The Fourth

Day 4

Mammoth site in Hotsprings, SD. There was a sinkhole there that was created when an underground cave collapsed. The collapse opened up an undergroung hotspring which filled the sinkhole. In the winter the hot water would allow grass to grow near the sinkhole’s edge and every 7 years or so, between 1 and 3 mammoth’s would slip on the wet rocks and not be able to get out. So far they’ve found 56 mammoth’s and they estimate they’re about 1/4th done with the excavation.

Fourth of July celebration… We stopped by the community center for some free food and talked to this biker that told us all about the lawn care business he started. His theory on life is work hard and you will succeed. I’m becoming in disagreement with that as I read books like The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale.

Then we went to the rubber duck race down a river…, which we missed, but saw the prizes awarded. The grand prize was a new Jeep, but the odds of winning it were 1 in 2,250,000. You first had to win the duck race, and then had to have your number picked out of the hat of all the duck entrants. There were 1500 entrants.

After that we drove over to the demolition derby. Everyone in the town and every town within 200 miles was there, 400 people. It was like bumper cars but much manlier. The driver’s attacked in reverse to protect their engines. Then they had the powder puff race where women and girls from the stands could come down and drive some of the cars in a recreational heat. 4 of the 6 car’s in the women’s derby were knocked out from the pre-race parallel parking alone. (Actually, we didn’t stay for the powder puff race, but I can only imagine).

Then we went back to the shifty truck stop and used their free internet and electrical plugs. Kyle and I helped the Indian at the cash register (I use this instead of Native American because they don’t call themselves Native Americans) fix his laptop (PC) because it was running really slow. He needed it for a business where he etches high-resolution images on pendants. He is working now because his engraver broke and he needed to make money to pay for the repairs (expensive).

After his shift, an old Vietnam war veteran, Wayne, came in to take his spot and we talked awhile. He was not at all like John Goodman (Walter) in the Big Lebowski. I asked him how well Apocalypse Now represented Vietnam, and he said he hated the movie and it was a terrible representation of the war. He said “It was bad, but not that bad.” After observing him interact with a young kid trying to buy 4 dollars of gasoline with dimes and nickels, I told him he seemed to be an ideal employee, friendly, great with people, and willing to go the extra step for the customer’s, even if it was against company policy, as long as it made sense. An example of this was he would give truck driver’s free shower’s ($5) if they filled up their 100 gallon tanks there. Makes sense. He claimed that he might appear to be an ideal employee because he wanted to work, and he loved people.

We talked some politics and he let me have a free shower and I went to sleep.

Interesting fact: Gas stations make between 6 and 10 cents per gallon of gas they sell you.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88287340@N00/ (updated some pictures, still working on 'em)