From Arizona to South Dakota

We left Arizona just when the temps started to heat up there. It’s quite a pull from Phoenix to Flagstaff, just ask Ron and the poor, grunting truck! The flowers were in full bloom, as you can see by this yellow field by Black Canyon. Winslow sported dust devils, and we stayed the night in Gallup, where red arrows surrounded the gas station and red cliffs surrounded our campsite. The next day we traveled to New Mexico where beautiful flowers were spread all over our campsite. Driving into Texas the next morning, people kept waving and honking and we knew they weren’t happy to see us – we had completely blown away a trailer tire! After a couple of very friendly Texans got us pointed to the tire shop, we were on our way again to Kansas where the wild onions were abundant in variety and number. I now understand why the early settlers used them for cooking – the ones we get in South Dakota are wimpy compared to these! The next day we blew another tire outside of Topeka, where we decided to spend the night. It’s a good thing, too, because the campsite I had originally picked out was near where a small tornado blew through the area! By this time we were getting frustrated with all the blown tires, so I started doing research on them. Turns out our trailer was equipped with very cheap tires and they were delaminating! So we were very nervous by now, waiting for the last 2 tires to blow, but we couldn’t find any of the replacements we wanted on hand – we would have to stop and wait for them to be shipped to where we were. We stopped in Council Bluffs to visit Ron’s 90 year old aunt Vera and cousins Denna and Lonnie. What a treat to visit with them! The next day we set off on the last leg of our trip. We arrived at Ron’s daughter’s by Sioux Falls making good time. When we got the trailer tires replaced, it turned out that one of the original 2 tires left had a big bulge and was ready to pop. Thank goodness we got it replaced before anything worse happened! Well, it’s cold and extremely windy here, but better than Hot Springs, where they are having winter storm warnings and below zero wind chill forecasts!