Musing 5

by Pam

Doug never ceases to amaze me. We were running about an hour late and were headed to Fort Worth last weekend for a Laser regatta and one of the tires on the trailer was low as we left the house so we were going to have to make a stop for air. By the time we pulled into the gas station, the tire had been so low that there wasn't a good seal between the rim and tire and sure enough, the tire came off the rim and we were riding on the rim. Really bad timing.

Doug says, 'I can fix this, give me a jack and a main sheet.' Huh? I was skeptical. He jacked up the trailer and lifted the tire off the ground and then proceeded to wrap the main sheet around the outside of the tire a couple of times and then tied a knot in the line to secure it to the tire. Then he took the jack crank and fed it under the main sheet on the tire and proceeded to crank it making the main sheet tighter and tighter on the tire. The middle of the tire started to compress and the outer edges that go around the rim started to expand and in less than 2 minutes the tire was securely back on the rim and we added a little air and were back on the road in less than 10 minutes. Who knew?