The Adventures of South Dakota

Whew! What a crazy few couple of days. Lets just begin with, I'm okay and all is well! Now....

So here I was, in my warm cozy bed, checking Facebook, when my dear friend Seward messages me and asks for my help. She had gone with her dad to Spearfish South Dakota and he had left early. Long story short, she was stranded with no one to pick her up. It was decided that Adam and I would drive to Mitchell SD to meet her bus and bring her safely back home. Of course things never go as planned. She had called me in the morning to confirm that the trip was on so I slowly got ready. Then.... problem #1 occurred: traffic.

No problem right? I was leaving earlier than I had intended so even though it was snowy and a car that caused delays, I was okay. I met Adam at a grocery store and he hopped into the vehicle. Problem #2: Forgot directions.

Ah! Luckily Adam has an iPhone and we were able to get directions. Problem #3: I was told the trip would take four hours... not over five. Shoot!

Plans weren't going well but we knew there was nothing we could do. So we just started to drive and talk and listen to music. As we were driving, we noticed that even though the cars were thinning out, it was still slow moving. Problem #4: BLIZZARD.

What? Who knew??? Well... besides the rest of the Midwest apparently. I don't watch weather. I figure, if I can't change it, why watch it? This caused a little bit of stress, but hey, we've had blizzards before right? It shouldn't be bad. So we continued on our journey to South Dakota. I'm not sure at what point we realized there was a problem... maybe near Albert Lea? At any rate, Problem #5: White-out conditions.

Great. White out. That literally means you cannot see anything but white. Oye with the poodles already! Okay. So now we are two people, crazily driving through a white-out blizzard into unknown territory (I've never really driven through South Dakota) and Jen's on some random bus without money, a car, or a cell phone. Awesome Possum. It's okay though.... we can make do. We drove slowly, ever so slowly, making sure we didn't get caught in a snow drift or crash into a car that miraculously appeared through the snow. It was already in the ditch (so were 12 other cars) but we made our way through. With some luck, we were able to talk to jen via internet from Adam's phone and her laptop. She had arrived in Mitchell SD and we were still quite a ways out. We hadn't even reached the border yet! We told her it'd be a few hours but we'd be there soon. Then, the unthinkable... Problem #6: Road closing.

I'm too young to die!!!! That's a little dramatic. All that happened was they put these arm things down over the roads and cops forced us to exit in Luverne Minnesota. Okay. Cool. No problem. What do we tell Seward? Shoot. Told her. Now we're all nervous. Adam and I try to get a hotel but Problem #7: there are no vacancies.

We don't know what to do. She has no money. We kept in touch with her fiance and he ended up getting her a hotel room via cell phone. Then he ordered pizza. What a hero! As for us, we did the best we could and ended up deciding that we should take some back roads to this town called Brandon that was right across the border. So we slowly move on the winding county road when Problem #8: the road disappears completely from the white-out conditions.

Well... I wasn't expecting to come to a complete stop in the middle of the road. That's fine. It's gotta let up eventually right?? right!!?? Phew. Okay, we eventually make it to said town and Adam had called in advance to a hotel so we made sure we had a room. It's a nice room with two beds, a tv, and fresh cookies in the lobby! We settle in, realize that Seward and I will be apart for yet another day, and decided to eat at the restaurant right next door. The food is amazing, we are happy and healthy and in a warm room with tv.

That was the last of our adventure problems. The next day we ate breakfast, left, drove an hour west, picked up our long lost puppy aka Seward, and spent the rest of the day driving home. I am sooo happy to be home. I'm showered and in my bed with candles lit and everything is as it was. It is quite an adventure though. Nothing what I was expecting. What was supposed to be an 8 hour trip turned into a chaotic 24 saga. Such is life. Love it! Alright kids, i'm out!

Amy