South Dakota Road Trip

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By Jerry Ziems

Last summer I had occasion to go to Rapid City South Dakota on business traveling across the state on I-90 is somewhat boring and the only thing you see are billboards. A little more than halfway across the state is a little town called Murdo.

Murdo is home to a car museum belonging to a gentleman named Dave Geisler. The museum covers a lot of ground and consists of several large sheds full of old cars, trucks, tractors and equipment. It is worth much more than the admission price of $7.00. I spent a couple hours there and did not see it all. I did, however, spot a red 1955 Thunderbird that had license plates on it from 1972. It looked pretty good except for the convertible top. As I was leaving I talked to Dave about the T-Bird and he said it was for sale for $16,500. He also mentioned that "Murdo in May" was coming up soon.

This is a big celebration that includes a car auction, swap meet and car corral. He said there would be classic cars and old muscle cars for sale including some from his museum. It's a three-day event. Having never been to one of these I was curious to learn about it. It was just a month away. I called and made reservations for two nights at the Super 8 in Chamberlain, a small town right on the Missouri River, just off the interstate.

This motel is up on a hill and affords a very nice and scenic view of the river. It is also a short distance from a neat little cafe, restaurant and souvenir shop. The restaurant makes great buffalo burgers. I spent one day driving up, one day at the auction/swap meet and one-day driving back. There were quite a few collectible cars at the auction and I learned a great deal about how auctions work and how the cars are priced {reserves, etc.}.

For those who might like something like this, the "Murdo in May" collectible car auction, swap meet and car corral are coming up May 20 thru 23. It's about 300 miles up there from Omaha via interstates 29 and 90. Chamberlain is about sixty miles from Murdo. The car museum is well worth the trip. Nebraskalandtbirds.org


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