Tacks in Tires

Today was one of those lazy summer days I don't get enough of. I had a 7am pulmonary functions test at the health clinic, but once home at 8am I lay in bed reading In the Sun's House by Kurt Caswell, a memoir of a year teaching Navajo middle school students in Borrego Pass school. I remember seeing that school high on a hill as I drove through that reservation last summer, lost to the unsigned dirt roads I thought I would never get off of until I got on I-40 west of Grants, NM. It's a good book that I started late Saturday and which I should get done by tomorrow.

I could have finished the book today but I wanted to take advantage of the still-mild weather and take the dogs up Hunter and Ash Canyons for a quick romp. We hadn't been there in a few weeks and I figured the workday would keep most shooters away.

The dogs remembered their old stomping grounds. Sara lay in the muddy springs at both sites and got up both times covered in muck. (She doesn't know this, but I am reserving her bath for this Thursday, when the heatwave will be back.)

I stayed at both places a short time. Both places were empty and void of humans, although the brass shells at both sites were quite impressive. Other trash, however, was minimal. Somebody had come by and cleaned the area. Both canyons are popular with target shooters, border crossers...and the USBP.

As I was getting ready to drive on, though, I noticed a large amount of two-inch tacks across the trail. These were not placed on the road by accident, these were surely placed there for a purpose. To slow down the USBP? To piss off shooters? I picked all that I could find, but didn't realize until I got on the main dirt road that several tacks had already lodged into my tires. This was not a good place to have a flat tire! I noticed tacks in three of my tires. I drove slowly back to the highway and rumbled on home, the tires holding out but surely I'll have a flat or two before morning breaks.

It's a bit annoying to now have to make a special trip back to my favorite garage in town to get the tacks removed. Luckily my tires are guaranteed for life so hopefully this won't cost me too much to repair.