How a 25 cent nail can derail your weekend and cost you 10 hours + $100

2020 August 3 – Brianhead, Utah – We were scoping out a 2020/2021 ski-cation site driving up from Vegas to Brianhead Utah for the day. Fake snow in background in pic above is just us posing in front of a billboard for a photo op as temps are reaching the 80s. A planned three hour tour of Brianhead Utah turned into an unexpected but necessary overnight stay. On our way up from Vegas, we experienced a flat tire soon after helping a stranded motorist in 108 degree temp just south of St. George Utah. Ironic! We forgot Utah is closed Sundays. So no way to repair the flat, unwise to drive on a donut spare at 50 mph while cars rip by at 80 mph, thus the overnight stay.

After we jump started the stranded motorist, we must have picked up a nail as we pulled out from the gravel covered area where the motorist was stranded. An average nail costs 25 cents based on a crude assessment of nails sold at a well known hardware store.

We estimated 5 hours having to deal with the flat and driving at reduced speeds. With two of us, it brings the total to 10 hours spent adding no value (except for a bit of quality time spent together in a beautiful alpine setting) plus $100 on an overnight stay.

As we have said before, the rich have money, and the wealthy have time.

Being true to our spirit of “Creating Time Out of Thin Air”, we wanted this to be a lesson on avoiding this in the future.

We investigated how to prevent a similar expenditure of time if we were to ever experience a flat again in an area with no cell coverage or if we wouldn’t have the luxury of waiting for roadside assistance.

The decision was made to always carry a can of Fix a Flat and a compact air compressor in each vehicle we own. With Fix a Flat to seal the leak and raise the rim off the ground, and an air compressor to inflate to full pressure, we could go 100 miles with a good chance of finding a place to repair or replace the tire. Nothing in Fix a Flat’s FAQs stated we couldn’t travel at normal speeds. So we assume maintaining a speed of 65 mph should be sufficiently safe until we arrive at a repair station. That’s a lot safer than going 50 mph.

We have been customers of Discount Tires because they are in 36 states and we get our tires rotated, balanced, repaired, and replaced. You have to enroll in that service but it is worth the price.

We also are already members of the AAA club which has saved us countless times over the decades. Now we are customers of Fix a Flat!

Happy Travels and may your actions today give you thousands of hours “tomorrow!”

https://www.fixaflat.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions