I’ve said before I have too many tires already. Between the vehicles, the trailers and the riding mower, it seems like all I do is either reinflate low tires or haul wheels to the tire shop to be fixed or replaced.
But I had a sweet little lawn mowing trailer I used when I was in college, and I thought I might be able to retrofit it to use it for hauling my hunting gear up to camp this fall. It’s been sitting in the field behind my parents’ house for 20 years, and I knew it would need new tires and probably new wiring.
But my brother-in-law Roger was a huge help. I would probably still be out there pulling wires, testing grounds and inventing new cuss words if it hadn’t been for him. He gave up his entire Saturday to lend a hand. And by lending a hand, I mean he basically did everything for me, including crawling around on the hot, thorny ground under the trailer, getting stung by the wasps that have turned that trailer into a wasp condominium. Roger, if you’re listening, I owe you BIG.
We finally got the lights working and the tires changed, and Sunday I hit the road. That’s when I realized the lights and tires were the least of my problems. Somewhere along the line, someone had used that trailer to haul a load heavier than it was designed for, and the tongue got bent. By the time we got to Casper, I realized the bend had also weakened the tongue, and every bump we hit bent it more. I figured it was only a matter of time before the tongue would be the only piece of the trailer still connected to the truck, and the bulk of the trailer would set off on its own.
But we made it home. Now if I have any hope of using it for hunting, I’ll be spending my evenings cutting and welding. And if my luck with tires doesn’t change, as soon as I get done rebuilding the tongue, I’ll spend the rest of my spare time changing yet another set of tires.
