September 1, 2014 Labor Day

We woke up during the night and decided we would stay in Estes Park one more day to avoid the mass exodus of the Labor Day crowds from Estes Park.  There are only two roads down the mountain and we were worried about being in bumper to bumper traffic.  But, we changed our minds when, after breakfast, we saw that no one was leaving the park.  We figured they were going to wait as long as they could and enjoy their last vacation day.  So, we abruptly changed our plans.  It was a good idea.  We had little traffic down the mountain and enjoyed the scenery.  

 Leaving the Rocky Mountains National Park

There is a creek that runs alongside the road.  Last year they had terrific flooding and parts of the road were washed out.  My favorite sign thus far read: “In case of flooding, climb to higher ground.”  OK, we will keep that in mind!

We had over 300 miles to travel to Hill City, SD and Mount Rushmore.  We went north up I-25 through Colorado Springs and into Wyoming.  Each state has been very different.  We were now entering a state into which neither of us had traveled.  We came to Colorado a few times for skiing when we were in our 30s and 40s.  Wyoming was wide-open; miles of plains.  While Kansas seemed to be almost all row crops, cattle dominated Colorado and now Wyoming was just grasslands.  Lib asked: “Where are the people?” 

Then we saw what we used to dread when crossing the Gulf in our sailboat: a huge thunderstorm on the horizon.  Just as we tried to do when sailing, we tried to determine the direction the storm was moving.  Joy Greer could spot them miles ahead and Todd and I would try to determine the direction. Though it was moving to the east, it looked as though it would definitely hit us.  It did.  But, it was very different than being at sea.  We didn't have to put on our foul weather gear, reduce sail, and get out the harnesses to keep ourselves from going overboard.  Fiona just chugged along pulling Cream Puff  (Thanks to Missie for teaching me how to spell cream!) northeast toward South Dakota.  We did drive through an area of ice which was the result of a pretty good hail storm.  We had just missed the hail storm and this was a good thing.  Cream Puff’s shell is pretty tough but it is aluminum and it doesn’t like large hail.

 Wyoming Storm

Later in the day we moved into South Dakota and into the Black Hills.  From the flat prairies the hills appear to be black on the horizon.  We got to the Mount Rushmore KOA about 4pm.  We are very close to the Mount Rushmore Memorial but no cellphone service and no wifi!  We are on the other side of a granite mountain from Rapid City.  Thank goodness the satellite dish works and we can watch to see what middle eastern tribal group we are going to war with next.

A good night's sleep and early to rise to go see the Presidents on the mountain just above us.  A good Labor Day on the road.  If you have to drive on a busy holiday, I recommend remote southwestern South Dakota.

September 2, 2014  Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument

One thing we've learned about RV folk is that they often come over to meet you once you hook up at the campsite.  After a few comments about "your rig" (that is RV talk for the kind of vehicle you are in), they often get into a banter of one-upsmanship about who's seen the most tourist attractions.  Randy, U.S. Army retired, asked: "Ya seen the Wall Drug Store yet?"  No, but I've heard of it from some Pensacola friends, the Teaseleys.  "Probably ain't been to tha Corn Palace, huh?"  Nope and never heard of that one.  I learned this is a place where the walls are made of corn cobs and they have to replace them all once a year.   Decided to pass on this one.

But, the bantering often leads to places you should go.  We learned about the Crazy Horse Memorial.  So we decided to go there after we went to Mount Rushmore.

The sculptures on Mt. Rushmore (Rushmore Mountain was named after a New York attorney years before it was chosen as the sculpture site) were first proposed by a historian in the State Department of History in South Dakota.  His idea was to glorify some of the western heroes and he envisioned Lewis and Clark and Chief Red Cloud.  But, when Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor, was approached to do the job, he thought it should be a memorial to the four presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.  It took 14 years to complete.  It was started in 1927 and finished in 1941.  There were intentions on doing more but WWII cut the funds which were already 100% above projected costs.  The total cost was $1,000,000.  Can you imagine the cost of doing a 14 year project today?  I think you would hit $1million by Tuesday am.

I used my time machine to go back to Mt. Rushmore before the carving began.  You can't get the time machines anymore...QVC sold out.

And fourteen years later!

It is very inspiring and produces a patriotic feeling.  They have a night show that we attended as well. 

There are several scenic overlooks on the drive up the mountain.  At one stop you can see a profile of George W.  Also, this is the place where they filmed North by Northwest. (Hollywood is always present no matter where you go). We will watch that movie as soon as we can get wifi and boot up Netflix.

One of the exhibits at the Memorial describes how they sculpted the mountain.  They built models and then used a ratio of 1:12 from the model to the mountain.  

Models used to transfer measurements to the mountain

And, of course, we requested another visitor carrying camera equipment, etc. to take our obligatory photo!

Elderly Couple seen asking for Coupons on Mt. Rushmore

Next we decided to go to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  This is going to be a much larger sculpture than the Rushmore figures.  Crazy Horse was a Sioux warrior from the Lakota tribe who did not declare war against the white man until the white man broke the 1868 treaty allowing the Sioux to have the Black Hills.  Seems like we gave the Indians land to the west until we decided we wanted it.  He was stabbed to death while in custody at age 34.  He made a statement that the only promise the white man kept was when they said "We will take your lands."

Tribal chiefs approached a sculptor, in the 40’s , after Rushmore had been completed, and asked that he sculpt a monument to the Indian leaders. The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, had worked on Mt. Rushmore. This has been a private undertaking since the 40s. Korczak and his wife had 10 children and most are still involved in the project.  It is all based upon private donations. Several hundred, if not thousand, people visit daily.  The photos below show what the finished work will look like and where it stands today.  

Thats right!  Only his face is finished but much of the stone is now ready for finish work.

They have an Indian history museum and we were both fascinated.  Libbo taught on an Indian reservation in Arizona for three years so she is very sensitive to the Indian issues....EXCEPT for the first year when she told her kindergarten summer class of Apaches, Navajos, and Pimas to "Quit acting like a bunch of wild Indians!"  This was not politically correct but we didn't have PC in the early 70s.  

The museum had a number of artifacts from The Battle of Little Bighorn.  We are going to that battlefield next on our tour.   We will send pictures of buttons and bullets.

Another very busy day. Tomorrow, we go to the Bad Lands!