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Detour to Vermillion In August 1995, my husband and I and three of our four children pulled our travel trailer to Colorado to visit relatives. Our van hesitated several times on the way out as we encountered steep grades and hot weather. After spending a week with our Colorado family we started our return trip via Wall Drug and the Badlands in South Dakota. We circled by the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D., and proceeded southeast toward Iowa and the bridges of Madison County. Just north of Vermillion, S.D., the transmission on the van burned out. We called AAA and they sent "the nicest tow truck owner in South Dakota"--a Mr. Ferdig. He pulled our camper to a free campground near the fairground in Vermillion and towed our van to a dealership across the street from the campground. The five of us lived in our camper for more than a week, waiting for the supposedly overnight shipment of a new transmission. We had a wonderful time in this small town, home of the University of South Dakota. We went to the county fair and watched small boys competing in mutton busting, visited museums on the university campus, and toured the whole town on foot, even though the auto dealer offered us the use of a car. Our eastern North Carolina families were concerned about us, but this unplanned extension to our vacation has created some of our fondest memories. Linda H. Robbins Kelly |
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