Thank Goodness for AAA

Last July, as my car was approaching 100,000 miles and I was planning trips to Olympia and Philomath, I decided to purchase a AAA membership. Membership is very affordable and, though I take pretty good care of my car, it made me feel a little more comfortable about the road trips I frequently make.

A few weeks ago I used the membership benefits for the first time, receiving a bit of a discount on a hotel room reservation. But thankfully, in the nearly 11 months since purchasing the membership, I hadn't had the need to call for roadside assistance with my car. That changed early this morning at about 1:00 a.m. as I was driving home from Portland. I had just crossed the I-5 bridge and was merging onto Highway 14 when I noticed that my car sounded and felt funny, and it didn't seem to "want" to increase its speed back up to 60 mph. As I was trying to figure out what was going on, I noticed that the car in the lane next to me was going the same speed--odd because I was only going about 40 mph at this point and the speed limit is 60--and that the passenger had his window rolled down and was trying to get my attention. I rolled down my window and heard, "You have a flat tire." Of course! It all made sense.

I pulled over--thankfully there's a nice wide shoulder on the side of Highway 14 at that spot--turned on my flashers, and called AAA. A tow truck and driver arrived in about 20 minutes. Less than 10 minutes later, without me even having to get out of the car, the tire was changed and I was ready to finish my trip home. I flat tire is never fun, and at 1:00 a.m. in the morning it's a bit scary, but the AAA membership made it a relatively pain-free experience.