Tires and I aren’t getting along right now

Like most outdoorspeople, I have an abundance of things with wheels. And where there are things with wheels, there are things with flat tires.

You’d think I’d own an air compressor by now. I’ve sure dealt with more than my share of flat tires over the years, but I don’t have any way to air ‘em up other than a crummy old bicycle pump that sucks air out of things about as fast as it puts air in ‘em.

And I have plenty of stuff that needs to be aired up from time to time. Most of us who hunt, fish, camp or boat do. I actually probably have fewer tires than the average outdoorsperson. But if having more toys means dealing with more flat tires, I’m happy with what I’ve got.

We’ve got a tire on the horse trailer that’s never held air the way it should. It has a very slow leak, so every third or fourth trip, I have to swing by the gas station and pump it up again. I really should just swap it out for the spare and take the offending tire to the shop to have it fixed once and for all, but I never think about it until we need the trailer.

This weekend, I used the heck out of the riding lawnmower and the trailer that goes on it, and that trailer has a tire with the same problem. I cussed at the bike pump more than a few times on Saturday and Sunday. It seemed like for every stroke of the pump handle, a half a pump or more of air came out of the tire.

I’d sort of like to get an ATV to make trips on really bad forest roads a little more bearable, but that’s just four more tires that are likely to go flat on me. Actually, eight more tires, if I throw another trailer into the mix. I’d also like a boat, but with my luck, I’d probably have a similar problem with that. Even though I wouldn’t have to worry about tires on the boat itself, it wouldn’t surprise me if I had as much trouble keeping water out of it as I have with keeping air in tires.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna’ go take that wheel off the horse trailer. While I’m at it, maybe I’ll fix the mower trailer, too. And the utility trailer. And my mountain bike. Well, you get the idea.