Trew: Flats make one worn and tired

I can remember the early 1940s pretty well and don't remember many flats. But it was during the war and no one drove unless absolutely necessary. Also, much of the farm equipment back then still had steel wheels. Driving slower with lighter loads might have prevented flat troubles. The 1950s brought on more pickups and tandem wheel horse trailers. This doubled the number of tires on the ground. I've always believed pickups running ahead of trailers, disturbed the nails in the road making them mad, and they retaliate by jumping up into the tires of the trailers as they pass. I also believe the Lord put thorns on Mesquite trees to try the souls of ranchers. Countless years of wagon travel dropped nails, staples and pieces of wire onto dirt roads which now puncture new rubber tires. Most counties purchased huge magnets to pull along the roads to suck up such metal. It was amazing how quickly a barrel of potential flats could be harvested in a single trip down an old country road. I once hired a cowboy to tend my stock here at the ranch while I tended other business. Almost every day brought flat tires on the trailer and pickup causing him a trip to town and wait in the coffee shop while the flats were repaired. When I bought tire tools, patches and glue and provided an air-compressor for him to fix his own flats the problem seemed to evaporate, shall I say into "compressed air."...more