Stories from the Road

September 7, 2016 by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ Leave a Comment

As we continue on our road trips for the summer, it’s time to share yet another story; of kindness, good people, and a bit of luck…

I was on the second day of my return journey from being in Glen Rose. I’d spend the night in Kansas, like I always do, and had a 10 hour drive ahead of me. It was warm that day, about 100 degrees.
Before I left Texas, like my daddy always does, he checked all my pickup and trailer tire pressures, and looked things over. Dads are good at that kind of stuff!

I was about 4 hours from home, on a pretty quiet stretch of highway when, bang – the front trailer tire on my side exploded. These things happen, they do. I’d had a trucker behind me for at least 60 miles. I turned on my blinker, pulled over, and so did he. Before I knew it he had the trailer tire off, the spare out, and we were just about to put it back on when lo and behold, from out of nowhere, the guy from the local tire shop pulls up.

Crazy, because I didn’t call him. He had actually been down at a homestead changing a tractor tire and noticed the big truck parked on the hill. He figured there must have been something wrong, so swung in! The best thing about him showing up is that he had compressed air on board, which meant he could use the impact driver to put the tire back on and my spare, well it was down about 20lbs of air from what it should have been.

In a few moments time, I was back on my way!

Needless to say, the boys were very glad to be back at the ranch a few hours later. The rolled and ran and kicked up their heels as the raced back to the herd.

Happy Trails!

About ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Jenn Zeller is the creative mind and boss lady behind The South Dakota Cowgirl. She is an aspiring horsewoman, photographer, brilliant social media strategist and lover of all things western.

After a brief career in the investment world to support her horse habit (and satisfy her mother, who told her she had to have a “real” job after graduating college), she finally took the leap and stepped away from a regular income; trading the business suit once and for all for cowgirl boots, a hat, and jeans. She has not looked back.

When Jenn first moved to The DX Ranch on the South Dakota plains, she never imagined she’d find herself behind a camera lens capturing an authentic perspective of ranching, and sharing it with others. Jenn has always been called to artistry, and uses music, writing, images, home improvement, and her first true love of horses to express her ranching passion.

Horses are the constant thread and much of her work centers around using her unique style of writing to share her horsemanship journey with others in publications such as CavvySavvy, the AQHA Ranching Blog, the West River Eagle, the family ranch website, and her own website.

Using photography to illustrate her stories has created other opportunities -- Jenn’s brand “The South Dakota Cowgirl” has grown to the level of social media “Influencer”. This notoriety has led to work with Duluth Trading Company, Budweiser, Wyoming Tourism, Vice, Circle Z Ranch and Art of the Cowgirl, to name a few. She also serves as a brand ambassador for Woodchuck USA, Arenus Equine Health, Triple Crown Feed and Just Strong fitness apparel. Her photography has been featured by Instagram, Apple, TIME Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Oprah Magazine. Jenn’s work has been published internationally, has been seen in several books and has graced the covers of several magazines.

Jenn became a social media influencer by accident when she started to explore Instagram as a way to share her life on the ranch with folks that don’t get to experience it. It’s grown into an incredible platform that she uses to empower women, create an environment for self improvement and share life on the ranch.

When she’s not working, she loves to drink coffee, play with her naughty border collie named Copper, start ranch colts, and run about the country chasing cans. Her mother still thinks she doesn’t have a “real” job.