Day 1

Ok, so it isn't officially Day 1 as she is in DC for training this week.

On the way to drop her at the airport I started hearing a thumping noise from the front corner of the van.  When we pulled up at the curb i looked at the wheel only to discover I was missing a lug nut and stud.  I figured I could fix it when I got back home.  The snow pants shopping trip we planned for the afternoon was on hold. 

I figured as long as I had the Van wheel apart I might as well replace all 5 of them.  I called AutoZone and O’Rileys auto parts.  The only store with 5 lugs was 15 miles away and the snow was still coming down pretty hard.  So I got in the car and headed out.  Got there ok and picked up my parts.

On the way home I spun out (going 25 I might add) and smacked a guard rail butt first.  I am ok, but I am now backwards.  A nice person slowed down so I could turn and pull out.  That is when I figured out I had a flat.  I pulled over in a park driveway.  I got out to assess damage and check out the tire.  I had some scrapes on the bumper and a quarter size hole in the sidewall of the tire.  Surprisingly, and happily, little damage, but bad timing.  I put the spare on but it was soft, so I crept come for the last 7 miles or so.  When I pulled in the garage the rear tire was flat and it would not hold air. 

So I got to work on the Van.  The brakes on the van are more complex than the last van and took a bit of time to take apart.  It was a learning curve the whole way.  As I started to disassemble them the kids were yelling at me that the basement toilet wouldn’t stop running. So greasy hands and all I went and fixed that.  As I took more of the wheel assembly apart it became apparent that getting the stud seated was going to be a trick.  I am comfortable with repairs but I have never done this before so I did not have the tools necessary.  In the end I was able to MacGyver together the tools to get the job done.  It took two hours and a lot of grunting and swearing just to replace one stud.  I opted to just swap out the broken one as 5 would have killed me.

Tomorrow should prove interesting.