The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1922-12-08
he First Stop
En-. 3 QUITE.
Amsterdam. NO,

you 9 letter regarding cur trip. I
must say that We have enjoyed every
mile Of 1t 20 far aitho we have IL
most all the mud that we care for
just now. 4, .s;s.t S' si5s
We made good time the first day
as we arrived in Fargo that night q
little after ssix. WeS Also had the
misfortune Of losing all the gas from
tbs tank, caused by the connections
breaGng. The next day we left Far
80 about nine o'clock. The weather
looked lid as there was; a heavy mist
that formed q light fog. That same
morning we had the misfortune Of
breaking the front spring which we
put IN ourselves at Christine, MINI.
Lett Chriatine in rain and made good
AeadWay until about four O'Clock and
II was raining so hard land we were
beginning to get Wet) that we went
to White Rock, S. d. and spent the
remainder Of the day and night there.
It rained all night and until eight
thirty in the morning. We inquired
about the roads south and were in
formed that we would have race
track all day. / must say that fell
low was right, (that is if we had q
truck) the road was gravel one
and surely was fine and we made
good use Of the stretch too, as we
raced withevery thing, even the,
train. It may sound big to say that
no one passed us that day, altho the
Ford had to 60 ,fifty-two miles an
hour. to pass a Hubmobile. That
night we landed in Pipestone, MINI.
g little ways from the Iowa line.
NxyA 1.~ Il
gravel road which we had to Lover
ne. from there we hit some real mud,
had mud off and on from Fargo but
this had it all beat. Had to run on
low in some places. Had very bad
stretch of newly graded road that
was seven miles long. This had to
be made ON low and thought there
would not be enough Of the Ford left
with which to go on.
During the afternoon, we had a
little better road. and could make as
high as twenty miles an hour and
we thought we were going real fast.
At one place we went to close to
the edge of the road and had mar
row escape of rolling down q big
endbanAnent. A truck came by a
little later and pulled us out, which
cost us two bits" as we broke his
rope. Everything went nice the rest
of the day until we sidded into the
ditch again. This time we got q
couple Of fence posts from a neigh
boring farm and pried the old boat
hack to the road again. That night
We reached LeMars, Iowa, fair
isized city about twenty-six miles
from Sioux City.
1t started to rain that night ano
believe me, it was some rain. In the
morning we found it still raining
and we were Bound to make Sioux
City to see good show Saturday
night and spend Sunday there while
the roads were drying up a little.
At LeMars we made q top for the
Ford out Of heavy canvas and started
cut for Sioux City that afternoon.
Got about two miles out of town and
got stuck in the deep ruts that were
filled with water and the running
gear was all that held the car up.
Gee, we surely hated to get out Of
the car then. We have two steamer
trunks, one on each side and no fend-
ers, and both trunks had six to eight
inches of mud on the top. and the
only way to get out Of the car when
the top was up was to put one foot
cut and slide out over the muddy
trunk, 80 as to get the other foot
out. l felt wet and muddy but
Johnny was glad that I had cleaned
q little Of the mud off the trunk be-
fore he came out. Oh, but it surely
was raining, and went to a farmer
for help and he pulled us out for So.
Made good headway on low after
that until the cross-rod that holds
the front wheels broke. We fixed
that some way with barbed wire
from nearby fence. Had good
deep rut filled with water that did
all the steering for US until we got
into town. It only took US a short
time to replace the broken rod and
started out again in the mud and
water. Imagine the kind of q road
it was, they just graded it up last
summer, and you know how rough q
new grade is. We thought it was
good, as we could 70 on high once
in while.
It was just getting dusk about
this time and nearly to Sioux City
and there was nice cement road
ten miles out from the city. We
finally could see that nice white cenn-
ent in the distance and it surely
tickted us: By this time we were
going on high and all Of sudden
the car stopped and we got shower
Of water from the rear wheels. Well,
here we were, stuck only about three
hundred yards from a nice cement
road. We got out again over a muddy
trunk and found out that not one Of
the wheels were touching the bottom
Of the ruts. We could turn every
wheel with our hands. It was too
far to the next farm house so we
lacked the car up with a two-by-six
and slid it to the side of the road.
This only took US little over two
hours and once ! in q while we
wouldn't notice where we were step
ping and 20 down in a water hole
that was knee deep. Were we wet
and muddy? No, No. lust soaked
that's all. We got to Sioux City al
right that night but not early enough
TO take In a good show.
We spent all day Sunday taking
IN shows and got an early start out