We've been in Nebraska (and South Dakota) for a couple weeks attending a wedding, showing off the baby, and generally seeing people, but now we're back in the Treasure State and trying to settle into a more permanent routine.
Our drive to the wedding in South Dakota took us through the Sand Hills oasis of Alliance, home of Carhenge. Given our society's continued ugly slide into the morass of post-modernism, one day Carhenge will likely be a more recognizable Nebraska landmark than its capitol building (which, as I've said before and will say again, is without peer amongst the capitols of the several states).I've always thought the Gremlin (car at top) was an unjustly maligned car. Then again, unlike my uncle, I never drove one.
There is other art at Carhenge, including this sea (sand?) monster with a lower jaw that looks suspiciously like a late Beetle decklid.
The impetus for our trip was Melissa's cousin Patricia's wedding in Lead ("Leed") South Dakota. This rrrrusty '74 we spotted there near our hotel looks as though it's happy to still be someone's dependable ride. That surfboard has to be a lark, as Lead is less than 150miles from the North American pole of inaccessibility.
On the trip up we'd noticed this VW graveyard/shop just North of the Niobrara River on US 385. On the way back we stopped to take a few pictures and ended up talking to the owner for a while.
The full name of the garage is blurred on this photo because I don't want the guy getting in trouble for using the logo of a certain car manufacturer that has, except when it's convenient for nostalgia's sake, completely severed its ties with its rich history.
The owner was really friendly, and, similar to other guys like him I've known, said some kind of bizarre (though completely understandable) things, like that he "hates working on cars". It's a testimony to his skill that he can maintain a business working on these steadily-getting-rarer cars just East of the Middle of Nowhere. His shop was awesome.
This photo was taken during our time in Lincoln: two nice avocado Westies bookending two Splitties. The black one, which is a single cab, is known to me from when we lived in Lincoln actually. In August of 2001 I was borrowing 02McDonald's 1960 VW single cab to move me and Melissa in to an apartment together. During a run, this black single cab pulled up next to me and asked me to pull over. It turned out he was interested in buying the doors. How often do things like that happen to non-ACVW drivers?The baby was a real gem on the trip, taking lengthy car and airplane rides with good nature and aplomb. We hope that she'll do as well in Ludwig.
13 comments:
We hear ya on the whole 'time' thing. With 3 and another one on the way, it can be hard to find any :)
Um - a close up view of the picture of you, Melissa and Esme suggests otherwise (re. your last paragraph). Just a momentary lapse of bliss, I take it?
Hey, I gotta ask - why are you blurring out the plates on the buses in the photos? A few of us at the office have been trying to figure out why people have started doing that...
Sounds like a fun trip. The Dakota's are 2 of the 3 states I have yet to visit. Sure would like to take in the Black Hills.
Claire,
Little E is making a weird face in the family photo, to be sure. However, it was breezy (being Nebraska and all) and she was making faces into the wind.
Melissa
BBD-
You know, I don't know why I do that other than that most everybody else does. I guess some people think that it makes a car easier to steal for some reason. But every time a car gets driven its plate is out there for everyone to see, so I don't get it. Nonetheless, at the risk of ticking off any of those strangers whose cars I often photograph, I do it anyway.
All but three states! Impressive, and, not to be offensive (honest!), especially so for a Californian. When I was a grad student at UCSB, I was amazed at how poorly-traveled my Californian peers and students were. But then again, they were mostly SoCalians and not NorCalians like you, and we know that the two are hella different.
Alright,
whc03grady.
I'm so happy to see your smiling face again, even if it is just on-line!!!
Newborns really do take it out of you - but she sure is cute.
I've been checking your knitting blog - but not this one ---- until now that is. And now I will more often.
Hope all is well.
xoxoxox
~ Suzanne
Suzanne,
Hi! Knitting has definitely taken a back seat to the baby, so thanks for visiting us here! I'll try to post something knitting related sometime in the not too distant future ;)
Melissa
Hey Melissa! The weather is supposed to go to pot next week, but once things warm up again we should get together and take Betty and baby "E" on a walk. Maybe Greenough?
Courtney,
Sounds good to me!
Hey! That's my parents' place!
The crusty, rusty old Beetle with no fenders on is my car :) I'm planning to get that rust fixed this year and put the old beast back together. It's a 1959, which I have owned since I was 16 (in 1993!) - though it was not driveable until the next year.
Wow, holy late comment, Meetzorp! How did you find this anyway?
I know a guy who buys up whole lots of ACVWs like your dad's and I seem to remember him telling me your dad sold him a lot if not all of the stuff in the salvage yard a while back...is it so?
I'm glad that you're gonna get that car going again--keep us updated.
Alright,
whc03grady.
I was googling for a picture of a car that my Dad had worked on, and came across your blog.
And yes, he has sold off a lot of the junkyard and random stuff. He's actually and earnestly trying to retire now. He's just keeping around what he might need to keep his and Mom's cars going, and some choice bits for my old '59.
Hi, I drove by your parents place about a month ago but didn't get a chance to stop by on my way back. I'm looking for a Syncro Vanagon Westfalia. Do you know if he has anything or sale?
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