My First Flat on the MINI... Awww

On my way home this evening, I heard a loud thumping like something got caught in my wheel. I pulled over and didn't notice anything so I drove off. A few minutes later, my tire pressure light went off and I knew I must have run over something bad.

When I arrived home, luckily only a couple of miles where this happened, I heard a loud whistling from my rear driver's side tire. And this is what I saw:

It's a house key that had a key strap attached to it. I think I'll keep it as a momento. Now I get to track down a place to repair it. fun stuff. :-) click the picture for more photos.

Since I didn't want the MINI to ruin the run-flat, I jacked it up and took the wheel off. I then tossed it in the trunk of my other car. As I walked away, as a matter of habit, I set the alarm. When I came back I thought I would level the car out since it was jacked up pretty high. As I let the car down a bit, my alarm went off and scared the crap out of me. Its good to know that the alarm is in good working order. I didn't think it was going to be that sensitive but I'm glad it is.