Blowin' Chunks

I drove back to Southern Illinois yesterday, and was present at the birth of a road alligator. A MoDot truck was passing me a few miles north of Hannibal, and just as his rear axle was beside me, the inside dual blew. Old True Blue actually said a bad word when the explosion occurred. Truck tires are pretty darn loud, and there was a lot of rubber in the air. I got on the brakes, but so did the truck driver, so our Ford Explorer was stuck in a cloud of rubber flak, but miraculously escaped with no damage. I stopped and checked on the truck driver, and he was OK, but I think he had said a bad word, too. He was able to roll on into Hannibal on the outer dual. This was a good reminder to move past trucks quickly out on the road. This was my second close call with an exploding truck tire; the first one was several years ago near Springfield, IL, when a tire and split rim let go just as I pulled ahead of a semi. I was glad to see that in my rear view mirror and not right next to me.