Hello from Sioux Falls!

A cheery good morning to you all from Sioux Falls, South Dakota! The funny thing is, we're technically supposed to be in Mt. Rushmore. But a couple hundred miles doesn't matter that much, right? Naw...

You see, we got a nice early start yesterday morning (we didn't even unhitch the van the night before)...we woke everyone up, fed 'em all a bowl of cereal, put everyone in the van, and started off on the 10-hr drive to Mt. Rushmore.

Theeeeeen, about 30-45 minutes down the road (we made it to Sioux City, Iowa), a lady drives by us waving her arms and mouthing, "Your tire!" Whereupon we start craning our heads to try to see what's wrong, and lo and behold, there's a highway patrolman behind us with his lights going. We pulled off double-quick and Dad hopped out to see what was going on. He returned a few minutes later, laughing and saying that we might be in Iowa for just a little longer than we were thinking, since one of our tires was gone and the axle was pretty banged up.

You'd think we'd notice losing a TIRE. But we were all having a great time singing worship songs and just being delightfully cheery, and the trailer never jerked or jostled or anything to cue us in on the fact that there might be a problem, and we can't see the trailer tires from where we sit in the van. Go figure.

D'ya think that might be a problem? 

The trooper, who was very nice, escorted us to the next off ramp and down to a nearby truck stop. There were some RV repair shops close by, and we tried to call a tow truck, but it turns out that no one in town has the equipment necessary for towing a trailer. Go figure again. So, having no other options, we set out cautiously  and very slowly and with a whole lot of prayer for an RV shop about a mile down the road. We were literally counting down with our GPS..."0.9 miles...0.8 miles..." and so on until we finally got there.

The folks at the repair shop were very friendly and sympathetic, and they've hustled on the trailer so we can get back on the road. Practicing our flexibility (Plan B), we grabbed our ice chest, the lunch we'd planned to eat on the road, and headed out for a nearby park where we spent a few hours and let the boys run off some of their energy. We also swung by a Lewis and Clark monument to Sergeant Floyd, the only member of the Expedition to have passed away during the journey.

About 1:00 pm, we got a call from the trailer shop...they ended up having to overnight some parts, and the RV wouldn't be ready until tomorrow afternoon. Plan C: get a hotel room in town and chill until the following afternoon.

Conclusion: as a general rule, people in the midwest are really friendly! Moreso than their CA counterparts, we think. The folks at the RV shop shared with us local sights and attractions to keep us busy during our unexpected detour and just had a cheerful and friendly attitude the whole time. The guy in charge gave Dad his cell number and told us to call if we needed anything after hours; his house is nearby, and he'd be happy to come open up the yard for us. Then, as we began driving out of the shop, another car rolled up alongside and stopped to talk to Dad. The guy, who's from South Dakota, had seen our CA license plates and figured we were stuck here away from home, and he wanted to give us some things to do while we waited. He also gave us his cell number and told us to call him if we got lost or needed anything.

What our trailer looks like WITHOUT wheels...

 We found a good hotel and went in to make a reservation...only to discover that they were completely booked, as were the other hotels in town (they had a call list), since some big event was happening in this small-to-mid-size town.

Plan D: google any sort of reasonably priced attraction or water park within 200 miles.

Turns out there aren't any reasonably priced attractions, at least for a family of our size.

Plan E: drive an hour and a half from Sioux City, Iowa to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and spend the night in a hotel there that also has an indoor water slide and pool.

We actually have had a lovely time! We're going to head back to Sioux City, Iowa right after lunch and go pick up the trailer. Our plan is to actually finish off the way we had intended—up to Mt. Rushmore, and then home. We're so blessed to know that God has this entire thing under His control, and we've really enjoyed the break we've had before starting off on some very long driving days. Outside of stopping for repairs, why else would we have spent a few hours relaxing at the park, enjoyed a good night sleep at a hotel, and exercised with hours in the pool? (After being cooped up in the van, that was great!!!)

Laramie enjoying the slide

Whoo-hoo!!!

Mom and Dad loved the fact that we were able to take advantage
of this speed limit, since we had no trailer driving to Sioux Falls!

Update...the trailer is done, we're hitched up, it's 5:30 pm our time, and we are setting off for Mt. Rushmore. We would really appreciate your prayers for safety and alertness as we've got a long row to hoe!