People that really liked the movie Ford Vs Ferrari, would also like a visit to the Carroll Shelby Heritage Center and Factory in Las Vegas. Historically, factory tours were given twice a day, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic some factory tours have been cancelled and tours are now only given on a limited basis. Unfortunately, on our visit we missed the only factory tour of the day, so we did not have the opportunity to tour the factory. I did, however, take some pictures of the factory through a glass windows.
The term "factory" is a little misleading because the Shelby "factory" does not manufacture any new vehicles, they just upgrade existing vehicles with Shelby-related parts. "Existing" includes new vehicles from the manufacturer, or people may bring their personal vehicle to the "factory" for Shelby-modifications. A list of modification prices may be found on their web site.
The Heritage Center is adjacent to the factory and is open for free self-guided tours during normal working hours. In addition to a display of vehicles, the Heritage Center includes a well-stocked gift shop where a wide variety of Shelby-related items may be purchased. Some of the display vehicles are for sale, but out of my price range. We did the self-guided tour of the Heritage Center, but did not leave a deposit in the gift shop.
BONUS HISTORICAL PICTURE
There was a flock of Canadian geese that had been spending several hours a day on Jensen's big stock dam and then in the evenings they would fly out to the corn fields to eat. Since there was often a wind from the north, the geese would take off into the wind and fly over the dam dike before turning west toward the corn fields.
My brother and his friend gave me a 20-gauge shotgun to use and told me to go sit near a rock pile at the top of a hill on the west side of the dam, while they sat behind the dam dike. Reluctantly I assumed my position at the top of the hill by myself and waited for the geese to fly out for dinner.
While sitting on top of the hill I could see the geese as I listened to them cackling to each other. Then, without warning, the geese suddenly took flight. But for some reason after lifting off of the water, the flock turned and came right toward me at a very low altitude. When the geese were almost on top of me I picked out one goose and fired one shot. Much to my surprise, the goose fell dead just a few feet from where I was sitting. I was ecstatic, but my brother and his friend were not very happy that I was the only one to bag a goose on that trip.
Jensen's dam was located just a short distance from our country school and as we drove home we went by the school and I noticed that our teacher was still in the building. I insisted that we stop so that I could show our teacher my first goose. My brother stopped and I ran into the building with my goose. Our teacher was excited for me and took my picture. Without telling me, she sent the picture to the South Dakota Conservation Digest and they printed the picture in their magazine.
On a future hunting trip to the dam, I volunteered to go sit on the hill by myself because I was certain that it was my lucky spot. After parking the car I walked toward the rock pile at the top of the hill while my brother and his friend went toward the dam dike.
As I approached the rock pile, a badger came our of a hole in the ground and charged directly toward me. I tried to back up but tripped and fell flat on my back. The badger continued its charge and was only a few feet from my foot when I raised the shotgun with one arm and fired at point-blank range. I don't know if the badger had rabies or was just protecting its badger hole, but my shot scared off any geese that were on the pond. I did not ever go back to that spot on future hunting trips.
