Tire Change

In the Gobi Desert we had a flat tire. Considering the condition of the roads, it’s amazing we didn’t have a break down of one sort or another much sooner. I can only think that the constant care and attention given to the vehicles by the drivers had something to do with it.

I happened to have been in the front passenger seat of the vehicle that went flat. There’d been some concern for the tire on the part of the drivers when we first arrived at the slot canyons, but by the time we had hiked in and out again, I’d completely forgotten about it.

I might have stayed ignorant for way too long, too, because when we started drifting around curves, I thought the driver was hot dogging it. He handled it quite well. Our tour guide had to say something to get him to stop. Once he did… check out the tire. Note the grass sticking out? We were probably seconds away from ending up on the rim.

Once we were on the side of the road, the other three vehicles also pulled over, and all the drivers pitched in like a pit crew to get the tire changed. In less than ten minutes we were back on the road going way faster than I would have driven. I was glad to note that the spare he took was from underneath, and that there was another spare available on top, because in the Gobi Desert they don’t have AAA.