When I learned that Bill and Walker would be camping with the scouts this weekend, I wanted to do something special with Mason. I bought tickets for the two of us to see Charlotte’s Web at the Nashville Children’s Theatre and planned to make a day of it. I investigated a new restaurant that I knew would be right up his alley and we would make a run through Trader Joe’s. We left bright and early Saturday morning before 8 AM so we could get the shopping done, go to lunch and have plenty of time to make it to the theater by 2 PM.
We were about an hour from Nashville when a light went on in my dashboard. I pulled off the highway and into a nearby gas station. My adrenaline was flowing but I was feeling grateful that of all the places where this could have happened, I was in a relatively large city and safely off the road.
When I got out of the car, I heard the hissing.
A nail was caught in the tire. To make a long story short, Bill talked me through getting the car towed to a nearby Toyota dealership.
They looked at the car fairly quickly and determined we were going to need a new tire. Around noon I started getting really antsy because the car was not done yet, we were still at least an hour from Nashville and we had not had lunch.
Finally, about 12:30 we were on the road again. Mason was a real trouper. We grabbed fast food lunch from drive-thru and began our trek further down the road. We got caught in bumper to bumper traffic for the next 90 minutes. The GPS kept updating to say we were going to arrive at the theater closer and closer to 2 PM. I was panicking inside, worried that we would arrive late and not be allowed to see the show.
Just a few minutes after 2PM, we arrived, parked the car and literally ran to the doors of the theater. Much to our surprise and delight, they were still seating guests.
I was so relieved that we made it for the entire thing. From there, we drove to Trader Joe’s. On our way, we passed a Cheesecake Factory and Mason asked if we could have dinner there. It seemed like a great choice given the fact our lunch plans fell through.
After dinner and dessert, we popped into the Apple store where 
Mason had a chance to give the new iPad Pro and Apple pencil a spin. It was after 8 PM by the time we headed home but we had a safe and uneventful drive.
Sometimes things just work out!
Aw, man, that stinks. Car problems are so stressful, but then when you are on a road trip, 100 times before. I was anxiously waiting to see if you’d make the show as I read it. Can’t believe you did!