Another reason to stay as far away from big rigs as possible.

True that but an impossible thing to do. When we were driving cross country the last 2 summers It is amazing the number of semis we'd get caught up with especially on I-40 and I-81. Mostly in groups of 3 & 4. Not to mention the 5 miles to pass each other in the Appalachians.

Glad for the good outcome for you Coach !

You were correct, $4,700.

Ooph! Was it made of platinum or something?

Glad you got it fixed. I was with my trainer 5 years back when I had a steer tire blow. We were in Chicago where 90 and 94 merge. I’m glad the company I was with required 15k miles on the road with a trainer. He really set me up with lots of good info.

When it blew he stayed calm as heck. Told me what it was before I realized what it was. Told me to step on the throttle (to overcome the initial sideways pull), hit my flashers and then start to merge. I had to cross 5 lanes to get to the shoulder. I can still hear him telling me to stay off the brakes and just let it slow on its own. It destroyed the tire, wheel, fender, front bumper and headlight wiring harness. It’s something I’ve never forgotten. The damage was so severe we had to be towed.

Lots of guys that haven’t really been trained end up with some pretty bad results.

Interesting tidbit…. Truckers call the tire remnant lying on the road a “gator”.

Yep, gators. We also used that term in TXDOT.

I can hardly wait till full blown summer gets here. The hotter it gets the further back I stay from 18 wheelers. As often as possible when I go to pass one I don’t fool around about it.