Nebraska gravel versus Montana gravel

I know...strange title!  But read on...

You Nebraskans will really appreciate this one, considering the NE gravel I was used to compared to our MT gravel!

This past Thursday was Tony's birthday and we had yet to celebrate with his parents, so that was our plan on Sunday. Well, we decided we would skip church and head to the farm earlier so that Tony could change the oil before we head out this next Sunday for Nebraska. We left home with a hungry little girl. I was planning on feeding her as soon as we got to the farm while Tony was changing the oil. It was a very calm morning, with fresh snow on the ground, but a cold -14 degree temperature.

We made it up north to the cut-across road...only 12 miles of gravel left to the farm. Now this is MT gravel, not NE gravel we're talking about. At about mile 4 or so Tony mentioned that the PSI sensor for the right rear tire was rapidly dropping. We made it up to the top of one of the hills and low and behold, a completely flattened tire was staring us right in the face, all the while a little girl starting to scream in the carseat due to hunger.

To my surprise Tony said that a gravel piece popped our tire. I was thinking...hmmph...interesting. Well, I had NO IDEA that the gravel piece (aka "rock" or even "boulder")  would be this size!!!  Or that it would be completely shoved into the tire...I mean...completely shoved into it..like a sword, only its a ROCK!!!  Only the bottom end of the rock in the picture was showing.

Yes, it's true, that whole rock was jammed in our tire.  I was stunned, and to be honest, I still am!

So, thanks to my loving husband, who beared the cold, our tire got changed while I fed our hungry little girl.