Shoutout to the elderly lady who fixed my flat tire on I-40 last Tuesday

I was stuck on the shoulder near Knoxville for 45 minutes with a shredded sidewall and no spare that fit. A woman in her 70s pulled over in a beat-up Ford Ranger and handed me a plug kit from her glovebox. She showed me how to use the sticky rope plugs in 3 minutes flat, no jack needed. I had always argued roadside assistance plans were better than DIY kits, but her way got me back on the road for $8.99 instead of waiting 2 hours for a tow truck. Has anyone else here had a stranger bail them out with a simple trick that beat the fancy solution?

2 comments

2 Comments

lindareed24d ago

Gotta disagree on this one... fancy solutions exist because they work more often than not. That lady had decades of practice, not a better method. A plug kit in the wrong hands can turn a fixable tire into a total blowout.

kair6524d ago

Man I feel this so hard. I once called AAA for a dead battery and the guy showed up, laughed at my fancy jumper pack that wouldn't work, then tapped the terminals with a screwdriver and it fired right up. I felt like an absolute idiot standing there with my $200 gadget while he fixed it with a tool from his pocket. That lady sounds like a genuine hero though, no jack needed for a sidewall plug? I'd have been too scared to try that myself, probably would've just sat there crying into my phone. It's wild how the simplest stuff always beats the complicated stuff we buy to feel prepared.