Besides that, my little Chiuahua dog, Rocky, had got hold of my sunscreen lip balm so I had to stop at the grocery store for more of that. My plan was to drift the Sanibel causeway with catfish tails and possibly live threadfins if I could sabiki any up there at the causeway. I figured I needed some of those rubber-core clip on sinkers just in case I had to use them to get the bait down in the current. So that was another errand to run.
As I was rigging my gear (this was before I broke my glasses) my Gerber folding pocket knife broke! The latch that locks the blade in place got metal fatigue and snapped off so the blade wouldn't lock. Guess I would have to stop at Wally World for a replacement!
But hey! I figured no problem! The tide didn't really start moving until around noon or 12:30 so I had plenty of time to get everything done!
I had a nice breakfast omelette at El Tropical Cuban Cafeteria, visited Publix for the sunblock chapstick and a bag of ice, and headed to the Walmart in North Ft Myers (since it was near my optometrist's office). I wandered over to the sporting goods section where the knife case is and saw the exact knife I wanted to replace. Naturally, the person manning the sporting goods department was nowhere to be found. I waited there a full ten minutes then set out looking for the clerk. I saw her with some sales rep checking his shelf stocks and she told me she would be right with me. I waited another ten minutes then went looking for her again. I asked her if she could use her walkie talkie to call somebody to help me. She flashed me an exasperated expression and said again that she would be right with me. I waited five more minutes and said to myself, "Screw this! I'll go somewhere that appreciates my business!"
I got better service at the optometrist's office where they fixed my glasses free of charge and had me out the door in less time than I spend waiting in Walmart for the lackadaisical sporting goods clerk.
I decided to hit Lehr's Ecomony tackle in North Ft Myers for the sinkers and to see if they had folding knives there. I'm a fairly regular customer at Lehr's and they always treat me right! Though I didn't get an exact match on the knife, I got a nice substitute and a pocket full of sinkers and by the time they gave me their regular customer discount, both the sinkers AND the knife cost me about the same as the other knife at Walmart! Give me a mom and pop shop any day over an impersonal chain store retailer!
I left North Ft Myers heading to Sanibel! I was cruising along Summerlin Drive about 55 miles an hour when my left rear wheel started bouncing and vibrating. I figured I had lost a tire weight and it was suddenly out of balance! I slowed to about 50 and the bouncing moderated some then BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!!! A glance in the rearview mirror revealed chunks of rubber disintegrating behind the kayakmobile. I figured "Blowout!" and slowed and gradually pulled onto the road shoulder. But when I checked the tire, it looked normal! Scratching my head, I circled the car and checked all four tires. They all looked normal!
I checked the left rear again and saw that though the tire was still fully inflated, half of the tread had come off altogether! I was right at the intersection of John Morris and Summerlin so I limped the car up to John Morris and drove it to a parking lot at John Morris and McGregor Blvd where it was safer to put on the spare than on the shoulder of Summerlin.
I unloaded the trunk and stowed the stuff in the back seat, got the jack and the spare out, jacked up the car and started pulling lug nuts. But the last lug nut turned out to be the locking kind! Great! Just great! When I bought the kayakmobile I checked to make sure it had a spare and a jack and that the spare was fully inflated, but who would have thought to check for locking lug nuts on the tires???
I called my insurance company's roadside assistance number. They advised me I had free towing for up to eleven miles and that there was a Firestone tire store just two miles away! Thank you USAA! They called a tow truck which arrived about 45 minutes later. The Firestone store was having a slow day so they pulled me right in and had the kayakmobile up on a rack. The front tires on the yakmobile were both Kelly's and both back tires were Dunlops. I figured if one Dunlop had died, the other might too, so I had them replace both rear tires and remove the locking lugs on all four wheels. The bill was $214. Not bad all things considered. But by the time they got done, it was after 2pm and a thunderstorm had moved into the area. So much for fishing this day!
I drove the yakmobile back to Cape Coral but managed to avoid the thunderstorm - even though I could hear thunder and see lightening popping nearby. I stopped at the Twisted Conch in Cape Coral and shared my tale of woe with bartendress and friend, Monica while I had a single Yuengling Lager to cheer my spirits.
When I got home, I decided that the catfish I had kept as bait had outlived their usefulness since it would be Monday before I had a chance to get back out of the water. Freezing 3 day old bait just didn't make sense so I fed the catfish carcasses to the turtles in my canal.
At least I have functional eyeglasses, sunblock chapstick, new tires, a new knife and a pocket full of sinkers for my next fishing adventure!
Life is good!
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