South Dakota Addendum

My friends Ed and Barbara Hull used to tell of how when their kids were young each of their family trips managed to turn into an odyssey. Broken-down cars, surprise illnesses, violent storms stranding them--the gamut. I remember when I was young on one of our annual summer camping trips the limbo of car trouble and having to pass the time in a parking lot with Stu and Amy, giving Mom and Dad some space while they figured out how to climb out of the little small-town-mechanic gravitational well that had trapped us in its small, expensive little orbit.

We'd planned to drive to Sioux Falls from Mitchell, depart at 11:30 for Chicago, and with a one-hour layer be on our way to Rochester and home by 4:40.

The FAA rearranged those plans a little, finding problems with a couple of screws on the plane which grounded it, awaiting confirmation from the plane's manufacturer in Brazil that it was airworthy. The delay grew hour after hour longer as we wandered the single concourse of Joe Foss International Airport, becoming better and better friends with the nice woman running the gift shop there. Ran into the pilot in the rest room and he couldn't have been more exasperated. The delays made our connection in Chicago impossible and the airline's solution was for us to fly on Friday. Susan persisted and we found a way to make it to Buffalo by midnight, where we would get a rental to drive home to Rochester. As the afternoon passed by and it became increasingly clear the plane wasn't going anywhere we switched to a 5:45 flight to Chicago. 

We made it eventually. And Susan and the boys managed the amazing feat of maintaining good attitudes the whole way. Well, okay, Josh fussed over dinner at a Chili's in Chicago, but that's a very long day for a three-year-old.

Glad to be home.

Sam and his kindle and Susan alerting relatives of the latest news

A good attitude, as I said.  :-)

Josh met a friend in the Sioux Falls airport (FSD), a beautiful two-inch moth. He's not scare of bugs and happily petted it.

Finally, in the air! On the first leg Josh didn't sleep a wink. (He didn't on the flights out either.)

Susan and Sam, happy to sit down for a leisurely dinner in Chicago.

The final flight home--well, to Buffalo, anyway. Don't let Sam's expression fool you--he was a great traveler.