My daughter and I were stranded the weekend of August 3-4 in Brownwood, or could have been without the assistance of Craig Blanton, Store Manager of Firestone at 509 W. Commerce.

Expecting to attend the wedding of a close family member we planned for only a one day trip. We arrived on Saturday and were leaving on Sunday, spending the night in Brownwood. We arrived ok, and fortunately my brother-in-law in Santa Anna noticed a flat tire while we were inside eating. He aired it, drove it to his shop and checked it. The hole was too large to patch, so he recommended we return to Brownwood and get two tires, as the other front tire needed replacement. This was about 2:15 Saturday afternoon. The wedding was at 6 o’clock in Valera.

Family followed us to Brownwood to make sure we arrived without any problems since were driving on a donut spare. On the way my daughter started calling businesses: Firestone, Wal-Mart, the new GMC dealership, and two other places that were closed. NO one had the size truck tire we needed. We had a ride to the wedding, so that was not the issue. I had brought only enough medication for one day and an appointment scheduled for Monday afternoon back in Irving.

Finally someone suggested we try another size tire, so we called Firestone again and talked with Craig Blanton, as he had been the most helpful already. As we drove to his place of business, he explained a smaller tire was not recommended. By That time we had arrived at his door. He checked his computer and said the tires were available in Abilene and also in San Angelo, and he could send someone for them. He called Abilene, and while waiting for a call back, decided to recheck his computer. He apparently saw something and went to his store room, and came out with the two tires we needed! They had been entered into the computer incorrectly.

We called the cousins for the ride to the wedding, and pulled what we needed from the car. I failed to mention that Firestone was also open from 9-5 on Sunday. We were so excited that we failed to even leave cell phone numbers. Sunday morning we arrived and had two new tires and could get home safely, all thanks to Craig Blanton at Firestone.

-Leonard J. McCown