Posts from — November 2021

Not long ago the family and I, along with the three Papillons, were driving to Atlanta for a family gathering. We left Tampa early and by 6:30 a.m. were nearing Ocala . . . and the morning rush hour traffic on I-75. So much fun.

The cruise control kept us on pace with the surrounding traffic and things were going fine. Fine, that is, until a large metal box fell off a truck in front of us and came flying toward the car. Literally flying. I mean it seemed to be heading right toward the windshield at 75 mph before it hit the front of the car and proceeded to roll under the left front wheel and left back.

Catastrophic Tire Failure was the alert that lit the dashboard as the car jumped, waking my wife, daughter, Hominy, Redford and Grits. Fortunately for us, the car, a Tesla Model Y, had detected the collision milliseconds before it happened and when the sidewall of the front tire blew we didn’t even move out of our driving lane. The car began a controlled slow-down and instead of swerving into traffic to our left or right, I was able to gradually move off the interstate and out of the traffic flow. I saw cars around us swerving to miss the tool box that had just hit us, but fortunately there was no accident. And all this happened at highway speed!

Every 40 miles or so there is a rest stop along I-75 and we just happened to be approaching a stop when the tire exploded. We safely limped into the rest area and started breathing again. The left front tire looked like someone had taken a box cutter to the sidewall. The front wheel was cracked. The back left had a puncture in the sidewall. Quite a mess you might say.

Uber took my wife and daughter, along with two of the dogs to the Tire Choice store in Ocala and the tow service took me, the car and the other dog to the store. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the wheel fixed and the tires replaced immediately so USAA took care of us by providing a rental car to continue our trip to Atlanta.

I love our Tesla. Even though it looks a little like a June Bug. It’s fast and fun to drive . . . and we NEVER have to stop for gasoline. We do recharge every three hours or so on road trips, but since we travel with dogs they get regular breaks and we get to stretch our legs and get a bite to eat.

After the Catastrophic Tire Failure on I-75, I can say without doubt that I will never go back. I like having a car that thinks and reacts faster than I can think and react. That can maintain control when disaster strikes at highway speeds. That probably saved me and the family from serious injury that morning in Ocala.

One of Many

Passion Rules!