Today was a long day of traveling, about 500 miles. And we lost an hour changing time zones again. We didn't stop and see anything new today. Rather we took a trip down memory lane. In 1995 Jim and I both made separate trips to the Black Hills. Mine was the one we relived. While eating lunch at a rest stop in South Dakota, I said, "I think this is the rest stop the boys and I pulled into when we had car trouble coming home" and sure enough it was. When starting back home with my oldsmobile and fold down camper the water pump went bad. We pulled into this rest area. I remember calling Carl VanDerKamp at the Coop Station in Prairie City from my bag (cell) phone in the car. What do I do? Turn the heater on, it will help cool the engine and try to limp to the next town. So down the road we started. We didn't make it to the next town which was Wall. Sitting along the side of the road, I just remember a car stopping to help. It was some family heading to Ohio for a religious meeting (I had never heard of their group). They offered to take me to the next exit to get something to pour into something (that's been 14 years of memory which elapses me) the problem was they only had room for one person. I'll never forget, I had to make the decision to leave my children on the side of the road. I probably lectured them to stay in the locked car and not open the windows for anyone. We went less than 10 miles got something and headed back to the car. My heart was beating wildly praying the boys would still be there. They were. I always said, God watches out for women and children. The boys would have been 12 and 14. We poured the liquid into the car and limped to Wall. A gas station right off the exit told me where to go in town to find a mechanic. He said he would work on it the next day. Luckily there was a camp ground just a few blocks away. We went and unhooked and drove the car back to the shop. That night we walked around Wall Drug. I remember making spaghetti that night in the camper. Funny what a person remembers. David? Do you remember any of this? The lady that owned the campground was a widow and she was worried I wouldn't have enough money to make it home and wanted to give me money, but I assured her I had a credit card and would be fine. So today, while we didn't go to Wall Drug I drove right to the mechanic's shop and the campground. They're both still there.
Tonight we are in Mitchell, SD, the Corn Palace town. I also remembered the campground along the Interstate at Mitchell the boys and I stayed at. On that trip we had a cassette tape to listen to while driving through SD we had picked up at a Rest Area when first entering SD. When we returned home, I told Jim and Barb about the cassette tape because they were leaving the next week for the Black Hills. They also listened to the tape while driving across SD. But they didn't have car trouble. Lucky them.
No pictures were taken today, just the memories in our minds. But I've included pictures of Old Faithful, and the canyon at yellowstone and an archway in Jackson Hole made entirely of antlers.
Tomorrow we will finally make it to Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in DeSmet (stop laughing and making fun of us) and then home.
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