This post is dedicated to Mariposa, and my new friend Christy 

Our original plan was to stay overnight in Louisville, but we decided to press on a little further down the road and ended up at some random motel frequently mainly by truckers, of course. But other than the smoke smell (uhg!) it was clean enough. The next morning we drove rather uneventfully through southern Indianna and Illinois.  Round about 1 pm we saw this:

Since Emi was hungry, and none of us except Adam had ever seen the Arch, we decided to stop and stretch our leg in the park. It took a bit to find a place to park that was close enough to walk but that we didn't have to pay for. When we finally did (in a hotel/casino parking lot), I got the baby and Adam got a out to stretch. A minute later he comes back with this piece of good news:

We've got a flat tire.

Well alrightly then. We decide to go over to the Arch first, then deal with the tire (nothing like a little procrastination!) It was a nice shady walk, and No, we didn't go up to the top - they wanted $10 for adults and $5 for kids 3+!   But it didn't cost a blessed cent to get into the museum and gift shops, and my souviners were tax free! Then we walked down the stairs and saw for the first time just how high the flood waters were:

See that space between the bottom of the stairs and where the flags are? Thats a street.  See the pedestrian crossing sign? See that little yellow topped thing? A fire hydrant. Adam got down to the bottom step at the water's edge to take pics. Of course the kids followed. They sat on the bottom step and stuck their feet in - it ws only up to their ankles. Then Arianna got a lesson in showing off - she stood up, and started doing a little "Look at me" dance - and promptly fell on her bottom in that debris filled water.  Apparently, she fell off her step and onto the street - of course she was fine, but it did surprise her - and wet her.

Anyhow, after all that fun, we go back to our poor over-worked van and Adam decides to put the donut tire on. It's like at least 90 degrees and no shade in the parking lot, so the kids and I decide to wait in the hotel lobby - a swanky Four Seasons. A very nice gentleman helped me get my stroller up the stairs, and I later learned that 2 nice guys helped  DH with the tire - Thanks St. Loius!

We get on the interstate and V-E-R-Y slowly make our way 20 miles down the road to Costco, where they fix members' flats for FREE. Unfortunately, there are 7 cars in front of us, and only 2 hours till closing. Fortunately, killing two hours at Costco is NOT hard for us to do. We ate a pizza and looked around, making a few essential purchases (12 lbs of popcorn kernals) and they called us back in an hour and a half:

Sorry, we can't fix your tire. Oh and, seeing as how it's a *wierd* size, we don't have any in stock either.

Alrighty then.  So two hours and no new tire later, we pray, then get back on the road (VERY SLOWLY, of course) and try to make it the 250 miles to Adam's aunt's house. Of course we do, and get to witness a spectacularly spectacular thunder and lightning show on the way. Here's his aunt and uncle's farm (well part of it) - ain't it perty? 

The girls had a blast and right away wanted to ride the 4-wheeler and the tractor - their Uncle was happy to oblige. Zeke loves all things vehicle, but he wasn't too sure of being near all that noise. So he started small -

on the ride-on mower, and worked his way up -

to the 'parts' tractor in the barn. He eventually rode in a tractor (on my lap) and loved the 4-wheeler with Papa  

Whew! For some reason this post has taken me FOR-ever. So - Part II next time!

Posted by Nana

I love reading your blog so much, I should start one of our adventures in Germany! The last time I saw the flood waters that bad in St Louis was 1993. Wow!

Posted by Mariposa

I spend too much time on the board and not enough reading blogs.
I sure hope your tire got fixed faster than i got back over here to read. *blush*

Gorgeous farm, BTW. Can't wait for the next installment.