Jan 21 - Dad, Matt & I drive all the way home

Friday, January 21, 1972
LOCATION: On the Road - South Dakota to Newport Beach, California

2:30 PM 1/21/72 [continued from previous page]

We ate at Lusk, then Matt drove for about an hour -- then I drove (at Dad's suggestion) until 2:30 A.M. Then I woke up Lucifer, and he continued while I slept. At about 4:00 he stopped in a Truck nest, where we all slept for a while.

Matt & I woke up at around 7:30 A.M. -- Dad was driving, and we had just reached Rock Springs. At my suggestion we went on to Little America, Wyo., where we got fuel for the car and us. I drove from there, and Dad got some sleep. At 1:45, I stopped in Levan, Utah (we went through Salt Lake City at noon), got gas, and Dad continued driving. In the morning it snowed slightly, and sprinkled a bit, though the sky's still cloudy, the sun's showing through sort of, and there's no snow on the ground.

We just went over a bridge, with a sign that said Chalk Creek. Right now we're driving through Fillmore, Utah, and Matt (in the front seat) is trying to find a station on the Gradio [nickname for radio, haha]. I hooked up the speaker that's sitting on the back seat with me, so the sound's coming from the left, right next to me. Really fascinating, huh?

(11:30 AM 1/23/72)
Dad drove till about 6:30, then Matt drove while dad got some sleep. At 7:30 I started driving because we were going to go through Las Vegas. Somehow I managed not to get lost and Matt took a lot of pictures of the place as we drove through. I stopped to get gas at around 10:00 and Lucifer resumed driving, while I slept in the back seat (Matt has had the front seat for the whole trip). We got to Matt's house by midnight, and he parked the car there, and we took the Audi home. 

Jan 08 - Lost on the way to Bethlehem, SD

Saturday, January 8, 1972
LOCATION: Rapid City, Spearfish & Bethlehem, South Dakota

Got up at 9:30, walked to a nearby gas station to get the tire fixed, and repaired the spare. Before we left I bought gloves and a gas can. We also got some oil for the car. Matt drove first, then after about half an hour I took over because we were getting closer to Bethlehem, South Dakota. The weather was coldest its been since we started.

I passed the turn off to Bethlehem the first time, and went straight to Spearfish, where I patronized a local phonebooth, checked the phonebook, and called Geri's home. It turned out that she left last Wednesday on a plane to go to Langdon, Utah, for college. Oh well...

Anyway, we reversed our position and headed back for Bethlehem. I took a turnoff which I thought would take us where we wanted to go, and the road got very icy, so we put the chains on with a great deal of difficulty (one of the chains didn't fit one of the tires because one of the tires was the wrong size -- that happened when we changed the flat).

I noted my mistake in turning where I did, and we got back on the highway -- took off the damned chains -- and hunted for the Bethlehem turn off. We eventually found it, went up the treacherous winding road (put the chains back on), drove at 5 miles an hour, and got to the Shrine of the Nativity in Bethlehem, S.D.

Hallelujah!