In my last post, I briefly mentioned my experience with potholes on the NJ Turnpike.

Here’s how it cost me a bit over $300.

Like I said, dude I’ve known since our freshman year of college was getting married. I missed enough of my friend’s weddings in my 20s; feel bad about it, so here’s to trying better for the 30s.

Morning in Teaneck for the farewell breakfast. Got to quickly say bye and give a hug before running off to the airport.

Around 9:45am I was driving on the NJ Turnpike. Two lanes, narrow by Texas-standards. I was on the right where holes littered the edge connecting to the shoulder. On the left there was a tractor trailer. Already been sideswiped by an 18 wheeler on the turnpike when I was 20; totalled my folks’ car. So I picked risking the tire over the entire rental.

Felt the hit and saw the warning on my dash that the tire pressure was rapidly decreasing. I took the next exit, pulled over at the Wawa, and grabbed the pump.

My luck, of the two pumps, one of them didn’t work and the other was in use.

Finally freed up. Air went in. And then right back out. My educated guess, tire had a hole and needed patched. It’s now past 10.

Boarding started at 12:30pm.

And oh yeah, there’s a partial government shutdown. All the news said to expect delays and to budget an extra couple hours. I have TSA pre, but I couldn’t find a clear answer online if it was still operating given the situation. Given the information I had available, my expectation was I had little wiggle room if I wanted to make it onto the plane.

Not a hard or long fix for an auto shop. But, I was in an unfamiliar place, I did not know what was both nearby and available.

I had work the next day. My dog was in boarding. My car was parked at the lot. Not to mention the potential costs of rebooking a flight, hotels, plus another rental or cabs.

So I made a gametime decision. A tire repair is a fixed cost. Every snowball effect if I missed my flight was not.

RIP enough cash to get a fun new gizmo.

For what it’s worth, airport security at EWR was running fine.