Got miles before me, miles behind

I am fine. The car is fine. The right front tire which blew out so hard that I thought someone had hit me because of how violently the car lurched sideways is not fine; it is in the trunk with a considerable chunk missing. The spare tire previously in the trunk was changed on for me by a reassuringly matter-of-fact mechanic at the Gulf station I was able to pull into, whom I thanked because it seemed really stupid to have to call AAA from a gas station. There was no obvious etiology such as a dire pothole or a bolt in the leftover rubber. I have been in cars whose tires were losing air before, but never one where it just exploded. Could do without repeating the experience. It did not rise to the level of my parents' experience in Philly, where three of their tires detonated in quick succession on the highway in what later turned out to be some kind of manufacturing scandal. I did not hit any of the cars around me, which I really was worried about.