South Dakota Trip - Day 3

Monday morning we were given a delicious breakfast before we hit the road. It wouldn't have been hard for us to stay longer but we had more destinations ahead.

Traveling was going well. We made the necessary 200 mile stops for gas of course.

Towards afternoon, many of the younger ones took naps and I found a small space on the back bed to read.

Cruising along I-29, mile marker 94 our motorhome troubles started with a terrific bang! accompanied by scraping and flapping noises.

At the first sound I looked out the back window to see a big piece of our left rear tire taking a much different route - towards the median.

I shouted up the hallway to Dad, "Hey, stop! We popped a tire!"

Dad was pulling to the shoulder, and several of us hopping out to assess the damage.

The tire was completely useless, the outer rubber part shredded and lying several hundred feet behind us. There were some wires hanging down, and although I don't know much about motorhomes, I knew this did not look good.

Our first experience with AAA was not pleasant and would continue this way for the rest of the trip. Mom is wondering why we even had it. When we popped the tire, we called in and there was nothing they would do to help us. So much for roadside service!

We called around and finally found a tire shop in Omaha, Nebraska that could come and fix it. We had ordered a spare tire and rim but unfortunately they were not ready in time for our trip.

The service man came about 45 minutes after we called, and had the tire changed in record time.

While he was changing the tire, Mom and some of the younger children got outside to pick wildflowers. Here, I was served a mean prank.

When I had first hopped out to look at the tire, something in the grass where I was standing slithered away. I have a strong dislike for snakes, and although they are usually more scared of you than you are of them, I like to keep my distance.

So, mom was outside picking wildflowers and I was doing something in the motorhome when I received a phone call from mom. "Hey, come quick! We've got a snake bite!!" She said excitedly. "Stay right there - I'm coming," I replied, trying to keep my calm as we had been taught when faced with any emergency.

Mom started laughing hysterically to my response. "Just kidding," she said.

Well, I informed her that her prank was something you should never play on anyone who is trained for medical emergencies.

My mind had been swimming, trying to think what I had along that I could use to treat a snakebite until we could get somewhere/someone who had anti-venom.

With the tire fixed, we continued on our way. Finding a Walmart in Sioux City, we stopped to stock up on some groceries and a few other things we needed. Our fridge is really small and we had decided that we would stop at grocery stores along the way to stock up for few meals at a time.

After the Walmart stop, we drove several hours to the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota.

I took several of the younger ones with me on a walk around the homestead while Dad, Mom, and the older boys set up for the night.

One thing on the Prairie is that there is a continuous wind. Blowing, blowing, and blowing. The grass rippled and dust drifted behind us, stirred up by our footsteps.

We explored for several hours and I was really surprised when I saw my watch record the time of 10:00. Dusk was only starting to settle but we decided to go back as several of the younger ones were were getting tired.

It was our first night on the Prairie!