Day 1: Unexpected Adventure

Microtel
Dickinson, ND




Today was supposed to be the uneventful day. Just a ten-hour drive to get west where the fun stuff would begin.

We left home yesterday. I had a Minnesota NICE (local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers) meeting last evening in Saint Paul. After the meeting we stayed all night at our daughter Katie's. This morning we saw her husband off to work, but left before Katie and the kids got up.

We drove to Cambridge to pick up Mom and were on the road a little after 9.

The goal is Yellowstone National Park. Mom and I were there several years ago. We kept thinking how awed Steve would be as well. This is the first chance we have had to get back. Of course, we will stop a few other places along the way like Grand Tetons. And who can drive past Theodore Roosevelt, the Badlands, Black Hills or Mount Rushmore without a stop?

But our first stop came today. Unplanned. It was an incredibly windy day. 30mph we heard. That made for challenging driving and terrible gas mileage. About 1:30 we were driving west on I-94. Steve was feeling around the dashboard, trying to figure out what was rattling so badly so that he could stop it, when the tire blew out. So that was the rattle!

He kept the car under control and pulled off to the side. Of course, the spare was in the trunk under all our stuff for the trip. The spare is one of those little temporary things that looks like a toy, but gets you there. You hope.



I pulled Mom's walker out of the back seat so she would have some place to sit. A sweet local lady saw Mom clinging to the front of the car (in a wind that threatened to blow her into the ditch) and me struggling to get the walker out), and she pulled over, assuming we were alone. Steve was invisible down on the ground pumping the jack. I was glad to be able to tell her we were not alone. Steve asked where we should go to buy a new tire. (It was definitely not a matter of repair. The tire was shredded.) Her instructions were excellent. We limped to Valley City, North Dakota, and bought a new tire.

Tonight we are in Dickinson, ND, propped in bed, watching the pre-game show. And I'm not talking football. Oh, yeah. This place that houses so many oil workers, keeps a pot of soup in the breakfast room, so we pulled out our cheese and crackers and veggies to supplement.

The view from along side the road while Steve changed the tire. You can see how the wind bends the reeds.

Thank you, Lord...

that the blowout didn't happen in rain or snow.

that it was a rear tire with less impact on steering.

that it was the right rear tire so Steve could change it from the shoulder of the road, not the middle of the highway.

for the kind lady who stopped to see if we needed help.

that semi's pulled over and didn't hit us.

that the Goodyear people didn't say, "We can get to it in a couple hours."

for yummy beef vegetable soup for supper.