Definition of a Bad Day

Where do I start? You'll recall that our typical routine on this trip has been to hit the road around 11 or noon each day. This morning we set a goal to be rolling at 9am and actually left the campground by 9:07! We had a long day of driving planned, with a fun stop to meet a Farm Dog breeder for lunch. You'll recall that we started our day in Sioux Falls, SD. Our day abruptly ended before we even reached Sioux City, just 90 miles to the south.

As I was following Janell down I-29, her towing the trailer, me in my Civic, I noticed some debris fly out from under the trailer. I assumed that it was stuff she had just kicked up from a previous truck blow-out. Then I noticed a lot of fluid draining from the back of the trailer. Not good. Since the next exit was several miles away, we opted to pull over on the side of the highway. Hand held radios are wonderful in times like that.

Upon closer inspection, the left side aft tire on the trailer had completely delaminated. Before the tread from the tire departed, it took out a sizeable chunk of the underside of the trailer and kitchen plumbing and wiring. Fortunately, it was fresh water I had seen draining from the trailer (not grey or black). I'll spare you too many other details, but the bottom line is that no one was hurt, the kids were amazingly good all day, and Janell and I haven't strangled each other! Actually, we've all been a good team, dealing with crisis after crisis all day. Other crises? Of course, just one is never our style. Let's see, there's the "Good Sam" Road Side service call that cost us $100 to duct tape some plastic trash bags to the inside of the trailer (I'm not done fighting that one). We pulled tick's off Janell and I (none found on the girls yet). Found a green snake under the truck while I changed the tire on the side of the interstate. Hailey with blue ink all over her face. And Abbey has diarrhea. This is the definition of a bad day.

But, we've received blessings along the way, too. It didn't rain (very much) while we drove the 25 miles to get the trailer to an RV repair place. We were able to FIND an RV repair place within 25 miles of the middle of nowhere. As I said earlier, the girls (for the most part) were awesome and very patient all day. The fact that we're staying in a hotel for a few nights is pretty exciting to them. And we had a very relaxing dinner at Chili's tonight, with the view of a rainbow out the window. Yes, a "relaxing dinner" with four kids.

We'll see how the night goes with Abbey's looseness. We've already plugged her with Imodium and white rice. She gets to sleep in the bathroom tonight. We laid the girls down to bed around 9:30. It's now 10:20 and they're still fidgeting. It's tough sharing a queen bed with two other sisters. Katelynn's the lucky oldest and she gets her own roll-away.

We should get an estimate on the trailer repairs tomorrow. If it's less than $3000, we can have them start work immediately. Otherwise, we must wait for the insurance company's field adjuster to come out and review the estimate in person, and that won't happen until Mon or Tues. Looks like we'll get to know the town of Sioux City pretty well. I've never bounced between three states like this before. If you've never taken a close look at this "corner" of the country, it's pretty unique in its geography. Full of Lewis and Clark history, as well, since it's right along the Missouri River.

Until we get the estimate tomorrow, we're not sure what our next step will be, so we're trusting in the Lord day by day and hour by hour. Of course, that's what we should always be doing, but sometimes it takes a blown out tire to remind us.