Everyone must have suffered from a really ironic turn of events. This last week I was working in Tustin, Orange County, CA, some 35 miles from where I live; I commuted in my car, and was concerned–unnecessarily, about the car’s operation, all week. No trouble. Then today, Saturday, November 6, I drove a few miles to a local mall and got a flat! And the spare was flat!! I had to get towed home! (I had one of those stupid temporary rims.)
What would have happened if I had had a flat on I-5 in Santa Ana, 30 miles from home, on a crowded freeway? That’s the only part that I lucked out in.
dougie,
carry a can of flat fixer w/you - it beats the hell out of changing a tire and allows you a mess free way to aid damsels in distress.
I wish it were that easy, Beatle. The right-rear tire picked up a three-inch nail (which I have with me right now). Granted I could have pulled the nail out with pliers and used a can of aerosol flatfix… 
Your point is well taken.
In the farm truck I keep a small portable air compressor and a tire fix kit. The kit I bought for $12 at Sprawlmart and includes everything you need to plug a nail hole, special plug ineserting tool and the plugs that look way too similar to beef jerky. The flat fix aerosol will make a mess of the rim and tire, so I’m told.
I just call AMA
“Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.”
American Medical Association?
Only if the jack slips and the car lands on your big toe. 
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
You are so right, Funneefarmer! And I have a compressor I didn’t keep in the car! Mea culpa!! :o
beatle:
Don’t use that stuff. It will only work for small punctures, and the service folks will charge you $25+ to clean it our, turning a simply patch or plug into a relatively costly measure.
Just make sure your spare is in servicable shape, and change it!
Yer pal,
Satan
Gosh, I guess it depends on who you deal with. I carry a can of Fix-a-Flat (or whatever) always, just in case changing to the spare would be incovenient. I used it once and it didn’t bother the repair guy.
That was a puncture too far up the sidewall to repair, too. The third guy I asked agreed to patch it and it worked fine for the rest of its normal life. (The tire was brand new, which is why I wasn’t anxious to simply throw it out.)
I paid ten bucks or less. Perhaps my mentioning that I’d already been to two other shops is why the guy didn’t try to hold me up for $25? Or he was in a good mood?