Jacked up on Blackhall Road

When I was 15 years old, my sister pressured me to take the driver’s permit examination with her. My sister, who is one year younger than me, couldn’t wait to drive. I had friends who drove or I took the bus, so I really didn’t care. Living in a city without a driver’s license is a lot easier than in rural Wyoming.

My dad, who did a lot of mechanical work in his spare time, thought it would be a good idea to teach my sister and I how to change the oil and rotate tires before we learned how to drive.

That lesson has come in handy more than once. I have had to change tires on almost every car I...