June 14 and 15

Wednesday June 14

Mt. Rushmore today. Gary’s driving. Nice to have a view out the back window other than a trailer! Spent most of the day just relaxing, regrouping and reorganizing our messes. Mt. Rushmore program has a lighting ceremony at 9:00 pm every night so we went there late in the afternoon. The monument was impressive – what a sight to see as you’re driving along the highway – around a curve and over a rise and there they are – the four faces that make up the monument. It really was breathtaking. In fact, it was more impressive to me to see them from the highway than seeing them up close in the park. Either way it was an unforgettable evening.

Thursday June 15

Took a side trip north to Deadwood and Sturgis, SD. Sturgis is a nothing little town except for one week each year – then it comes alive with one of the biggest harley rallies in the country! This year it’s in August so when we went through town it was dead. A long drive to find not much of anything. On to Deadwood. Deadwood is an old gold mining town that still has a couple of working mines. Most of the town is replicas of the 1800’s and a tour bus took us through the most historic parts of it.

The cemetery, Mt. Moriah Cemetery, has in it some of the most notorious characters in western history, including Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane.

It was an interesting tour and the guide was very entertaining. Deadwood got its name from all the dead wood on the mountainsides…there was a big problem with beetles which bored through all the pines and killed them, leaving acres and acres of dead pine trees everywhere. Some of the forest was burned to try to get rid of the beetles, but it looks like even today they are eating their way through everything.
Went to a diner for lunch, and I lost $1.00 in the penny slot machine while waiting for the food. Gambling is very legal in South Dakota, and casinos are everywhere – there are even slot machines in the gas stations!

After Deadwood we went back down south toward the campground, and took another ride toward Rushmore, but this time we went to the Crazy Horse memorial. Crazy Horse was a Lakota Indian whose monument represents a tribute to all Native Americans. The visitor center is a national Native American museum. When the monument is finished, it will be larger than Mt. Rushmore. It has been in progress since 1948 and there is no completion date in sight.