The OOIDA tour trailer stops in South Dakota for Halloween

October 29, 2021

Chuck Robinson

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On Halloween, the OOIDA tour trailer will be in Summit, S.D.

Marty Ellis and the Spirit of the American Trucker are scheduled to be at the TA Express in Summit, S.D., on Sunday and Monday, Oct. 31-Nov. 1. That is at the junction of I-29 and U.S. 12, Exit 207 from the interstate. There’s parking for 80 tractor-trailers there.

Summit is 130 miles north of Sioux Falls, S.D., and 115 miles south of Fargo, N.D.

The Spirit last visited the Summit TA Express in August 2020.

Halloween on the road

Halloween adds an element of mischief to life on the road. Ellis said he decided to stop driving late on Halloween when he found a pair of bullet holes in his trailer.

“Not sure exactly where and when it happened, but it didn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy,” Ellis said.

Halloween antics often involve smashing pumpkins.

“I have seen a lot of pumpkins dropped off overpasses but never had any actually hit my truck, and only once have I seen them coming falling down as I was coming up to an overpass,” Ellis said.

That happened before he had a cellphone, he said.

There have been recent media accounts of a pumpkin smashing through a passenger car windshield on I-70 in Indiana. A tractor-trailer narrowly missed getting hit that same night.

The incident happened early Sunday morning, reports the Tribune-Star. The pumpkin was thrown from an overpass on I-70 near the Plainfield exit. It landed in the passenger seat of the vehicle. The driver, an Indiana State University student, was uninjured. Just before his vehicle was hit, he reported a semitruck in front of him swerving, apparently to avoid a pumpkin bomb from the overpass.

Stop by when you see The Spirit

If you see OOIDA’s tour trailer, stop by and say hello. Ellis looks forward to visiting about the Association’s activities and current issues. There are copies of Land Line Magazine to pick up there. You can join or renew your membership for $10 off the regular price at The Spirit. Face masks are available at The Spirit for anyone with a commercial driver’s license.

After the stop in Summit, S.D., Ellis is scheduled to take The Spirit to OOIDA headquarters in Grain Valley, Mo., for the fall Board of Directors meeting. After that, Ellis is scheduled to visit the Ingrid R. Brown Petro in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Here is the schedule for The Spirit. LL