Thank You to all who responded:
Tourist in MSN for keeping the focus on safety and the tire suggestion (wow were those trucks really passing on a two lane highway over a double yellow line??!!);
Rifraf for the tubeless suggestion (I am not opposed to tubeless-I have just always used tires and tubes and have plenty of them!);
and Doug64 for the tire suggestion (and for reminding us that the flat is usually on the rear!).