Truck problems

I don't really like to complain a bunch but sometimes I just hate car problems and we have had way too many the last few days. The guys took the truck hunting and that is when it all started. They blew out a tire, couldn't get the spare down it had a broken gear on the release mechanism. So they had to walk out a couple of miles to the main road with the bad tire and catch a ride to the other car, go into Flagstaff and get it fixed. A few days later they tore the plastic guard under the front bumper off. When they got home Doug replaced that, bought two new tires, and had the truck aligned. We thought it was good to go. On the way to Yuma we noticed the truck still had a funny vibration so Doug thought something was still wrong with the tires but drivable just a little vibration that wasn't there before.Well other than the tires we  thought everything was good until we got to Yuma. The gas we got at Sam's Club was bad gas and the truck started pinging really bad. On top of that we had to follow a police escort going 50 miles an hour from Yuma to El Centro (55 miles) because of a wide load in front of us. In El Centro we found an autozone and bought some high octane booster to help the ping, but it didn't help, so we just went on to San Diego. Doug got up Saturday morning and found a mechanic to see what the problem was. He said it was one thing that ended up being something else. The pinging from the bad gas had caused a spark problem and cracked the pipe from the engine to the muffler. He welded that crack and thought that it would be ok. Then Doug went and had all of the tires rebalanced. Filled up the car with premium gas to help things out .(I'm sure he would have rather relaxed on his day off but was such a good sport about getting everything fixed). The weld job lasted for about 100 miles then the pinging  started up again and the truck sounds like a diesel engine. We made it home and the truck will go into Kelly's in the morning to see what other damage has been done. Cars, don't ya just love um. Wish I had the money to trade them all in and get a couple of new ones, but that's not going to happen.