Patillo. My angel my gooser.

This past Friday I had a very scary experience as I was driving to Toledo to pick up my three cousins. The girls were mentioned in a previous post. They were here a few weeks ago and had such a good time while they were here that they wanted to come back down and stay with us again.

My morning started off a bit rough. I was running late per normal. I was in the shower when the kids let the puppy inside and got him all riled up. He ended up having an accident all over the floor. Then as we were literally walking out the door Gabrielle announces that she just pees her pants. I got the kids into the car and we started on our way. We headed to Panera for a cinnamon crunch bagel before jumping on the Ohio Turnpike. Right after I got on the turnpike it dawned on me that I forgot to get cash out of the ATM for tolls. So I knew I would have to stop at a rest stop somewhere to get some money making me even later.
The speed limit on the turnpike is 65 mph. I set the cruise control for 72mph and we were doing great. We were about an hour and fifteen minutes into the trip when I heard some loud noise. I was getting ready to pass two semi trucks so I figured that they were the cause of the noise. Right after passing the trucks my steering wheel started shaking.
Joey says “mama the van is shaking”. I safely get us over to the side of the road and put on the hazard lights. I got out of the van and looked at the front tire. It was fine. Walked to the back tire, it looked great. I walked around the car to find the back passenger side tire looking like this.

I then was wondering what I do now. I am the wrong person for car problems. I know very little about engines, tires, exhaust… etc. I called my mom, she is like “why are you calling me”? “I can’t do anything to help you”. So she suggests that I call 911. I ended up calling them. I also called my cousin to inform her of what was transpiring. The 911 operator was very nice and could tell that I was frazzled. My concern was not being late at this point. My concern now was the fact that I have two young kids in the car and the cars are passing me so fast that I feel like I am at the side of the road watching Nascars flying by me.
Side story. When I was in high school I was in my Honda accord driving on a road that was 40 mph. It was raining and I went through a puddle. After going through the said puddle my car just stopped. As in quit working stalled out and would not start back up. I got out and ran across the street to a pay phone. While I was inside on the phone I returned to the car. In my absence someone had run into the car. The back bumper was now in the front of the car by the steering wheel. That image is forever in my mind.
Since then I do not like to be in a car pulled over where someone who is not paying attention may run into the back of it.
I am now on the side of the road waiting and waiting for a police man and tow truck. We must have been waiting for a good 15 minutes. My phone rang and it was my mom. I made the comment to her that this was strange to me that not one good Samaritan has stopped to ask if I needed help. Her reply was that is probably a good thing. Another 5 minutes passes and I am now off the phone. Another 5 minutes goes by and I noticed a truck was pulling over.
A man reversed and was coming to my rescue. Thank you God was what I was thinking. God sent me an angel. I named this angel sent to me Patillo. Patillo took over. He knew where to look for the spare tire (under the van), where to look for the tools to get the spare off, where to look to get the tools to take the flat tire off. He was maybe a few minutes into attempting to help when the police cruiser pulled over. This was also a relief to me in that the police could get help faster if we needed anything.
Patillo was amazing. He was sweating as I was but I was doing nothing but standing and watching and trying my best to keep my kids calm and in their car seats.
As Patillo worked I was thinking I need to repay him. What can I do? I felt so helpless. I have no money give him. No gift certificate. Nothing. I found out that he was just on his way home from work when he saw me stranded and was nice enough to get sweaty, greasy, and dirty for me. I am forever grateful for him.
When we wrapped things up I walked up to him and gave him a hug. In that brief encounter of giving him a hug my angel my savior Patillo, pats my butt and goosed me. Yes, you read that right! He gave me a good old squeeze on my behind. My new angel just lost all my gratitude in that hug. I was thinking are you kidding me? You never know about the kindness of the good Samaritan!
We are now home. I have the girls. The spare is off. We are safe. I am thankful.

Photos of the spare once we were home. Bottom photo of the girls sticking their fingers in the hole of the bad tire.