Earlier this year I read my kids the book “Addie’s Dakota Winter”. Little did I know by the end of summer we’d pack our bags, sell off most of our furniture and make our own move to the Great Plains State known for it’s winters.
Of course after holding on to this book since I was a child, and then reading it to my kids, I decided it was one we could get rid of. I’ve been on a downsizing mission this whole year, but perhaps I should have held onto it. Oh well, someone else may get lucky enough to read it and then find themselves heading out to this beautiful, although cold, state.
We thought we could make the drive in a mere 2 days. After all, it was only supposed to take 14.5 hours. That’s 7 hours a day, easy peasy…..
The kids and I loaded up one car, and Mark jumped in the truck. We made it not quite out of Utah, when I start seeing tire tread falling off the truck tires. I called Mark on our walkie talkies, and we pulled over. Sure enough we needed a new tire.
Unfortunately the nearest town had no tires in our size. Our next option was stay over night and hope they could get one in sometime the next day, or continue on another hour+ to Evanston, Wyoming. So we continued on. We were lucky, very lucky! Along this next stretch another tire completely blew out, yet Mark handled it well and we made it to Evanston where we bought 4 Brand New tires to complete the rest of the trip; as well as adding another day to our move.
Along our trip my kids had some fun things to say. If you ever plan to drive 900+ miles with your small children, remember to bring a long a pad of paper and pen. After that long in a car, they’re going to have commentary on the scenery.
Kids “Where are we now”
Me “Wyoming”
a few hours later
Kids “Where are we now”
Me “Wyoming”
 |
| with a break at Martins Cove to run off some energy by pulling handcarts! |
and a few hours later again
Kids “Where are we now”
Me “Wyoming
Kids “STILL?! Wyoming doesn’t end?”
Finally we made it out of Wyoming and into South Dakota.
Chloe “There are no clouds in South Dakota?”
Me “huh? of course there are clouds in South Dakota. Just none right now”
Kids “no clouds!!!”
Me “that is kind of a big sky without a single white puff in sight”
Finally we make it to North Dakota
Kids “YAY! There are clouds in North Dakota!”
Me “well look at that…the clouds are back….”
