Our snow is finally gone, it’s staying light past dinner time, and it’s getting warmer, albeit slowly.

Spring is finally here.

For those of you who live where real winter exists, you are probably familiar with the concept of winter tires for your vehicle.

For those of you who don’t, these are more rugged, less slippery tires that are designed to help us navigate all the conditions winter decides to throw at us, so we can still leave our houses and be as much a part of society as we choose to be in the colder months. They are usually put on sometime around November, and come off around this time of year.

I have lived in places where winter exists all my life, but I have never actually participated in the “great tire switch out” in past years. I have always just had a good “all weather” tire on my vehicle and called it good enough.

Now that I live on a private, dirt road, with a couple decent hills, and this being my first winter here, with no context as to how well that road is maintained (very well, as it turns out), I decided to go with the less slippery winter tires this year.

Now that spring is in the air, it was time for those tires to come off, and my regular old tires to come out of hibernation, so I started my morning at my car guy’s place for this swap to take place.

The swap itself was relatively uneventful, besides a corroded lug nut they had some difficulty with, and I soon found myself back on the road with four “all weather” tires under me, and four winter tires riding behind me in my cargo.

When the car guy had stashed my tires in the back, he had stood them all up on end in a nice little row across my cargo area.

Not thinking anything of it when I got home, I popped open the lift-gate to unload the tires and was met with four very large tires barreling down on me. (I drive a large SUV, so these are very large tires!)

My reflexes kicked in and I assumed my best and quickest star fish pose, my arms going one way and my legs the other, and I managed to stop two of the tires with one of each.

However, I was not so lucky with the other two.

Now, I live at the top of a hill, and my yard slopes down this hill, all the way to the lake below me. The road to my house circles around and my driveway comes in towards the back of my house. My driveway has a nice gentle slope all the way down to the road, and you turn out of my driveway right at the top of the hill, heading down and around a curve. My neighbor’s house sits at the bottom of the hill and the top of the curve, diagonal from my house.

After interrupting the escape of two of my tires, I turn around to see my other two tires continuing their journey down my driveway to the road, quickly picking up speed as they go, apparently thrilled to be making this journey without a multi ton vehicle on their back.

The first tire took the inside lane, and as it made the turn out of the driveway onto the road, it hit one of the stones lining the edge of the drainage ditch there, and it’s journey (thankfully) came to a halt.

The other tire, however, took the outside lane, made the turn onto the road, and sped up significantly as it started it’s journey down the hill.

Somehow, it just missed the sand barrel at the top of the hill and careened down the hill, into my neighbors yard, through her driveway, jumped the little fence on the back side of her parking spot, and continued down the hill behind her house. (Luckily she and her husband winter in Florida, so neither they, nor their car are here at the moment)

At this point I lost sight of it from the end of my driveway, which is as far as I had gotten in the time it had traveled all that way, but there are a multitude of trees and other items on her hill, so I was sure it had come to rest somewhere on the hill.

I make it through her yard and to the top of her hill, trying to locate the tire’s final resting place, but having no luck.

And then I spotted it.

It had continued it’s journey all the way down the hill and directly into the lake.

I have no idea how it managed to miss absolutely every tree and obstacle between here and the lake, but yet it did.

It was floating about 10 ft out, with just a small portion of it still above water.

I get down to the lake and quickly realize it is just far enough out that there is no way I can reach it and still remain on dry land.

I look around for anything I can use to try to fish it out, and even try a couple sticks, but there is nothing long enough.

I start the trek back up the hill, trying to brainstorm ways I can get the tire out and still stay dry, but I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact I was going to have to get wet.

Which was extremely unappealing, as the ice has only been off the lake for a couple of weeks, and I’m guessing the water temp is not much above 35 degrees. And no, I do not belong to the cold plunge crowd, so this is not something I do for fun.

Luckily, I gave my dad a call to see if he had any great ideas on fishing tires out of lakes (he usually does) and sure enough, he did.

He suggested tying a rope around my hammer, and throwing it out into the middle of the tire, hoping the hammer would catch and drag it back in.

I make it back down the hill, and after a few unsuccessful throws, where the hammer hit the middle, but failed to catch on the way back, it finally did, and I was able to drag the tire back out, all while staying dry.

Hauling that tire all the way back up the hill to my house was another adventure all together.

All four tires are safely stored away until the next snow flies, and here’s hoping the only other “tires” that land in the lake this summer, are the inflatable ones designed to hold a person as they float lazily in the sun.