Sunday, June 17, 2012

Adventures on the Road to Sturgis


For those of you who have been following the blog, you know that this week I'm off to Sturgis, South Dakota to attend the Defense Training International (DTI) Urban Rifle Course, taught by John Farnam. My course starts on Wednesday morning, but I figured I'd share some of my adventures on the drive. So far, it's been a great trip, accompanied by my lovely wife, Laurie.

I'm breaking in two recent purchases on this trip: a Tantal AK74, which I'll be running at the rifle course, and a great condition Chevy Tahoe I just picked up. So far, the Tahoe has been a pleasure to drive, and we'll see how the Tantal holds up in a couple of days.

We left on Saturday morning with a plan to see some sights on the way out. Our first stop was actually an unexpected surprise – our route took us through Darwin, Minnesota – home of the World's Largest Ball of Twine!




Our next stop was De Smet, where Laura Ingalls Wilder (author of the “Little House on the Prairie” books) and her family had settled.  We got to tour two homes owned by the family, as well as a school Laura and Carrie attended.

 
We ended our day in Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the one and only “Corn Palace.” If you haven't been there, you're not missing much. It's essentially a large gift shop.


Dinner was prime rib at Chef Louie's – I'd highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in Mitchell.

The next morning we headed out towards the Badlands, but along the way we kept seeing signs for Pioneer Auto in the town of Murdo. Our original plan was to stop at Wall Drug after the Badlands, but the possibility of a classic car museum was too good to pass up.

Pioneer Auto advertised over 200 cars, and I think we saw them all. Initially we found a well-lit showroom style display, crammed with classic cars and odds-and-ends, in the style of House on the Rock (one of my favorite other roadside attractions, in Spring Green, Wisconsin). Among these was a General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard TV series:


And racer in the style of Richard Petty (I couldn't determine if Petty actually drove it or not, but he had autographed it):


In the next room were a bunch of...well, all sorts of stuff. A giant wooden chicken:


Cases of depression glass, old dolls, old typewriters, some Star Wars figures, and other oddities. Following this was a very large rock collection (which was neat, if you like rocks).

In the next room were some guns, which I know regular readers of this blog will appreciate:


Here's a BAR cutout, oversize for training. I've always wanted one of these, just because they are so neat.  I've seen them pop up for sale from time to time.


Some of the pistols were pretty rare, including this Roth-Styer and a pair of French Pinfire revolvers:

As well as an M1 Carbine training cutout:

I was so into the M1 that I almost missed it was hanging behind a Cord automobile! Those are pretty rare. There were two of these on the grounds, but this one was the nicest.



As we moved on, the quality of the buildings (basically old barns and stables) deteriorated, but the cars did not. Here's a 1930s Chevy – most of the cars you see in this era are Fords:

This was stored with a lot of other seriously old – and potentially valuable – cars in the shed:

The next shed held some interesting cars , including a 1934 Packard owned by cowboy star Tom Mix:

As a non-sequitur, in the same shed we found a bunch of old PCs – nothing historic, but they had clearly been there for a while.


Next was the “muscle car” display. Some very cool stuff in here, including a Plymouth Superbird, one of my all time favorite cars:



The next shed had a bunch of old motorcycles, out in the open. In a glass case, however, was a Harley owned by none other than Elvis Presley!


Then things started getting kind of weird. A wedding chapel was populated with mannequins and didn't look like it had been used for some time:


A horse drawn hearse with a Boot Hill diorama next to it:


A shed full of old steam tractors, some touring cars, and a 70s AMC Pacer:



Another shed held some nice classic cars, as well as a 1970s...Ford Pinto?


I didn't get any pics, but the solar-powered Odyssey Concept Car was in this same row. As the Pinto.

Another shed held a large collection of what I'd call junk, in a display that was more archeology than museum. I theorized that the owner of the museum may have bought out entire estate sales and put everything he got on display.


I really enjoyed Pioneer Auto, but couldn't help having some mixed emotions. I'd ballpark the total value of the collection at three million or more – but most of these cars are just sitting, collecting dust, upholstery and tires rotting, and probably haven't been maintained in years. If I were to wish the fate of these cars, I guess I'd say I wish they were at least getting washed and better protected from the elements. But they don't belong to me, so I have to just appreciate that someone's keeping them around.

Could be worse, right?  They could be in junkyards.

TOMORROW – Badlands and Mount Rushmore.




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