Monday, February 13, 2006

The Angels Of The New York D.O.T.

While traveling over the Tappan Zee Bridge this morning, I got a flat tire. ON THE BRIDGE. A three mile bridge. IN TRAFFIC. Thank God Eddie was with me because all I could hear in my head was my grandfather, my father, my brother and every man in the family I grew up in saying, "Don't drive on a flat tire - you'll ruin the rim." So I'm telling Ed, "But I'm not supposed to drive on the rim!" and he's saying "You have to get off the bridge. Keep driving." and I'm saying, "But it's making a lot of noise, what if I ruin the rim??" and he's saying, "Well, you can't STOP on the bridge! Keep driving."

So I kept driving. I was doing about 20 miles an hour, with my flashers on and my eyes glued to the rearview mirror watching the traffic; cars AND trucks come flying up behind me at fifty miles an hour. We finally got to the other end of the bridge and pulled off to the side. I emptied the back of the car (I had 30 gallons of diesel oil in there, along with some boxes of stuff I picked up from my Dad's) so Ed could get to the spare tire. Just as he was about to jack up the car, a man who belonged in THIS truck came to our rescue.

He asked if we needed help, to which Ed said "No". I was thinking Uh, YEAH we need help! because I didn't want to get dirty, when Ed piped up again and told the guy that if he wanted to help with the jack, he could. The guy responded with "Well, I'll just change the tire for you. Let me take care of the whole thing." Who could refuse that? So Ed helped him with the handing of the tools, but this New York State DOT Angel came to our rescue and took care of everything. He had us on our way in less than 30 minutes.
So even when they are busy, in post blizzard conditions, a fellow New Yorker came through once again!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am grateful you weren't alone. I think your father sent you the snow, and I think he is now your constant angel. MAE

Anocsanamun said...

It looks like the guy is giving ed a.....

momma of 2 said...

Glad you had some help - reading this I was afraid of how it was going to end up.

Anonymous said...

I just saw this and had to comment on an "Uncle Frank" story! Driving back to the Dodge Inn in my car - with about 500 lbs. of potatoes in the trunk, I got a flat tire on a country road. I said, "oh, thank goodness you're here to help me Uncle Frank!" He looked at me, smiled and said "I'm not going to change that flat tire for you because you need to know how to do it. You might be alone the next time you get a flat". So, after emptying out the trunk of my potato stash, and with his step-by-step instructions, I changed the flat and we were on our way! That was 1970 and I never forgot it! Uncle Frank also taught me how to "unit price" when grocery shopping but that's a story for another day! Thank you, Uncle Frank!