Living in a small town most of my life, I’ve spent countless hours driving the back country roads whether they be rock or gravel. On Sunday afternoon when we were kids, dad would pile us in the old brown pickup that had a hole in the floorboard by the stick shift and take us for a drive. He’d show us this old place and that old house, we’d get stuck in mud as we learned to drive and I was always amazed at how he could get us out. I thought I was “big time” when I got to shift…he would tell me “up one and over one” to get to second gear.

But spending that much time on rock roads also meant flat tires. When the road grader would come by, he would loosen things on the road that may have bounced out of those old trucks we used for Sunday drives. Nails, screws, pieces of metal…whatever had been tossed in the beat-up old truck bed which also had holes in it!

The first flat tire I ever had was when I lived in Omaha and at the time, mom and dad had AAA so I called them, used mom’s name, and they fixed my flat and I went on my way. Since then, I’ve had numerous nails and slow-leaking tires, but I take them to the filling station for patching. I know back in Driver’s Ed I learned how to fix a flat and could probably do it in a pinch, but am thankful I’ve never had to.

Things were different back when Grandpa’s family owned their first vehicles. Listen as Grandpa recounts a story about this tire-patching kit and what all it entailed.

Makes changing a tire today sound easy!

Until we walk again …