Pocahontas, Jolley, Rockwell City, and Fort Dodge, Iowa
August 11, 2006
On the way to Pocahontas, Howard was driving and the inside mirror jiggled loose and fell in my lap. Before we left there I got out the tools, fixed the mirror and tightened the water pump pack nut.
While I did that, Howard walked to nearby stores looking for those insulated "things" used on pop cans. He could not find one for sale but the Ford dealer gave him one with their ad on it.
In Pocahontas we visited Joe Zeman who has a large collection of gas station memorabilia.
Joe builds street rods from "ditch cars" that restorers would not consider salvageable.
We also took pictures of Pocahontas herself who has stood at the edge of town since 1953 to greet visitors.
We stopped in Jolley, Iowa next to visit Brian Betten, another A friend. We couldn't reach Brian by phone so we continued to Rockwell City.
For some reason Sleeping Beauty took a fit of foaming at the radiator cap on the way there. The windshield was so foamed up I had trouble seeing to drive.
At Rockwell City we decided something must be done about the problem. The car was not overheating or losing significant amounts of water so all we needed was a tighter cap.
Out came Howard's new insulator and a Swiss army knife to make a new gasket for the cap. We ran the next 25 miles into Fort Dodge with nary a slobber on the windshield!
While we were "on the side" making a gasket, an old timer stopped to offer his help. He said he restored tractors and had gasket material and a gasket cutter "out at the place."
I would have loved to go out to his place and visit a bit but once again the timing was not right. It was getting late and we needed to make Fort Dodge, Iowa by dark.
Just before we got to Fort Dodge I made an abrupt turn onto a side road. When Howard asked why I told him "I'm going back to check out that Model A you missed."
It turned out to be a late 20's Whippet that someone was trying to make a "rat rod" out of. No one was around so we snapped a picture and moved on.
It's a small world story:
Right across from our motel tonight is a huge, fancy, new office building with a single name in large letters: Decker.
About 12 years ago I sold a rebuilt engine to a Mr. Decker that owned a trucking business in Fort Dodge. He was having his shop man install the engine in his pickup. Yep, same Decker trucking but not at all what I expected.
Decker Trucking is a huge complex stretching a half-mile along the highway. Mr. Decker is well known in the area and his charitable contributions include a one million dollar donation to the local school district last year. The Decker office was closed for the weekend, otherwise I would have been tempted to stop by and say hello.
Tomorrow it is south on US 169 then over to Jefferson, Iowa to check out a Lincoln Highway Museum. I'll bet Hugh and Loukie stopped there.
Our goal for tomorrow is to visit the metal fab shop of Gil Knudsen and son in Des Moines Iowa. I think Brent Terry has attended metal forming workshops with Gil in Robinson, Illinois.
We had a hard time getting away from the parking lot tonight. We had a crowd in the parking lot that had us telling our story over and over. We are loving every minute of it!
August 11, 2006
