August 1946, Four Buddies, a Model A Ford and a trip “out west”. The Badlands of South Dakota were our first realization that we were lucky to be living in Seward County, Nebraska. We bought gas at 6 gallons for $1.00. And, had a tent, camping equipment, ate sandwiches, etc. from local grocery stores and it didn't cost much to “travel”. We toured the “Wind Cave” before it became a major tourist attraction. The Black Hills National Monument was relatively new with some of the old machinery still on site. Somewhere in Montana our battery shorted out and burned nearly a half inch gap through one of the bars connecting the battery cells. There was little or no traffic for help so we used a pair of Vice-Grips to “bridge the gap” and drive some 25 miles to a service station to get a new battery. We thought we were losing power as we got into the mountains and stopped to “adjust the points”. It was when the car started rolling back that we realized we were going up hill. There were probably no more than 15-20 people who pulled their cars up to the base of “Old Faithful” and watched it's eruption. Gas was 25 cents/gallon in the park so we didn't stay long enough to have to buy any. We enjoyed the Tetons, came home through Denver and stopped at Burwell, Nebraska to see the big Rodeo. It was an “eye-opening” trip for 4 farm boys.
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