July 30, 2000
Well, well, well. It's been two months we've been on the road and no bloodshed or even any major battles. And some thought we'd never survive this long. Actually, I think the adjustment has been rather smooth. As smooth as the two of us ever adjust to any change, anyway. I think we frustrate each other about as much as we ever did, but the blessing of enjoying God's creation together compensates for a lot.
And I know that it'll be different, but I'm going to hold the chatter this time to a minimum because of the number of pictures. If you have any questions, I suppose an e-mail could get you an answer.
Hart Ranch, about 8 miles south of Rapid City, SD.
Our back yard. And the grass really wasn't that dry. Just looked it.
And across the street. At one time, each of us on the 4 corners were Newmar owners.
Biggest/best clubhouse we'd ever seen.
Their riding arena where at least one show a week was put on. We never did get time to attend.
And if you don't have an RV, that's OK too, because there are a bunch of these cabins and some small travel trailers for rent as well.
Saved the best for last. That's BJ waving at us during her morning "workout". Spiffy place!
This is why we didn't spend a lot of time at the "destination" resort. Too darn many neat things to see.
Barb's on the right holding the white bag, and these flags are from each of the 50 states.
"ALASKA 49th STATE ADMITTED TO UNION 1959" Gotta take a picture of our home state, after all.
Now I'm the one holding the white bag. Wonder what was in it....
Lots of odd rocks in the area. Veins of crystals included.
Really makes me humble to see stuff like this. So much I don't know anything about.
Yeah, the guy who hates small places crawled into a hole to get a shot of George's nose.
One tough little tree! This granite was pretty solid stuff.
The grooves in the rocks are the 1/2 of the holes drilled and blasted away to make the sculpture. Fascinating process and story about the whole project.
We have to climb back up, right? Of course, Barb's so far ahead of me she can't hear me grumble. Wonder what was with that bag she's carrying.
Still going down, but the shade is nice and the Black Hills are just that.
And more layered rocks heaved up at an angle. But different than the rest. Wonder what happened here and when it happened.
Lots of color among the rocks, too.
AHA! I spotted one of those Trash-Picking-Ranger-Types off the trail a bit. Place was neat as a pin and the restrooms even smelled clean at the end of the day!!
One of the many models the artist made for the sculpture. The method he used to measure how much rock to blast away was so simple it was incredible. Fixed a horizontal plate with an arm that would swing in so many degrees one way or another, and then would drop a plumb bob off the end of the rod to a point on the model. Measure it, and multiply it by the ratio of the model to the sculpture which had an identical plate/arm setup, and that was it. Truly gifted guy.
Keystone is the name of the funky little town at the base of Mt. Rushmore. Lots of touristy things as well as some pretty authentic things that just live there. Like the Gutzon Borglum museum. He's the guy who did the sculpture. And a lot of other sculptures as well. Pretty famous guy in his time. I'd never heard of him. So much I don't know!!
Like Abe Lincoln sitting on a bench -- bigger than life. Barb likes things that are smaller than she is, can you tell?
Yeah, so?
Whaddya mean, "Doesn't that look like fun". To me? I'm the one who dislikes small places so much I'll walk up a bunch of stairs rather than take the elevator, and doesn't like to go up on the roof of the trailer because of the height, and doesn't really trust machinery he doesn't understand, much less trust some guy I don't know.
All I could hear him say was "Testing 1,2,3".
OK. So he has more gauges in his little toy than I have in my truck. So what. Yes, I'm jealous. You happy now?
YIKES! What a fantastic view of Mt. Rushmore! What a rush! And the pilot is talking now that I finally answered him. Maybe I was a bit rash with my quick judgment of him. Not very nice of me. Hummmmm. Maybe I'll survive this after all.
YAA HOO!! This little baby can really rock and roll! I didn't know they could dive like that after falling off to the left like a rock. What fun!!
What? We're landing already? But I was really having a ball! This is cool! I really like it!! Can we go again? Awwww, what else we gonna do with the money, anyway? Oh. Buy fuel for the truck. Well, OK then.
And speaking of fuel for the truck, let's go see Wall Drug via the "Badlands". Don't look all that "bad" to me, compared to some of the other country we've seen these past 2 months.
Even the road isn't all that bad. Kinda fun, actually.
Well, maybe that stuff over there is "bad", but up here looks like decent grazing land.
AHA!! Now, there's "bad" for you. A prairie dog town! Where's my buddy Bill Mast! Let's clean things up a bit, OK?
What's wrong with sneaking up on them and maybe even getting them both with one shot?
Chicken! One of them got scared and hid in the hole. Didn't for a moment quit squeaking at me though. Maybe it's a whistle. Sure is noisy.
Getting closer, and he's jumping around chirping/whistling/squeaking at me.
His neighbors aren't afraid to offer their opinions either. Seems they're not used to intruders like me. In my shorts, tank top & sandals -- keeping an eye out for snakes.
OK. So I finally got close enough to scare him down into his hole. Now they're both hollering at me at the top of their lungs from inside the hole.. Easy to see why farmers, cattlemen, sheep men and horseback riders hate the little varmints so much. That hole is one of thousands in this town, and could snap an animals leg in an instant. The little critters are still kinda cute to watch.
Now, I could call these "badlands" alright. And it's easy to imagine the bad guys hiding out in these endless canyons. And easy to see how the early settlers could get so lost in them.
The early settlers would take their mowing machines apart and haul them up to these flat spots, cut the grass and bring it down for their livestock. Interesting country we live in, and while I always respected my ancestors, I've gained a new perspective of their challenges as they came to California from the Carolina's.
We drove all the way here for this?
Well, at least they have friendly wimmin!
And a not-so-friendly T-Rex that Barb's looking up at. The sign says that the T-Rex will attempt to eat your children about every 12 minutes. It was noisy enough, and it moved around a good bit, had fire lights and steam/smoke, but stayed in its cage and we didn't see it eat any kids.
Ride 'em ..... uh, somehow "cowpoke" doesn't seem to fit. And I'm not brave enough to say "Ride 'em Jackalopepoke".
Well, kiss my..... I'm getting tired, and we're still a long ways from home. And Wall Drug was indeed worth the trip. It's the largest drug store in the world. And given the opportunity we'd stop again. The pie and ice cream is great, and the place is too huge for a 2 1/2 hour visit. Barb did find a belt like she'd been looking for, so it turned out to be a shopping trip after all.
YUK! Running at night (which neither of us particularly enjoy) sure does kill the bugs!
At least they make an interesting pattern when there's that many of them.
Just before getting to Keystone, there's this tunnel that for some reason both Barb and I thought was "cute" or picturesque. We were on our way for the evening Mt. Rushmore lighting ceremony.
Somehow, I get distracted by animals. Particularly when they are in places where I don't expect them to be. This goat was munching away totally unconcerned by the several thousand people walking past him on their way to the ceremony. Plenty of wildflowers for the goat as well as us. Good time to visit this area.
The ranger came out and talked for a bit, and then we saw a short movie about the four men on the sculpture (can you name all four of them?), and by then it was dark and the lights came up on the sculpture. Fun.
And that's it for this time.