Spud and the Lost Dutchman's Mine
Spud
was performing his nightly ritual of watching 'Mod Squad'
reruns one evening late last year when he saw an infomercial touting a
sure-fire 'Get-Rich-Quick' scheme in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona.
The ad told the tale of a lost mine hidden in the Mountains just outside
of Phoenix that housed countless caches of gold. Intrigued, he sent off
the $19.95 for a copy of the map that would lead him to the treasure.
Once in hand, the intrepid potato left the frigid temperatures of the
Great White North to venture down to the Valley of the Sun to begin his
quest.
Soon after arriving, Spud visited a livery in the old mining town of Goldfield to wrangle up a horse. Before long, he and his trusty steed were deep in the Sonoran desert.
Hour after hour passed as Spud traveled further into the Superstitions. His mind raced with the legend of the mine and the fate of those in its past. The original discoverers were ambushed and killed by Apaches and the Dutchman for whom it is named had taken the secret of it's location to the grave. That is until, Fran Tarkenton and Guthy Renker promotions came across the map to its whereabouts.
Spud
studied his map carefully - although it had handy pictures of footprints
and dashed lines, it was difficult to follow as it wound and twisted back
on itself countless times. Undaunted, Spud pressed on...eager to
discover the gold for himself.
Hours turned into days ... days turned into a week ... then two... Spud became disenchanted with the validity of the map. As much as he wanted to find the lost mine, eventually his supplies ran out and he had to abandon his search.
Feeling disheartened and cheated, Spud made a nasty phone call to Fran Tarkenton complaining about the uselessness of the map he had paid for. Spud explained that the footprints on the map had him going in circles and that there was no sign of gold. When Mr. Tarkenton heard that there were footprints on the map he gasped in shock on the other end of the phone - Guthy Renker had not sent him a Map of the Lost Dutchman's mine; instead, they had sent him the dance steps to Richard Simmon's new "Sweating to the Oldie's" workout video.
More adventures in the Valley of the Sun