Watkins Shepard, Here I Come

Woke up today all ready to get some serious driving in. I only drove 2 1/2 hours or 128 miles last night (love those hills and I really appreciated the training from W/S in downshifting and upshifting properly). I did 3 1/2 hours straight (266 miles) and we stopped at a rest area near Vivian, SD, for a break, load check and tire check. I ate half a sandwich, too, since I had been working while the boys were sleeping. Let's stress the load and tire check part for the sake of forshadowing...

Passed through Chamberlain and went over the Missouri River, then heard a huge *THUMP*. Joe nearly jumped out of the sleeper and yelled, "Get over!" Well, duh. But I was well-trained and you don't jerk a loaded flatbed over to the side and slam on the brakes, so I ignored Joe and gently directed the tractor to the side while using controlled braking. We stopped about 100 feet up and got out to look. We blew one of the tractor's super single tires and, just to add to the party, pretty much destroyed the rim. So we put out our emergency triangles, recovered out cap, and Joe is calling around to get us a repair or tow. Wheeee! Will update and post pics later.

 

It's now 4 hours later. We've watched 2 episodes of Ice Road Truckers, had a light dinner/snack, and watched the movie -Grownups-. By the time we get back on the road, I'm going to be out of hours and I really wanted to try to hit 600 miles today. Ah well... tomorrow.

 

"Curiouser and curiouser," said Alice as she ventured further down the rabbit hole...

The tire guy came and fixed the tire and we got ready to leave... only to have the engine shut down. We've blown a coolant hose, possibly from the force of the tire explosion, and we can't move at all.

Lovely day all around...