Well ... we should be home by now but that's not the case. At around 1:30am last night we came across a pulled over big rig but little did we know why he was pulled over. Turned out one of his tires exploded all over the interstate and no flares or pylons were put in the road to indicate it. We tried to avoid the pieces but there was too much and we managed to get a flat tire. So in the middle of the night, pitch black, big rigs screaming down the interstate, a squall line with rain and lightning headed our way, we frantically tried to change the tire. Thank goodness we brought emergency car kits (I recommend you ALWAYS have one). We had reflective pylons and flashlights. While the men changed the tire to the spare (which unfortunately was just a donut and not an actual tire), we made sure cars and trucks moved over a lane so as not o endanger us. The flashlights were useful in signalling the vehicles to move over and they did. We were about half hour outside of Des Moines so I guess it could have been worse. We managed to get the tire on before any rain or lightning got to us. 

Our only option was to make our way slowly to Des Moines (can't go too fast on a spare tire), spend the night and wait til morning for a tire place to be open. We got in the car and slowly started heading for Des Moines when we're forced to slam on our brakes AGAIN. Two stray dogs were making there way down the interstate lanes. We avoided them, thank goodness. Ok so continuing our trek again. We finally get to Des Moines and spend the night. This morning we head to Walmart but they don't have the size we need. At least there were a few more close by tire places and we managed to get to a Sears Auto. The tire was not repairable so we had to buy a new one. 

Awaiting repairs we're currently sitting in a library in Des Moines. As soon as everything is done we'll be heading home. We probably won't make it in until early Wednesday morning if we're lucky. What did we learn? If you see a big rig pulled over be aware of tire debris! Also, ALWAYS have an emergency kit in your car!