We all needed sleep. So we all slept in. And then that whole time change thing. We left about an hour and a half later than I planned. "Lonnie" insists I need to communicate these things to him. I insisted right back than when we woke up at 0830 and said "we need to leave by 9" was fair warning. I was wrong. But really, when you have 3 little kids and 6+ hours of daily driving, you can't frickin leave at 1030 and expect a timely arrival anywhere! I shouldn't need to have some epic planning conversation about that. Needless to say, I was annoyed. But at least we were able to practice our 'trailer breakdown' procedure and generally it went well. RV mistake Number 1 avoided: we didn't leave the anntenae up.
We hit the road and my well-behaved truck children reappeared. Movie was watched, quick rest stop taking, and we were making great time when the kids fell asleep. "Lonnie" and I amused ourselves playing 'Identify the Agriculture' game as we spent our 2nd day in Kansas (which is actually the longest I've ever been in Kansas). 'Identity the Agriculture' goes something like this:
Me: Wow, that whole field of corn is dead
Him: Did you say something?
Me: I wonder what those green plants are...too late for peas...
Him: Strawberries?
Me: No, duh, it's too late for strawberries, must be a root veggie, fall harvest...too small for summer
Me: Man, I really want to know what they are. Oh, here's another dead cornfield
Him: Well, they let it die to dry out and then harvest it dry for corn meal and such...
Me: Oh yeah, that makes sense...looks, there's a live corn field...
And so on until your brain melts. However, south eastern Kansas is much prettier than the rest of the state. But the temperature fluctuated between 104-107 all day, making nothing pretty but the air conditioned cab of Sally (the name of the truck. I say Mustang Sally, "Lonnie" insists on Long Tall Sally, irrelevant since I'm right). We were able to get in a quick pit stop while the kids slept when "Lonnie" mentions that one of the trailer tires looks bad, "the cord is showing". Now, I don't know what that looks like, but in the middle of nowhere Kansas, I'm more concered about just getting out alive so I ask "What does that mean?". He says, "We'll need a new tire soon, look online for tire shops". In the middle of nowhere I'm gonna find a tire shop??? OK, I'll give this a shot. I do some online magic and find a few auto places about 30 minutes away. I call the first one and a nice guy answers the phone. I explain that I'm looking for a particular tire and he says, "Well, we're acutally closed today and won't open again until Monday" (then why the heck are you answering the phone?!). I ask if other places might be open and he says "well, everything closes at noon on Saturday, so probably not. What tire do you need?" I explain it, he doesn't have it, but I honestly think he would have opened up to help us if he did. Kansans are nice. But really, close at noon on Saturday? Are we in frickin Germany or something? I feel a bizarre flashback lingering in my mind...
I try a few more places and nothing happens. So we look in Joplin Missouri, the nearest big town and the Goodyear Tire place had what we needed. Cool, we're an hour out...no problem. "Lonnie" and I are reliving a time in Germany (that flashback came full circle!) when we were almost out of gas in the middle of the night and unable to find anyplace that was open. We actually stopped talking at one point just to conserve gas. Yeah, I know, but we thought it would help at the time. So, here again we were, somewhere that unreasonably respects family time and closes unfunctionably early for people with a mission. Sigh. We changed from 'Identify the Agriculture' to 'Pray the Tire Holds' when we noticed that it finally went flat. Well shit. It's 107 degrees outside and nothing but 1 and 2 lane roads for miles. Oh, and the jack was under that kids seats...who were still sleeping. Luckily, as we were pulling down a side road, they woke up. "Lonnie" grabbed the jack, I grabbed the kids, and our seemless effort in trailer tire changing really is rivaled only by NASCAR! I popped the kids in the trailer with popcorn and AC, then helped "Lonnie" with the tire. The ground burned to the touch it was so hot. A friendly stranger did stop and about had apoplexy that a girl was turning lug nuts, so he helped "Lonnie" while I gladly staying in the AC'd trailer. Pays to have a uterus sometimes!
After a remarkably short time, we were done. Then I noticed that the field next to us was that short green plant. Oh, maybe I can finally win the game!! I went over to investigate and short of digging up somebody's field, I determined the plants to be potatoes. Don't know if I'm right, but that's what they are. Merely potatoes. My curiosity satisfied, we head to Joplin, only to realize that it was almost 5pm and we are still 30 minutes away. I call the Goodyear store and those wonderful people agreed to stay late to put on a new tire for us!!! I sent a raving review to the Goodyear people.
Despite all that craziness, we arrived at our destination in Arkansas only 1 hour late. We decided to forgoe an evening battlefield tromp at Pea Ridge for beers and a walk with the wild, ferral children who seem to always appear when released from the captivity of the car seat. But I will say, the greatest thing about a trailer is that your kitchen is right there, and I actually had dinner cooking in the crockpot all day!! So once we parked, dinner was served. So great. It made that evening walk with the wild, ferral children enjoyable because we caught the sunset and some Olympic majesty. Day 2, a relative success.
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