Howdy everybody. I spent my first day at an inpatient unit today. They didn't have any admissions, discharges, transfers or deaths so it was a quiet day as they only had 6 patients. I had some trouble getting to work this morning though. This particular unit is around 28 miles from my house, luckily most of it is freeway. anyhow, right after I traveled from the I-17 to the I-30 there was a white panel van screetching and weaving off the side of the road and it appeared that his drive train had fallen down on to the road. I said a little thank you that I was not 10 secs ahead of time and thankfully not right next to him. (He managed to get the vehicle stopped) Then about 8-9 more miles up the road, I heard something spin off the right front tire and ping and bang under the car. I had not seen anything in the road and I guess I could describe the sound like a metal bolt (it sounded metallic and not too big). there didn't appear to be a problem, so I kept driving and as I got closer to my exit I started to move over lanes to get into the outside lane. when I got into the next to last lane I found myself next to an old beatup 1980's van. There started to be a strange noise and I thought it was coming from that old van, but as I passed him, I noticed that I now had a noise and a vibration and I thought "That van could have been making a noise but it wouldn't make my car vibrate. I quickly moved into the outside lane and started braking. Within a second or two my tire blew out but I was able to get into the emergency lane on the shoulder and get stopped. I was really bummed because not only was the tire shredded but my hubcap was no where to be found. I called Marvin who was not sympathetic at all. I called my son-in-law who unfortunately had gone camping with his brother. So it was going to be up to me. I opened the back door where the little jack and wrench were and got those out and I knew that the spare tire was mounted under the back of the car. I noted how low to the ground that the car sat and tried to invision me trying to wiggle under it to unbolt a tire (How low can you go??). I then thought about how black and filthy the tire was and I knew that I would not be able to go to work once I managed to change the tire because I was wearing white pants and I would be Filthy!! I remembered that my insurance policy had a towing benefit, but I didn't think it was also roadside assistance but I gave them a call anyway and guess what! no problem!! Yes it was covered and they would get someone right out to fix it. So after 35-40 mins he showed up, got the tire changed. the spare was pretty flat but he had a small tank of compressed air and got it full enough to get to a gas station and top it off. And ta-da! By the way, the spare tire is unbolted from the floor inside the car, there was no crawling under the back of the car to get it out. Anyway I made it to work and now safely home again. It is time to hit the hay as I also have to work tomorrow. I will be caring for some patients tomorrow and will be learning HOV's charting. Hopefully we will get an admit so I can see that process. LOVE and KISSES to all.