But a block away beckons Kay's Kreations, a whimsical menagerie/shrine/collection of ornamental concrete. Co-owner Boyd Reimnitz, who's not only an artist but also the town's quite unofficial historian, gave us the lowdown on Mitchell's Main Street. Diagonally across the street from his business is a flat-topped brick building with tile accents that back in the early 1900s housed a Chevrolet dealership. The building is equipped with an elevator, which hoisted the new models from Detroit to the roof, where they were displayed.

He also gave us some insight into the South Dakota justice system. Seems a young lad from Sioux Falls recently was busted for the second time for disturbing the peace with his rock music. His first-offense fine had been $50, but the judge decided that was far too light a sentence. This time the boy had to pay $100, perform 40 hours of community service and sit in his car in the police parking lot for four hours and listen to polka music.

Boyd is a philosopher, too. "There's no second chance with concrete," he figured. He also left Mom with a lovely thought. "When I die," he quoted another modern thinker, "I want to go peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather did -- not screaming like the passengers in his car."

Amazingly, Mom got back into the passenger's seat of the Camaro. Well, why not? Ahead of us we had free ice water at Wall Drug, a peek at Mount Rushmore (where we saw granite carvings of John Force, Kenny Bernstein, Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney), a stop in the appropriate-for-us Rapid City and a heavy-duty photo op at the Harley Davidson store in Sturgis, S.D.

Mom mentioned how quaint are the churches in Sturgis. I thought only of how busy they must be, praying, when the bikers invade the town by the thousands as the highlight of their annual pilgrimage.

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