Day 1 - Off To A Rough Start

We are planners, but lately nothing seems to go as planned. Luckily, we are also somewhat flexible.

Our plan was to head out as soon as Tony arrived home from the firehouse, roughly 7:30 am Tuesday morning. I recieved a text from Tony at 5:15am stating he was on a fire and for me to sleep until he calls to tell me he will be heading home. I sort of went back to sleep but never fully so about 6:20 I got up and got going. 7 came and went, as well as 8 am, no call from Tony. Finally at 8:15 he said he was on his way back to the station and would be home shortly. We finally pulled out at 9am, 2 hours later than planned. All the time watching this fire he was at on the news. It turns out he had been there since 3am with only about 3 hours of sleep before this alarm. Poor guy!

Luckily, everything else has gone as planned. Our first night is in Newton, Iowa. It's pretty remote although we are next to the interstate. It's also H.O.T! Which is somewhat good because the air will run all night and drown out the highway traffic noise so we should be able to get some sleep. Dinner was quick with hotdogs and chips followed by a dip in the very warm, but very relaxing pool by girls and me. Tony has been snoozing in the camper since we left. This is the first time the girls have been in Iowa. They are excited to be in a new state even though it's pretty boring and VERY warm!

Before arriving we stopped at another "famous" stop, the worlds largest truck stop. Iowa 80, ooooooooo! It has it all, but we just used the restroom, topped off our fuel, and purchased some treats at the DQ,

Tomorrow finds us heading to Mitchel, SD with another overnight stop, then on to our first "official" stop of Custer, SD with 5 nights there where we will see the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills, etc. as well as a stop at the famous Wall Drug somewhere along the line.

Here are a few more pictures I took along the way. It's a pretty uneventful trip thus far that is for sure!