Later That Night: TIRED

Second, Third, and Fourth in the mixed four person division was still a nail biter. We were finding ourselves flying along in a swarm and circling each time station with the same group of vehicles. 422, 421, and 414 were Gettin' It On! UNTIL...speaking of NAIL biters....Hummingbird Two came up with low air pressure in the middle of Indian Territory. Same tire bitten in Oceanside (did we ever check that?) Apparently we had begun to stock our own personal hardware store right there in our rear passenger tire. Some small businesses are just destined to fall flat. Funny, when I hear about this incident after the fact it always carries a descriptor insinuating the middle of the night when in actuality it began unfolding at 19:24 exaclty. So we had oozing air from a tire, a bike rack blocking our entry to the car, a cyclist alone with night time riding restrictions looming, and nothing on either side of us for twenty miles. The three girls silently sprung into action and simultaneously attacked every obstacle in front of us efficiently. I'd like to add a side note cursing the lug wrench personally. I'd also like to note the patience of my crew as I obsessively searched for the exact placement of the jack based on some old tire changing baggage. Yes, I believe the huge arrows both on the side and underneath the carriage should have alerted us much sooner, but in our defense it wasn't neon red flashing HERE STUPID!! Oddly enough what felt like forever, like black in a broadcast day, was really only a little over thirty minutes. Fair enough, we are not yet ready for a NASCAR pit crew, however. Back on course by 20:10, we left the lame bald spare in the hands of the Hummingbird One boys. We left them arguing over whether to head backwards or forwards and meanwhile called ahead to the RV and got Sylvia on the job. When we called 10 miles later we had word the flat was fixed. I thought for sure it was a joke knowing everything was closed until morning. Somehow, someway Sylvia found a local to come out on the spot and plug our tire. We got nailed and screwed and surprise, surprise it didn't take long.