And so, we're back from SD. Another "adventure in travel", as it were! We left there in the '91 pickup, pulling a trailer loaded with various and sundry--including 80# of buffalo burger and 30# of dry ice in a large cooler! So, 3 hours East and the air conditioning quit working. 3 more hours and we were in a campground near Keith's favorite sporting goods haunt, preparing to spend the nite in a TENT! That actually went well, there was a nearly full moon, the temps dropped to reasonable levels, we met a guy on a motorcycle...the usual. Day 2 was very hot (I kept cool by periodically pouring water over my head), and very long--got all the way to Columbia, MO and spent the nite with friends in their nice, cool house. Had a great visit and headed out this morning on Day 3, with the transmission on the truck making occasional chirps and snarls. All the way thru St. Louis it kept talking to us! In fact, we made it to within 68 miles of homebase, and off the Interstate and into a gas station--where it quit working entirely and smoke began to roll up thru the base of the gear shift! Now, you're thinking that I got on the phone and called "Roadside Assistance"? I did. And "due to an unusually high call volume" was on hold for 20 minutes, in the sun, in an un-airconditioned truck with 2 little dogs--before a tow truck passed by on it's way to nowhere in particular! It had a lovely flatbed to put our pickup on, and a bumper hitch to hook our trailer (still loaded with 80# of frozen meat (we hoped), and AIR CONDITIONING! :) So we're home now, the meat and the last of the dry ice are in the freezer, our 'box on wheels' is cool and our featherbed awaits...
Life is good.
