Road Trip - Day 5 - Tuesday

We both woke up around 6 again this morning but I managed to doze most
of the time until 8. Deb on the other hand didn't and only ended up with
about 6 hours sleep. At least the shower was hot and helped revitalize
us a bit.
We hit the road about 9 wth the intention of driving directly to Mt.
Rushmore. I should note that the landscape finally changed from flat
grazing land as we crossed the Missouri (for the 3rd time!) and the
landscape became rolling hills with short little hills. It soon pretty
much flattened out again. About 160 miles into the trip we noticed a
sign for the Badlands Loop, and decided we'd like to see the Badlands.
Boy am I glad we did! Amazing mountains of soft stone that's constantly
eroding and changing with each rainfall. Besides that, the Park Ranger
told us that we could probably see the buffalo herd if we took a gravel
road later in the loop. So we did... We got to see some buffalo, but not
the herd I was picturing. We also got some nice photos. Along the way
was the "prairie dog town" which lived up to its name, there being
thousands of prairie dog mounds and hundreds of prairie dogs. Another 5
miles on the gravel road put us back out on the main road and shortly we
arrived at the highway in the town Wall, infamous for the Wall Drug
Store which is heralded by signs for well over 100 miles (western
version of South of the Border). We figured, what the heck, we're here.
We wernt dissappointed, it was everything we thought, but at least they
carried slide film for my 3D camera! Quick lunch at Dairy Queen (yes T.
We had Brazier cooked burgers!) and we were back on track.
As you approach Rapid City the landscape makes abrupt changes and the
Black Hills just suddenly burst up out of the ground covered with dark
evergreens (is that why they're called the Black Hills?). We headed
south for the 20 or so mile trip to Mt. Rushmore. Eventually we rounded
a curve and sitting way up on a moutain we could see the monument. I
must admit that my first impression was that they were smaller than I'd
pictured. We wound around a little more and then into the parking area,
narrowly avoiding a deer that stepped out in front of the car maybe
fifteen feet before the toll booth.
The whole monument is beautifully done in cut stone, a long arched
walkway leading to an overlook presenting the carvings in all their
splendor. Okay, so now they're looking a bit bigger... We decided that
we wanted to take the trail that led up to a deck just underneath the
presidents. The trail was lots and lots of steps that wound down to the
"artist's studio" where we ran into a chain blocking further access. We
could see that there was a lot of snow on the many steps leading up t
the deck and reluctantly gave up and climbed back to the observation
area and hid out in the souvenir shop to await dusk and the lighting of
the monument. While there a man walked in huffung and puffing saying
he'd just done the trail. I mentioned that we'd tried it but it was
closed. He said that he'd gone from the other direction and hadn't
encountered the chain until his return. We said thanks and took the
other path which had oonly a few steps when we got right under the
monument - much nicer! From there you can get a real good "up the nose"
shot of all the presidents! And you suddenly begin to realize how big
the carvings are. We walked back and hung out in one of the buildings
(the cold was getting really damp) and chatted with one of the few other
folks that were there. They were from Florida but he had lived in
Macungie for a year or two when he was younger. Anyway. The lights
finally came on at 6:20 (Mountain Standard Time), we took several
pictures and we skeedaddled.
We found a route that was more direct than backtracking, though sadly we
drove 60 miles through what I assume was beautiful countryside - the
Black Hills national park - but it was too dark to see much. Our trip
took us to the city of Deadwood, famous in history but more recently due
to the HBO series of the same name. While we were aware that the town
had some gambling joints I assumed there would be some historical sites
as well. We drove through town and around again only to find a dirty
crowded town, every building crammed full of gambling machines. The few
souvenir shops were closed so I was dissappointed that we couldn't get
Cory a souvenir as he is a fan of the series too. If you've ever seen
the series you'll note that it is depicted as a dirty crowded town.
Hmmm...
We had thought we might spend the night in Deadwood and take in the
sights but instead we decided to put in some miles and made it to
Gillette, WY. We chose a Best Western again as it was furthest from the
highway, checked in, and were dismayed when we pulled around the siide
of the building to find 30 or 40 construction trucks outside our room
and figured we wouldn't get to sleep much past 6 when they all started
revving up their vehicles, but our fearrs were unfounded as the clerk
had kindly put us in a room on the inside ring of the hotel.

Bruce and Deb

http://rosey462.blogspot.com/
notsosilentbruce on AOL IM