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| Terrance A.Haag (Mrbus) (205.188.208.39)
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0400 on a clear cool Minnesota morning, and we are underway, need the early start to assure that we will be long clear of Minneapolis before the morning rush starts. We will be heading down 1 35 to Albert Lea MN., where we will turn west on 1 90. It would be a few miles shorter to cut across country toward southwestern MN., but time wise it is still a little quicker on the big road. It has been quite a while since my brother drove anything as big as the bus, so the Interstate is a good place for me to bring him back up to date, and a safer place to get reacquainted with the bus. I have driven very few vehicles that handle and ride any better than this Eagle, so that is not much of a problem for him, but it still has a clutch and one of those big sticks that you have to wiggle ever so often, and that does require a little refresher course. On the original trip (1947) we traveled across So.Dakota on Hwy.12 and 212, but we are not necessarily into an exact duplication of the original, or we would not be setting out here at 70 MPH, and just a "grinnin" as the miles roll by. We have not charted a destination for today, just let it fall as it may, but with both of us as drivers, we may just go a long way. We stopped for breakfast at Worthington MN. we have an old friend there who joined us. All the talk in the local cafe had to do with the shipments of native stone from Pipestone MN. to Washington D.C.. Pipestone has always been a sacred place to the native people, this is where they have always mined the soft red rock used in making their pipes. Some of this stone is going to the Smithsonian's new American Indian Center in Washington D.C., along with the harder granite to be used for the floor of the center. The taking of this stone is limited to the native people, but they have several celebrations each year that are open to the public. Said good by to our friend and his wife, and crossed into the great state of So.Dakota. There is a truck scale/port of entry right at the state line, and for a very short time last year, it was posted with signs that instructed all RVs and Busses to stop at the scales for inspection. It only took a few well placed phone calls to get the state campground owners alerted and up in arms about this, and they started calling all the elected representatives, asking why this was being done. Like any good squeaky wheel, it got noticed and within a week the signs saying RV, were painted over. HooRay for our side. Anyone traveling Interstate 90 across this area should at least get off at Mitchell and if nothing else ,just drive past the Corn Palace, which is a convention center type hall, that is completely covered with murals all made of native grains. They are quite intricate and very artistic, there are more inside if you have the time. It is redone each spring and early summer, and then serves as the worlds biggest bird feeder all winter. Great little ice cream store just across the street.  We cross the Missouri river at Chamberlain, and my brother tells me it is time for me to drive, so we stop at Al's Oasis for pie. I am starting to sound like a food editor, oh well, everyone loves pie. The Eagle is running great, the weather is cooperating,but the temps. are really climbing, forecast to be over 100 degrees today. We are eating up the miles at about ten times what we did on the 1947 trip. There must have been quite a sale on old semi trailers, because they are spaced about a mile apart with big sign boards advertising every possible road side attraction from "Elvis's" car at Murdo, to hundreds of Black Hills tourists traps, and one can not possibly miss out on Wall. Wall was a six building town when cars first started crossing the great plains in the early twenties, and to lure folks into stopping, the local drug store owner put up signs advertising "Free Ice Water". It worked, and today it has become a hugh tourists attraction with countless shops all selling the things that tourists just can't live without. You can't argue with a successful ad campaign, and it drags millions of dollars in off the road every year. I recall seeing signs in Korea that read "Wall Drug 13,500 miles". We choose not to stop on this trip. The radio station is stating 104 degrees in Wall, with a road temp. near 130. So far the old 8V71 is maintaining her cool. It is relativly comfortable up front, we have the roof airs going with a fan on the floor about midship, blowing toward the front, inside temps read 78, and the OAT (outside air temp) is 102. We are eating up the miles so well, that we have decided to go to Sturgis today. We are staying in a good friends yard about halfway between Rapid City and Sturgis, we just called him on the cell phone because he was not expecting us until tomorrow. The country has changed considerably since we crossed the Missouri River back at Chamberlain, it went from very flat to quite hilly, then to the "Badlands" just before we reached Wall, and you can see a lot of the Badlands Park just to the south of the interstate. For anyone who has not traveled this route before, it is worth the time to take the loop through the badlands park, you learn very quickly how they got their name. The black hills fill the skyline to the west, and they truly do look black. The dark coloration is due to the fact that the Ponderosa Pine needles do not reflect the sun's light, creating a constant shadow effect. Probably more than you really wanted to know. Just passed the Air Force base, and Rapid City is spread out in front of us, but we are continuing through to our friends place, and that will be enough for this first long day. We did not see another converted coach today ,but saw one real nice schoolie back in Chamberlain, they had the back of the bus converted to a motorcycle hauler, and when the bikes were removed, there were fold down bunks, a very nice example of building for what you want to do with it. Arrived at Bob's at 1730 Mountain daylight time, we left home at 0400 Central daylight time for a first day total of 12.5 hours, total mileage of 631. Not exactly the kind of trip you were expecting from two old guys, but we will not be nearly as aggressive for the next few days. What a peaceful place, we are plugged into here at Bob's, and with the exception of the birds, and a few cows off in the distance it is very quiet. We were going to unhook the Rabbit, but Bob and his wife insist on being our tour guides today, so we are taking advantage of their hospitality (plus there is no AC in the VW). I am not going to do a step by step article of our tourists travels, I may hit some of the high lights this evening when we return. 1800 hrs. For anyone who has not been to MtRushmore for a few years, be prepared for a shock! The mountain is the same, but they have screwed up the rest of the area so badly that it resembles another tourist trap rather than a monumental work of sculpture art. It used to be such a peaceful, serene place, but now it has parking ramps,& tourist type gift shops, YUK! Nuf said about that. Crazy Horse is definitely taking shape, it will be an awesome carving when finished. The needles highway and the pigtail are still beautiful and you get a great framed view of Mt.Rushmore through one of the tunnels. We have been trout fishing today on three little streams, where the brown and the brookies roam free, and seldom is heard a discouraging word, OOPS, got carried away there, but a very descriptive definition. No trophy winners, but enough for a great shore lunch for four people. Trout fishing is one of my loves, because trout only life in beautiful places. We saw a fabulous Prevost conversion as we came back through Deadwood, it were parked in front of Kevin Kostners place, Very pretty, high buck coach. With the approval of gambling in Deadwood, the quaint little western town has become just another gambling Mecca, see one, seen them all. Another western treasure lost forever. I brought a letter that our Mother wrote home when we were here in 1947,1 will include some exerts from her writing. August 7th.l947 Dear Cecil and Clarence, It is so beautiful here in the hills, I now realize why you always talked so much about the area. I do wish you could be here with us, but I know you have to take care of your families as well as the business or we would not be able to take so much time away to play.Hee Hee. Your Dad and I rented an aeroplane from a gentleman in Hill City today and spent three hours really looking over the area. Dad says it flys just like a brick, but he has been smiling all day. The weather is interesting to observe, as the heated air from the plains of Wyoming strikes the hills it generates some very powerful thermals that lifted us several hundred feet at a time. We were very careful to stay out of the downdrafts on the east side where there were a lot of thunder storms. The storms and rain showers are very short lived, but look very dangerous. Yesterday we visited the little town of Sturgis, where a reunion of sorts was taking place. There must have been at least 35 or 40 motor bikes there. I though it was noisy when you boys get together with just four of them, but this just seemed like continuous thunder. Everyone insisted that we go with them to the edge of town where they were trying to climb a very steep hill with their motor bikes. No one made it to the top, and some of them flipped over and tumbled all the way down the hill, I was very glad that none of you were participating, but I am sure that after seeing this, it will be tried at home. I think that Catherine got a bigger thrill out of it than the boys did. We are leaving tomorrow for Devils Tower Wyoming. I will write more later in the week. Love to all Mom. We have all spent a considerable amount of time in the Black Hills, and especially in Sturgis. Over the years I have attended 21 of the Rallies, the last time was 1992. Everyone is getting ready for the crowd, but it is time for us to move on out of here. Took a while to say good by to Bob, but we are underway at 0800, and what a lovely day it is. Sunny and clear, 84 degrees F. no humidity and a soft NW wind at about 6 kts.,however forecast are for a return to the 100 degree temps. The old Eagle is rested and wanting to run, so we just give her, her head and sit back and let her roll.(cruise control helps a little bit too ) Eastern Wyoming is full of prong horns, and jackalopes, we have seen a lot of the prong horns, but the Jacks are being pretty elusive this morning. We have both been to Devils Tower enough that it would have been an easy decision to bypass it today, but remembering back to the original trip we made the turn and went to the tower. We are planning for lunch in Buffalo. We have changed our lunch plans to Ten Sleep due to a large crowd in and around Buffalo, we left 1 90 onto US 16 and every restaurant lot was packed, no room for a 40 ft. coach and a toad. It is only 65 miles to Ten Sleep. The Powder River Pass makes the old 8V71 strain a little, but second gear is a great gear for sight seeing, and is also a good time to watch all the gauges do their thing. With the OAT (outside air temp) at 97, the water temp at 195, Pyrometer at 900, oil pressure at 50, oil temp reading 210, and the transmission and drive axle both about 180 degrees and holding, developing a little black smoke, but by feathering the throttle it is minor. All in all a pretty good picture., and the first really hard pull of the trip. Over the top,(9,666 ft above sea level) still in second and Mr. Jacob's great invention working perfectly, the down hill ride is uneventful. There has been much discussion on the board about running the mountains without a Jake brake, and if one sticks to the Inter-states, and with a little common sense, it can be done very safely.However there are several passes off the Interstate that just would not be a good choice for an inexperienced driver without a Jake Brake, and this is definitely one of them. There are 34 miles of downhill with 7 and 8 percent grades interlaced with 20 MPH turns, that leave no room for error, but it is a beautiful area. We found a perfect parking place for lunch at Dirty Sally's in Ten Sleep Wyo. We have just pulled into Hawkins and Powers Aviation in Greybull WY., what a great place this is. Even if you have no interest in aircraft, just your bus conversion love will make you admire the great work they do here. This is a complete flight facility, from training to repair to modification, you name it, they do it. They are world famous for their conversion of transport category aircraft into water bombers for the fire fighters. One of my favorites is their Jet pod addition to the old flying boxcar like I drove for the USMC, we called it an R 4 Q, (airforce C119),there were some other more descriptive names for the old gal but that was a long time ago. They have added a J 33 jet engine in a pod on top of the wing, between the tail booms for additional thrust to get the heavy water loads off the ground. Strange as it may seem, when all busnuts are trying to shoe horn a much bigger engine into their present ride, when they converted the R 4 Q, they removed the 36 cylinder P&W 4360s and replaced them with P&W 18 cylinder 3350s. Much more to do with availability and dependability than anything else. We had some of our spray & dusting conversions done by them, a nice bunch of people and an interesting way to spend a couple of hours. We decided to spend the night in Cody. All camping spots in side the park area of Yellowstone where we want to stay are on a first come basis, so we will get out of here early in the morning and try for a spot at Fishing Bridge. This being Friday, there will probably be quite a rush in the morning, but we will just see how it plays out. If it does not work, we will just drop south toward the Tetons and stay there. My brother went to tour the Buffalo Bill Museum, I decided to sit here under the awning and play with my laptop like some old nerd, but I do have to keep up with my Email. One of my grandsons sure wishes he was with us, and in retrospect maybe we should have included them in this family tradition, but that is hind sight and can not be remedied now. The East gate to Yellowstone was not nearly as crowded as we anticipated, only sat in line for about 15 minutes. We secured a great parking spot here at Fishing Bridge, have everything hooked up, the VW unhooked, and we are off to see the great park. I am surprised and thankful that the anticipated crowds have not materialized, there are a lot of people here, but nothing like what we have experienced in the last twenty years or so, it is quite pleasant Yellowstone has never been one of my favorite parks, it is definitely beautiful and the water falls are awesome, but I have always felt a little bit dis-associated with it. Not sure just why this is so, but it has always felt the same way to me. My Mother on the other hand thought it was spectacular. Bits from her letter home. August 14,1947 Dear Cecil & Clarence, It was great to hear your voices on the phone last week, and the news about the auto, dealership was exciting news. After hearing that we would be the area dealer, we went to visit with a new dealer in Rapid City, he will be joining your Dad and I at the meeting in Michigan next month. It is gratifying to know that all our preparation is paying off. We left the black hills, and made a stop at Devils Tower in Wyoming, what a very strange sight, to see that hugh black rock formation jutting up out of the prairie. I especially like the story about the Indian maidens being saved by it. We spent a night in the little town of Buffalo WY., camped in the city park. There is a nice little stream running through the park, but the water is too cold to even wade for very long. We attended the local Rodeo that night, and all the locals treated us like their special guests. I am still not real sure that I like Rodeo, but Gus really likes the cowgirls. As you knew we would, we met with Mr.Hawkins about modifying some of our spray and dust hoppers. He has a new design that is really an improvement, but the biggest thing is a new prop design that adds a tremendous increase in heavy load performance. The new props are quite expensive, but Dad, Gus & Bob spent a couple of hours flying one and they say it is like adding another 200 hp, even at this elevation, and with a tank full of water they loved it. We have contracted to have two done this fall, and Gus & Bob have volunteered to bring them out here and help with the conversion, they will need their longjohns for that trip. Yellowstone is the most breath taking place that I have ever encountered, I will have to do an entire letter just on this fantastic place. Take real good care of each other, Love Mom. The dealership that Mom was speaking about was a Kaiser/Frazer/Henry J franchise that we operated until 1954 when Kaiser discontinued production in the USA. It then became Chevrolet/Pontiac & Oldsmobile which remained until this past month when it was sold to a big conglomerate dealer. Mom's letter describing her love affair with Yellowstone has been misplaced over the years, but needless to say she was infatuated with the grandeur of the park. Today we are leaving the bus and going to visit a fishing camp in the Tetons for a couple of days -will catch up when we return. We have just spent three days is some of the most beautiful scenic areas of this world, and the fishing was good too. Even though our little side trip to the Tetons was not part of the 1947 trip, we were entirely too close to miss the chance to fish there for a couple of days. One little drawback to the whole picture has to do with the rising temperatures, even here in the high country. Since my original cancer was located in the back of my tongue and has caused considerable breathing problems. I have a Trachea, and it is somewhat restricted as to the amount of air that it passes. With the high altitude, and now the rising temperatures, I found it necessary to find supplemental oxygen. A great example of "Density Altitude". The long range forecast is for the continuation of high temps,along with several fires, so we are considering modifying our basic trip plan and heading back toward the more sea level friendly breathing altitudes. Sometimes the best made plans must be altered, and today that is what is happening. My son and grandson have arrived here in Bozeman via NW Air Lines, they will take our bus back home, meanwhile, my brother and I are flying home. It definitely is not the way we wanted the trip to go, but it has been a great ride down memory lane. After a week at lower altitude, and much time spent close to the A/C, my breathing has returned to what is normal for me, and the good Oncologists tells me that there was no spread of the cancer while I was traveling. I take that to mean that bus travel controls the growth of cancer, it will make a great new headline. In order to continue dealing with the cancer control, my wife and I are leaving tomorrow to go fishing in northern Minnesota for a couple of weeks, who knows, I may be completely cured by the time we return. If not, I will be adding more great traveling memories to the archives of my mind. T.A."Gus" Haag | ||
| DrEd (67.201.149.194) Rating: N/A |
This is a great posting Gus, I enjoyed sharing your trip and memories, thanks for taking the time to share them with us. Thanks. DrEd. | ||
| Steven Gibbs (12.148.43.7)
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Awesome, for awhile I not only felt like I was along with you in the Eagle, but also transported back to the 40's. Steve G. | ||
| Peter Broadribb (Madbrit) (65.37.89.213)
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Gus, Thanks so much for the wonderful trip down your Memory Lane. I too felt I was there with you. The letters from your Mom were especially interesting too. Hoping you are feeling better soon and can resume your trip in more favorable weather. And you are welcome to add your travelling memories to my mind anytime. Thanks for the road trip. Peter. | ||
| Mike SS (198.81.26.104)
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Thanks Gus, the boss came in and said how come it is so quiet in here? Back to work! Mike SS | ||
| Dave Wheat (24.197.182.248)
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Gus: Great post. I'm driving the sisters to MN Coaches 9702 & 8902. I understand from the Krois boys and dad those were your coaches to drive. :-) Hope to meet you someday and/or see you on the road. Our best to you. Dave Wheat Duluth, MN | ||
| Jim Wilke (12.46.52.74) Rating: N/A |
Hi Gus, Thanks for the post. I greatly enjoyed both the present and the past parts. Thanks for sharing it. Please take more trips & write more! PS: Could be something to the theraputic value of bus trips. My wife's alergies go away when we are off in the bus somewhere. Jim-Bob |