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Sunday, 06/08/03; Rapid City, South Dakota, Day One
What? Not Again!
The sky had a low overcast and the brisk breeze was a chilly 53 degrees as we departed Murdo, SD on the Interstate. The weatherman promised a sunny day in Rapid City, SD and Spearfish, SD, our destination, on the South Dakota/Wyoming border. We expected to get to Rapid City before noon. That would give us plenty of time to take in Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse before heading out to Deadwood and Spearfish.
The Interstate was littered with signs advertising all sorts of tourist traps. The most ubiquitous among these was that of Wal Drug . Keith had seen these signs when he journeyed this way in 1996. He had not stopped to see what this was all about then, but had read, later, in various highway books about this famous drug store established in 1931. It had grown through the years and now boasted that it provided everything known and needed by man. For mile after mile, the Wal Drug advertising bombarded us. Since it was about time for a refueling stop, Keith, who was in the lead, decided we would see for ourselves what this was all about. When we pulled into the village of Wal, the sun was out and it was only 0930 on Sunday morning (we had gained an hour as we crossed into Mountain Time). Though few of the town’s folks were stirring, there was a smattering of other curious tourists roaming about Wal Drug and the other false fronted stores that lined the main street. The amount of parking space for the Drug Store exceeded the size of the populated area, it seemed. Wal must be a madhouse at high noon on a summer day! We spent about a half-hour wandering the various rooms that comprised the store and concluded that the founder was the one that invented the modern drug store with all of its variety of merchandise. Only the modern drug store hasn’t caught up to Wal Drug where it is possible to have a wedding in its chapel! Joann wanted to take advantage of Wal Drug’s ad for a five-cent cup of coffee, but declined when she found that it was served in a porcelain cup, not a plastic one that she could carry around and look over the store. We finally tired of this diversion and were anxious to be on our way to Mt. Rushmore.
We clicked off the miles and were soon on the outskirts of Rapid City, one of South Dakota’s major cities. We passed by Ellsworth Air Force Base and took the bypass around the city en route to Mt. Rushmore. South of town, the terrain rises sharply into the Black Hills. The four-lane highway was steep in some parts and Keith, who was in the lead, had to shift out of overdrive a couple of times. Climbing one hill, the Smiths heard on the CB, “We have pulled over. We have broken a (unintelligible).” Keith asked Joann, “What did they break?” Joann responded, “Sounded like ‘shock’ to me.” The Smiths turned around at the top of the hill and went back down the road. There, sitting along side the road, was the Olson car. Finally Smiths found a place to turn around on this four-lane road and parked ahead of the Olsons. Only then did they learn that the problem was a broken driveline! Apparently the other end of the splined collar that had sheared in North Carolina had let loose. Dennis had said he had been feeling something unusual in the drive train for the past few days. He didn’t know just what it was and hoped that nothing adverse would happen before we got home. His prayers were not answered!
Dennis got out the MAFCA Membership Roster and started looking up members in the Rapid City area. This is not a populous state and the whole state had only about one page of names. Rapid City had only four! Only one of these had a phone number listed. Dennis called and got an answer; however, the gentleman said although he had three Model A’s, he was ninety-some years old and was afraid he could not be of any help. He gave Dennis the name and number of his son, who also owned and A. Dennis called the son, but only got the answering machine. It was Sunday and shops were closed and people were not home. A call back to the elderly gentleman elicited a couple of other names and numbers. These, too, were called with no results.
What to do? At the top of the hill, where the Smiths turned around was an amusement park, so Dennis and Keith went there to see if they could find anything in the yellow pages. Dennis got a few numbers of shops and antique auto parts places (junk yards!?), plus we scored on one of the names in the MAFCA Roster, which didn’t have a phone number. None of our calls resulted in anything but answering machines – a Sunday syndrome!
When Dennis and Keith got back to the Olson car, a county sheriff’s car was parked behind it, blinkers flashing. The young deputy was extremely kind and helpful to us. He called a tow truck, stayed with us until the tow truck arrived and escorted us to our motel.
Tow truck, cop and Dennis and Joan.
Once settled into the Big Sky motel atop a hill overlooking Rapid City, Dennis ordered a rental car. We had a picnic lunch on a picnic bench on the shady lawn of the motel and then packed into the car for our delayed trip to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. There was nothing more we could do at the time. One problem for Keith was that the motel room didn’t have a phone, so he was unable, again, to connect with the Internet.
It was a lovely day for a visit to the Rushmore area. We snapped pictures and recorded tapes at Rushmore and then drove the twenty-some-miles to Crazy Horse where we took in a video on the history of the project. We strolled through the Native American Museum and took more pictures of this extraordinary monument to the Native Americans.
At Mount Rushmore; at Crazy Horse.
While we were en route back to the motel, Dennis received a call from one of the local Model A owners. This, and a few calls later, resulted in the location of a transmission shop that would accept the car on Monday, plus the name of a machine shop that might be able to make a repair. With this good news, The Four went to dinner and then some meager grocery store shopping before retiring to the motel.
Later, Keith talked to Ron Mosher explaining the predicament and getting his ideas on how to make a repair if the problem is what we think it is. He made suggestions and said he would await our call on the morrow. He would look over his inventory of parts and see if there were things we might need.
That closed our event filled day.
The Stranded Four
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