Pizza and new tires

I finally popped for new tires, and boy, do they ever make a big difference. The old tires still had good tread on them but the rubber is so old and brittle they no longer had good traction. I saw Michelin tires on a new car that a friend bought but alas I cannot have those. My truck has smaller wheels. The guy at my local shop told me these are the tires he put on his truck. Then the older guy in the office confirmed he has the same kind. Then the third guy in garage who brought out my truck at the end of the day was just so well chuffed at my truck having new tires. It's difficult to describe how excited garage guys get. So, I have the same tires as the two guys at the front of the shop. I didn't drive very far, but with the window rolled down the sound of the tires is like sticky wet uncured rubber pulling away like gum. The ride feels entirely different.

The shop is straight down the hill from Broadway to Cherry Creek about half a mile. So I walked back after leaving the truck. Then walked down the hill to get the truck. Walking downhill is more difficult than walking uphill. I'm trying to have good straight posture and avoid slumping over and the length of the canes works better going up than going down.

Here's the stupid thing that my Dad would not understand. He loved stuff like buying new tires. He changed his own oil and filter and belts and such, did all his own mechanical work, even interior work and even painting. He had an intimate relationship with his vehicles from motor to exhaust. He loved hanging around the shops for hours. I was with him. I spent untold hours hanging around things I didn't understand nor could touch. I learned quite a lot by osmosis but I really don't care for the drudgery and the empty hours. But he loved the smell of those places. I paid a premium to avoid what he loved. I paid at least $30.00 more per tire just to have a team do this for me instead of doing it myself. Which is what he would have done. He'd spend weeks going shop to shop finding the perfect tires at the best price. Then haggle. He'd cheer me for getting new tires and bop my head for delegating the task.

So I celebrated by making my favorite pizza. Again.