It all started late one sunday night, about a year ago. I was trying to complete a few projects on the house before my wife came back in town the next day. She was off visiting family. I decided to finish the custom cabinets I built when we "finished" the house, but I still had to install the cabinet doors. Off I go, to a friends house to use his drill press to make the holes for the hinges to fit. Upon completing the drilling on the cabinet doors (nice, fresh, exposed wood), I got a phone call from another friend, inviting me over for dinner since Kell was out of town, and I supposed they felt sorry for me. But dinner was great. Fearing a possible chance of rain (although- nowhere in the forecast) I told them I had to leave because I didnt want to leave the fresh wood out in the night air to long (too much moisture.)
So off I go. Driving and feeling fairly confident that the night air will not be a problem since I was almost home, I kept driving and singing, proud that I would be completing a long awaited task. Out of nowhere... "Was that a drop?". Not one but two. Not two but... CRAP... I was now 5 minutes from home and in the middle of a torrential downpour. Trying to figure the chances that this would ever happen on a day where there was no forecast for rain, i figured... ONLY ME. Almost home, I pull to a stop light not far from my house, approximately 3 minutes by car. "I can make it, I think to myself".... waiting for the light to turn green....
This is where it all goes bad....
Light turns GREEN! Hit it! (SCRUB... SCRUB... noise... and the truck wobbles....SCRUB... SCRUB... noise... and the truck wobbles again.) "What the heck was that noise?!?!?!?") Not caring being so close to home, I press the accelerator. SCRUB... SCRUB... noise... and the truck wobbles.... CLUNK! BAM! The driver side rear of my truck sits down like I had "da switches hooked up"- (you know...hydraulics) Sparks are flying, metal is scraping, and the rain is now coming down in NOAH like proportions. I step out of my truck in the pouring rain (which conveniently screeches to a halt in the next intersection) only to find that my rear tire AND inner axle are gone! By gone I dont mean , by the truck, near the truck, or under the truck... I mean simply gone!
Well water has this odd way of making you feel like you have to go pee. So there I am in the middle of the intersection, in the pouring rain, 3 wheels on a 4x4, and dancing like I want more rain. I figure, running over to the nearby gas station, I could use the restroom and call AAA on my cell. Of course, as bad as things were already going, the worst that could happen would be my cell phone battery going dead.... so it did.
First relief was finally getting over to the gas station and relieving myself of nature.... ahhhh. Now for a telephone, the lady at the register was kind enough to let me use their phone since I just shed tears in their bathroom (you know the sweet feeling of relief).
O.K. down to business. After all call to AAA I run back over to my crippled truck, still no tire in sight... just cars trying to make their way through the intersection, with a small laugh at my expense- Im sure. I get an idea! Put it in 4-wheel drive and drag it out of the intersection with the good wheels. It worked! Right as I got over to the edge of the road, the nice police officer shows up lights and all. I explain the whole situation, except for the part where he asked- "Where is your other wheel?". That I could not answer. HE STARTS LAUGHING! (he apologizes, but says it one of the funniest scenes hes ever driven up on! I'm wet hes dry so he offers me to sit in the front of his car---> I would much rather the front. While waiting for AAA (will take 45 minutes) I use the officers cell to call another friend who lives a minute away in the same neighborhood, who then comes out and asks how he can help. I tell him about the fresh cabinet doors and ask him if he can take them and put them in my garage. We transport the cabinets to his car and off he goes. On coming back one of his young sons, spots in the dimmly lit night and odd skinny object sticking out of the middle of the not so deep pond at the entrance of our developement.... hrrrmmmm. A Huck Finn of sorts, he goes to get a closer look. "I think its the tire!"--- he yells, wading his way in... (yes into the pond) What the....?!??! Now its just stupid! We all just started laughing again as we wade into the water behind him to get the axle and tire he saw sticking out of the water (which had apparently rolled away from my truck and off into the pond while driving). Could anything else POSSIBLY go wrong...? Well remember the rear tire that fell off. It would be kinda hard to tow the truck without a flat bed. So as you would figure, AAA dispatched a truck that came prepared to hook up the front and tow with the rear tires rolling on the road. Try again.
I was so preturbed, I just gave all my information to the policeman, AAA, and anyone else who wanted it and had my buddy drop me off at my house. Wet, miserable, and in disbelief, I went in to the house, threw my clothes in the dryer, and went to bed, saving any possibility of something worst to happen, for the next day.
The moral of the story... always check the pond if your missing a tire. And never trust a weather man who says its NOT going to rain. Oh and if a cop is going to laugh, make sure its with you (it will make you feel better)
And that my friends is a true story.
at: 
LONG STORY but true...
