Trunk Board

I was driving home from my brother's house late at night.  It was cold and sleeting.  I had forgotten my cell phone but my brother's house was only 15 miles away, so I should be alright...

I was on 495 heading west when I saw flashing lights ahead.  I was trying to see what was happening when I saw a few metal bed frames in my lane and the next.  I ran over them.  There was nothing I could do.  The visibility was pretty low, and I was moving at about 80 mph.  Anyway, as soon as I hit them, I knew it did some damage.  I just didn't know what.  So I turned off the heat and the radio and I listened.  Incidentally, the cop had pulled over a truck carrying bed frames...

I was listening for any sort of trouble, but I knew it was only a matter of minutes.  I decided to go 201 to 193 to go home as opposed to 495 the rest of the way.  As soon as I got off the interstate and onto 201, I heard my tire start to thump.  So I pulled over where I could and started got out.  It was freezing and wet.  I went to my trunk (which is ALWAYS full) and started digging out the spare.  I couldn't believe my bad luck!  Since we had been celebrating something (Christmas?) I was all dressed up with my leather coat on.  I was none to happy.  I finally got the spare out, and went to get the tire off.  I jacked the car up (which was fun), and went to take off the lug nuts.  They wouldn't budge.  I worked for 45 minutes in the cold and rain eventually putting all my weight onto the crowbar.  I kicked them and cursed them.  Eventually I got them off, but I have never had difficulty like that before.

Anyway, I was so angry that I *tossed* the tire into the trunk cracking the board that makes a flat surface above the spare tire enclosure.  Great.

I got home alright, very wet and cold, though nobody ever did stop.  I guess I wouldn't either.  I big man in the dark rain wearing a black leather coat and carrying a tire-iron.

After many dollars (actually the tire was still under warranty), I had a new tire, but the trunk was not very functional.    Until today!

Here is a before picture of the board:

After a trip to "Home - I - Depo" (as R says), $15, and a few hours, this is what I got:

Two things to note.

1) I put in (or really just couldn't find one cheap 4x4 plywood piece) a hinged joint right where spare tire ends.  This is nice because it gives me some extra storage space.

2) I had to grind off the screws that protruded from the other side of the hinge.  I really thought this was going to be a problem, but it turned out to be easy.  Also, R really liked the sparks that flew during the grinding.

All better!