While many of you know the voices you hear on the radio and the faces you see in person or in the pictures on our website of Facebook page. We are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the people that make 97.3 The Dawg the radio station you  choose for music, fun, information, and free prizes.

Miss Dawn, as I like to call her, is our Director of Promotions here at the Bruce Mikells Multi-Media Center. That means she is the fun and games lady. She is also a gifted story teller and when she told me this story earlier this week, I told her she had to share it with you.

 

 

How Karma and Mosquitoes Will Bite You in Bad Places When You Don't Plan Ahead.

Here's the story as written by Miss Dawn.

This past weekend Derek, my boyfriend, and I learned many lessons. We learned how important it is not to procrastinate and that it is also very important to make sure you have all the proper tools in your vehicle in case you need to change a tire.

Saturday afternoon, I loaded my truck up and headed out to New Orleans for the AHRMA races that were taking place at the Nola Motorsports Park. Things were going great, traffic was almost nonexistent, I was just cruising along, and then my “check tire pressure” light started flashing.

I’m a little sensitive when it comes to issues with my tires. Back in January I had my tires rotated and the mechanic didn’t tighten the luges which resulted in one of my back tires coming off of my truck while I was driving. It nearly scared me to death. So, when my “check tire pressure” light came on as I was on my way to New Orleans, my eyes got huge, my hands started to sweat, and I had to keep telling myself to stay calm.

I pulled off at the nearest exit, parked my truck on the side of the road and took out my owner’s manual. According to the manual, the “check tire pressure” light kept blinking because the sensors were either bad or they were not able communicate to each other because something was blocking the frequency. Knowing this information definitely put my mind at ease. I put my owner’s manual back in the glove box and continued on my way to The Big Easy.

Dawn and Derek
Staff Photo
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After spending the day at the races on Sunday, Derek and I loaded his truck and my truck up with our stuff and we headed home. I headed out first and he was just a few minutes behind me. A few miles outside of Houma, my telephone rang.

It was Derek. He told me that his left front tire had blown out and he was now parked on the side of the road.  I turned around and went to meet him.

 

This is the beginning of our “many lessons learned” journey.

 

Lesson #1: When you’re tires are starting to look bad, don’t procrastinate when it comes to changing them or you might end up with a blow out in the middle of nowhere, in the dark.

 

Lesson #2: Make sure you have the proper tools in your vehicle to change a tire. As Derek and I stood outside of his truck, in the dark, getting eaten by gigantic mosquitos, we realized that he did not have all the tools he needed to unlock and lower his spare tire. We both desperately searched our vehicles for something similar to the tool that he was missing. After we exhausted all options we decided to sit in my truck and call a relative that lived nearby for help.

 

Lesson #3: Karma will getcha! I couldn’t help but think to myself that if Derek had just replaced those tires when I told him that they were looking bad, we’d be halfway home by now. And that’s where karma got me with Lesson#4.

 

Lesson #4: When you bring your vehicle to have maintenance done and they tell you it’s time to change your battery, change it! I have had the same battery on my truck for 8 years. It never gave me any problems so, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right? Ooooh Karma, you got me. We decided to sit in my truck so that Derek could call his cousin. When I went to turn my truck on, I quickly found out that my battery had died!

 

Lesson #5: It’s a plus to have jumper-cables in your vehicle. I have tools, an extension cord, straps, and I even have a tarp but no jumper-cables! Neither one of us had jumper-cables in our trucks! Derek had to take one of his batteries off of his truck, which I had no idea you could do that since he has a F-250 and I have a Tundra, and put it on my truck so that we could go meet his cousin and get the tool he needed to lower his spare tire.

 

Lesson #6: Always put things back where they belong. We met Derek’s cousin at a local box store where we bought a new battery and each of us jumper-cables. Now that we had the tool he needed to lower his spare tire, we headed back to his truck. The spare tire was lowered and his cousin started to jack the truck up, which was a feat all on its own. Just when things looked to be headed in a positive direction, Derek tells us that he doesn’t have the special socket that you need to take the lugs off of his tire. He had used the socket at his house when he changed one of his tires and he forgot to put it back in his truck.

 

At this point I was done. I was tired, I was cold and I was itching from giant mosquito bites. We took his stuff out of his truck and put it in mine and then headed home.

Although we were both frustrated at our lack of preparation and the fact that we both procrastinated when it came to keeping our vehicles properly maintained, we couldn’t help but laugh. What were the odds that we would be sitting on the side of the road in my truck that had a dead battery while we looked at his truck that had a flat tire, we just couldn’t help but laugh.

Take a second and make sure you are prepared in case you have a flat. Check your owner’s manual for a diagram of all the tools you would need to change the tire on your car and make sure you have all those tools in your car. If you don’t have jumper-cables, maybe consider getting some. It wouldn’t hurt to have a flashlight either. Most importantly, make sure you change bad tires and old batteries.

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