We know how to change a damn tire. We just couldn’t easily buy one because Gatlinburg didn’t have any garages open on Sunday morning.

> It was a Sunday morning. Literally our only option to get it replaced that day was a Walmart location 15 miles away. So we had to wait for AAA for an hour and a half to tell us we were stuck using a donut to get there.

I would describe that as "inconvenient" but actually very fortunate!

Walmart was only 15 miles away? You have a donut/spare, or AAA has provided you with one? That's lucky! Nowhere near "problem" territory at all.

Just an interruption to your schedule, but that happens on road trips.

A very large portion of the country doesn't have garages open on Sunday.

Most mechanics charge double time for working Sunday, even if they had not work at all the previous week (which doesn't happen, but if it did). Retail is open weekend, but mechanics like just about everyone else wants to work their 9-5 monday-friday job so they get weekends off.

In the US, I've only lived in Chicago, Portland (OR), San Francisco, Dallas, NYC, and Auburn, but I don't think I have ever seen an automobile garage open on a Sunday unless it was a WalMart, Sam's, or Costco.

Where do you live that has garages open on a Sunday morning? I don't think I've ever seen a tire shop or auto repair place that's open on a Sunday.

I decided to take a very non-representative sample, and found that in many (but not all) parts of northern California, locations of the chain tire shop that I use are closed on Sundays, but most locations in the LA area are open 7 days a week. This chain has a lot of locations. It could be that they're responding to what their competitors do in both cases. So maybe getting tires on Sunday is a so-cal thing? TBH, I personally am more used to expecting the tire shop to be open 7 days a week, unless it was a small, locally-owned place.

LA is an anomaly. Most places are 5-6 days a week, tops. Around where I'm at currently, if the place is open on Saturdays, they're closed on Monday to compensate. There's a lot of those

But it does sound like you didn't know how to repair a flat. Any hardware store and most gas stations will have either a plug kit, or some of that horrible blow-in sealant in a can. Either will get you back on the within an hour.

(Fyi, if anyone reading this does ever use that sealant stuff, when you get to a proper repair shop TELL THEM about the sealant before I pop the bead and spray it all over the shop.)

Ref for anyone reading, plug kits + a DC-powered inflator should live in all your cars. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ocVkYAAaVg

Turns an "omg" problem into "eh, hold my beer..." for 99% of tire punctures.

I would add a jumpstart kit and/or cables, preferably with the knowledge of how to use them safely. (Even teslas occasionally need to be jumped.) On long drives I also bring a small fire extinguisher (I take the one from my kitchen). Never had to use it but you don't need it until you do.

As my father quipped, 'It's amazing how much luckier well-prepared people are.'

Our tire was shredded so that would not have worked.