MARQUETTE – Day 25

Pierre, SD to Custer, WY, 258 warm miles.  We knew we were in for it when the TV predicted record 105 degree temperatures for today, and they were right.  We left earlier than normal to beat the heat, but it eventually caught up with us because we just had to stop at all the great sights.  First stop was at the Minuteman Missile Historic Site.  We wanted to see a silo but they don’t offer tours of the silos.  Did you know there are still 400 Minuteman III missiles on active status? And then the Badlands, actually a very beautiful mix of erosion and grasslands,,,, and the other cars caught us there,,,,Somewhere in the badlands there is a Model A breather cap, (Bill’s),,,,This sign is for our AZ kids,,,,, Us tourists got trapped at,,,,,But that was okay, cause the temperature outside was approaching 100 and we took this splendid opportunity to cool off and have lunch at the famous drug store,,,, Then the temperature started to cause us problems,,, my A was the first to be struck,  just began to buck and starve with vapor lock, so I stopped under an overpass spritzed everything with water and did a wrap job on the fuel system,,,  and that worked until we got on the HILL up to Rushmore and I had to stop and double wrap it.  That did seem to do the trick.  105 degrees and 5000 feet of elevation are just tough, gas wants to boil. Bill did fine until he got on the HILL, and he came to a complete stop,  spritzed everything, put some foil in strategic places, and he’s okay now also. Linda to the rescue with liquids and a new box of foil,,, We finally got to Mount Rushmore, with just a little boiling on that last steep hill and waiting in line at the ticket booth, but compared to the vaporlock, that was minor.  Parked them in the shady parking garage  to cool down and went and enjoyed Rushmore, We hear that the other travelers are going back tonight for the evening show, but we just can’t make that,,,,,

Forecast for tomorrow, 79 degrees, w-a-a-h-o-o….