My Corn Palace/Wall Drug story…

by bk , Close enough, Thursday, March 12, 2026, 09:59 (138 days ago) @ Jack

Sophomore year, my two roommates and I decided that for fall break, we’re just going to drive west and see how far we could go. My parents okayed us driving their Chrysler New Yorker and gave me a credit card “just in case.”

The route we decided on took us through South Dakota. A friend of ours was from Mitchell, SD and told us we should stop in and her Mom would feed us. She was going to be in NYC with other ND friends. Everything was going great driving through SD when the car started overheating and shut down. We pull over and one of my one roommates walked to the next exit to call a tow truck. (I don’t recall how long it took him or how long we waited.)

Turns out the closest town was Mitchell, SD. The tow truck takes us there. We don’t know our friend’s phone number or address, but we look in the phone book. Thankfully, there were only three “Murrays.” So we start calling and asking if they had a daughter with the name of our friend. I think it was the first number, but her dad answered, She clearly hadn’t communicated (with him, at least) that we would be passing through, but we explained that we new her, she had told us to look them up, and that our car had broken down and we were in Mitchell, SD. We needed a place to stay. Could we stay with them?

I think he was hesitant, but he came and picked us up. Her parents were very friendly and hospitable. They fed us and let us stay. Her dad knew people at the dealership. It was a blown head gasket that normally would have taken a couple days to repair. At his request, they prioritized it and got us back on the road the next afternoon. While we waited, we toured Mitchell and the Corn Palace. Also, It’s a good thing I had my parents’ credit card to pay for the repair.

We stayed that night out in the open, tossing our sleeping bags on the ground. Pure freedom!

The next day, we stopped at Wall Drug. I wanted to buy some cowboy boots and what else were we going to do anyway. I went to pay for the boots with a check. They said they’d need to see a credit card or some other assurance to accept a personal check. I asked if my parents’ was okay and they said it would be. When I went to get it out of my wallet, I couldn’t find it. They let me buy the boots, but it wasn’t in the car either.

So I called the mechanic in Mitchell. Sure enough. I’d left it there. They had it and agreed to keep it until we came back through on our way back. We made it to the Black Hills, saw Mt. Rushmore, and turned around. Good on their word, the mechanic had the credit card when we swung through Mitchell again.

I think I waited five or six years before telling my parents I left their credit card in Mitchell, SD and didn’t realize until a day (and a couple hundred miles) later that I didn’t have it.