Jimmy Day or The Plan 8)

The plan was that today would be a Jimmy Day because he was sad that he had chosen not to attend the Threshing Bee, and to hang out (he slept) in the box yesterday instead of walking around town with me. I wanted to cheer the little guy up so planned a Jimmy Day in Aberdeen at Wiley Park which is a kids theme park.

He was all excited to be able to have his picture taken with such greats as Snow White, The Tin Man, Dorothy, and ride the train. In fact he was so excited I could barely get him to sit down as you can see here.

See, stiff as a board. What you cant see is how he was shaking with excitement. He could hardly contain himself.

So we went to breakfast and the D&M Cafe (the only game in town)

I ordered Biscuits and gravy which are very good and he had the same but was so anxious to get going he couldn't eat. So a few cups of coffee later, a few bathroom breaks, and some unofficial advertising for the cafe.

Thats Shawna (Jimmys newest fan) doing a little gratutitous advertising for the millions of viewers that see Jimmys blog and travel through Leola South Dakota.

After a hardy breakfast we headed for Aberdeen and Wiley Park. Jimmy woudn't quit smiling I thought his face would freezelike that. In fact I told him if he didnt stop he'd turn into a plaster statue but he couldn't. I thought if I got his mind off Wiley Park for a bit he could calm down, I mean, I was worried. I hadn't seen him this excited since we were at the ocean in Oregon.

I pulled over and Jimmy looked at me with this curious look in his eyes (the smile was still there) and I said ok little dude hop over here and drive. Wow, I didn't think that smile could get any bigger. I actually had to look at the back of his head to see if the edges of his mouth met back there. As you know Jimmy is a tad short so I had to do the pedals.

We were cruising along about 60 mph and the ol Jeep was purring along like it should when a whine developed, then before you could say seethatrabbitjumpingovertheroadbeforeithittheholeandbumpedthatrok twice BANG, GRIND,BANG,Bang and the Jeep lurched to a stop and the engine died. I restarted it and tried to move it but it was jammed up in 5th gear. The transmission had blown.

Well, I had gotten Jimmy's smile to taper off a bit in fact it was a huge frown the edges of his mouth almost touching his little elf shoes and quivering as he tried to be a big elf and not cry.

I said Whoa buddy you dont have to cry in fact you dont even have to be sad. We'll get to Wiley Park or just make another Jimmy Day dont worry about it. He let me know the tears weren;t for Wiley Park or even Jimmy Day they were for the Jeep and me. (he's such a caring and loving friend.) He feels responsible for breaking my Jeep.

I told him, no way Dude, stuff happens and at least it happened on a road, we have Schaffer to come get us and tow us back to the box. No worries Little Elfdude we got it covered. Wanna climb under the Jeep and see what broke. Well, there's that smile again so we climbed under the Jeep to see oil everywhere and proceeded to remove the driveshaft for the tow back.

Jimmy was now excited because I said he could steer the Jeep while it was being towed back. (its on a tow bar so safe for him to steer) So, now Jimmy is sleeping because all the excitement just tuckered him out, the Jeep is behind the big box waiting to be reconnected and we'll find a new tranny or rebuild this one soon as we can. A nice quite ending to a very exciting day.

Now that Jimmy is sleeping I can tell a bit about yesterday. It was a day of walking around and meeting (putting faces to voices) of people I've talked to over the years by phone in one way or another relating to the house I owned here in Leola.

The car belongs to the new owner. I purchased the house in 200 for $7,000.

I went to breakfast at the D&M, had coffee. There was a group of 6 guys there for morning coffee as well as a group of 4 women. They included me in thier refill routine and each one made it a point to stop and say have a nice day on thier way out. See why I like small towns.

I asked the waitress/owner of the cafe if there was a laundrymat in town and she said no but if I brought it by before 2 when she got off shed take it home and do it and have it ready in the morning. (she'd not seen/met me before this morning).See why I like small towns

Then she added if I preferred to do it myself I could go over to Swine Robotics and ask for Donnie who manged the Old Bank Building Lodge and maybe they'd let me use the coin operated ones reserved for guests. I did and he said not a problem. See why I like small towns

He then showed me through the factory and how the robots worked and the why and hows or what they did. We were talking and I mentioned that I had come to visit but also was interested in buying the local hotel called the Kozy Inn in which they had just purchased. So he offerred to let me purchase it from them. See why I like small towns

There is one cop who works as the city maintenace guy and takes calls while working. He asked me if I was the guy about 8 or 9 years ago with the flying boat out on the lake. I said yep I had a hovercraft out there. He said I remember that, it was pretty cool. See why I like small towns.

I went into the store and was again asked if I was the guy with the air boat, I said Hovercraft and she said you have to come in the back and tell my husband you gave us a ride on that thing. See why I like small towns.

The courthouse was next. It has amazing architectural work inside with a stained glass dome.

I met the treasurer whos husband use to rent the house then I sold it to them when they got married. She took me in to meet the Judge who was happy to meet someone from Alaska. See why ,,,,, 8)

The whole day was this way, everyone waves as they drive by, says hello as the walk by, and asks how your doing if you hesitate a min. I drove about 5 miles out of town on a dirt road and stopped to take a picture. Two trucks stopped to ask if I was ok in that short time. See why ,,,,

I went to the station to ask about fixing the exhaust leak on the RV. before I finished the guy says oh, there he goes to fix it. I said what? He said he's already headed over to where your parked to fix it. (I hadnt even said where i was parked LOL) I drove over there and he was under the RV working on it. See why I like ,,,, LOL

Yes, I do like Leola but am looking forward to heading for Mt. Rushmore later, then illinois. Oh yeah, I was offered a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house on 3 lots with an attached 2 car garage for $12,000. Came really close to blurting out ok. LOL