Thursday was a great day in Chicago.  Friday, uh, not so much.  On our way to the White Sox game, I got a flat tire.  We pulled over, put on the spare tire, and made it to a shady South Side CarX.  The man who fixed my tire said I could pay him $200 cash and it would be a done deal.  I said no, went in the office, and paid $20.

A while later, I was driving around US Cellular Field when I heard a clunking noise.  We pulled into another auto repair joint, and they said they left rear trailing arm was bent, probably due to the guy at CarX jacking my car up in the wrong place.  I hit a bump, and the tire blows out.  My car is not safe for highway driving.

So there went our Friday.  We managed to hang out with Lauren’s high school friend Elise for a few hours, but the damage was already done.  I drove slowly back to Lake Zurich and decided to get the car fixed in the morning.

Saturday morning at 9, I drove down to Firestone.  They looked at the car, then told me there was nothing they could do, but I should visit the local GM dealer.  I drove to GM, and unfortunately they didn’t have Saturday office hours.  But a man on site told me to check out Tires 4 Less.  The guy there said that wasn’t something they handle, but to check out Discount Tires.  Billy took a peek and said there was nothing he could do either, but to check out AutoFixer.  By some miracle, they located the correct part and fixed it in under three hours.  We were on the road by 1:30 and home by 8, just in time for Kate Rosok’s birthday bash!