We're broke down on the side of the road!

It started like any travel day as we readied for the two-hour trip from Valentine, Nebraska, to Pierre, South Dakota. We unhooked the motor home from its full-hook-up utilities and headed out onto the highway like we have done hundreds of times before. It was just a few miles down Highway 83 before we crossed the state line into South Dakota.

Bigger and more colorful was the other welcome sign--to the casino immediately on the other side of the state line. Welcome to South Dakota, the home of casino gambling!

Denisa took a picture because the road quality also immediately changed. It looks like South Dakota didn't want to waste any money on extra asphalt. There was absolutely no shoulder on this highway, as a bed of loose gravel butted up to the outside white line.

We hate to complain, but that was followed by a long delay, as we waited for the pilot car to lead our group through a stretch of one-lane construction work. Then Denisa had to take another picture, as the next section of road felt like we were driving over speed bumps every 30 yards or so. The scenery was nice, but the roads today were some of the worst we have ever seen in our travels around this country.

It was only a few minutes after that picture that our trip took a definite turn for the worse. Buzzers went off and Mark was seeing messages on the dashboard to "check engine" and suddenly "Stop!" The power steering shut off as Mark manhandled our motor home off the side of the road.

He did a great job of getting us to a level spot and completely off the highway. Whew! Then he started checking for what caused all those warning lights to go off. We breathed a sigh of relief thinking of what would have happened if those lights had come on during that long stretch of one-lane road construction.

Just forty miles into today's drive, it soon became obvious that this motor home wasn't going anywhere on its own power. It's right at noon, and we started making phone calls. We have been paying the $99 coach-net annual fee for road-side assistance for the last five years, and it was time to see if they are as good as we have heard. Their first question was, "Is everyone safe and all right?" and then they began gathering information. From Mark's observations, they determined that we needed more than a mobile RV tech. We were going to have to be towed to the nearest repair center. That's when we decided to get comfortable because we were going to be here a while on this hill.

We are literally out in the middle of nowhere! On the edge of an Indian reservation, we are halfway between the tiny towns of Mission and White River. As coach-net tried to determine our exact location, they had to agree that we were a long way from anywhere. It was going to take some time to get a tow truck to us, and to find a repair shop that could handle our diesel engine.

Mark thought of things to do to keep busy. He called Tiffin to be sure he knew everything that should happen before our motor home was towed. He unhooked the car from the motor home. Then he thought about the motor home being towed at an angle, and decided to remove the entire tow apparatus on the back. It turned out that was a very good decision. Coach-net continued to call us with updates as they have now found a repair shop--88 miles away in Pierre, South Dakota. That's great, as that was our planned destination for today.

Even though this is not the way we intended to spend the day, we are still blessed. It is 70 degrees with a light breeze, so we are quite comfortable inside and outside our motor home while we waited. We also had a good phone signal for all our phone calls, as coach-net continued to update us. In order to keep ourselves from being bored or fretting too much, we found projects to do. We've heard the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Well, we've been carrying around pecans that needed to be shelled, but we hadn't had the time to do that. So today's new slant on that saying is, "When life is nuts, shell those pecan nuts."

As the hours stretched on, we ate lunch. That's another good thing about being stranded on the side of the road for hours in a motor home--we had plenty of food. Denisa called our extended warranty company, alerting them that we would have a claim soon. Mark talked to the repair shop in Fort Pierre, and they recommended a tow service that coach-net is sending our way. Even though we are in the middle of nowhere, it is quite lovely as we look out our window.

The tow truck arrived 4.5 hours after that engine light alerted us that we had problems. We were certainly glad to see him!

The first order of business was moving a reflector post that was in the path that the truck needed to back up.

We also had other projects to do to ready the motor home for its first-ever tow. The generator muffler had to be removed from the front where the tow apparatus most go. The drive train had to be disconnected. It's not just as simple as hooking a tow truck up and taking off.

It took two hours to properly get those big tires up in the air. We are really impressed with Murdo All-Pro Towing. We've been blessed again.

Those tires are strapped in, and the air-ride system on the motor home is attached to the tow truck so it has the air bags to help it tow more smoothly.

In the two hours since he arrived in his tow truck, we feel like Cody has become our friend. We appreciate his attention to detail and the care he is taking with our home. We're finally ready to get back on the road as he eases back onto highway 83.

Cody has warned us that it will be a slow 88 miles to our destination in Pierre. Besides driving slow, he also stopped several times to make sure the motor home was towing properly. So as we ride in our car behind him, we have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery of the South Dakota hills as they go slowly by.

Cody also warned us that the roads we had complained about earlier were going to get worse. That "loose gravel" sign is an indication that he is right.

Our bad pavement turned into gravel through this long stretch of road. We were surrounded by miles of green grass and little blue lakes and wide open skies on this beautiful weather day.

We are averaging about 35 miles per hour, making this into a three hour drive. But we are glad that Cody is being so careful. Every time we come to a corner, Denisa snaps a picture. From talking to Cody, we estimate that this 88 mile tow would have cost us around $1,000 without our RV road-side assistance plan.

By the time we made this turn, it's 8:00 p.m.--eight hours since that first buzzer went off alerting us that this day was going to be a little different than we had planned. Coach-net is still calling us periodically, making sure that we are well taken care of. We will definitely be paying that yearly road-side assistance premium without question from now on!

We're glad that it's one of the longest days of the year, as we still had sunlight for our late arrival at Eddie's truck repair shop in Fort Pierre. The sun is setting as Cody pulled into the parking lot to adjust his tow angle because of dips in the parking lot.

The sun was setting at 10:00 when Cody got us back on the ground. He had to reconnect our drive train and our air system. It was faster coming off the tow, but it still takes a lot of time to do it right. Mark had talked to the manager at the repair shop before it closed, and they told us to plug into an electric outlet at the side of the shop. We had planned for a camping spot overlooking the Missouri River, but we are glad to be safely here tonight instead.

So we ate some leftovers for supper at 10:30 and were thankful for our day. We were blessed in so many ways--cool weather, a flat spot at the top of a hill on the side of the road, a phone signal to make calls, help from coach-net, a solid towing company, and a well-reviewed repair shop. Even when our wandering includes break-downs, we find wonders in the ways that God takes care of us.