The time was 5:30 Sunday afternoon. Well, I drove only about two blocks and I felt the car was a little shaky and also quite noisy. I pulled it over and checked. Oh boy! I had a flat tire. I saw a big screw right on. I had to turn around and went back to Nancy’s place. Nancy’s husband and son, Terry and Ben, helped me pumped more air into the tire and we went out and searched for a garage to fix the problem. Well, it was Sunday evening and nobody opens. I spent a pleasant evening with Nancy’s family, and I am very grateful for their hospitality. On Monday morning, Terry and I sent my car to the Discount Tires and I ended up to replaced two tires.

I thought I was back to normal, but did not realize a bigger problem was waiting for me. About 50 miles away from Houston, I was cruising at 70 m/h on Hwy 290. Suddenly the car was shaking violently combined with a roaring noise. I clamped my hands on the steering wheel to prevent the car to be out of control. I managed to change two lanes and stop the car on the side of main traffic. After a minute or two for the adrenaline to subside, I came out of the car. O Lord! Behold. One of the tires, which had not been replaced an hour ago, had blown up. It was so incredible that I had two tire problems so close together in time. I was in the middle of nowhere; big semi trucks roaring passed me. It was very windy. I had to reload my staff in the trunk and got the tiny spare wheel out….. I limped quite a while and finally found an old shack. I asked directions and limped five more miles. I spent a small fortune to put another new tire on.

For the rest of the trip, I was very cautious, felt the only tire having not been replaced might blow up any minute. Now I feel thankful to the nail on my first flat tire. I can’t imagine what would happen if I had the other tire blown up in the middle of last night.