On Wednesday the weather in Spearfish, SD was cold with snow flurries. The campground owner checked conditions for us in the higher elevations where Mount Rushmore is. It was snowing, but not sticking, so we chose to 'head for the hills' because the NOAA weather broadcast predicted clearing for later in the day. By the time we reached Mt. Rushmore, the sun was breaking through with an occasional passing snow shower that amounted to nothing. Rushmore is beautiful, magnificent actually, and the surroundings and access facilties have been upgraded in the recent past.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon marveling at the concept and the sculptor, Borglum's, implementation and ability to pull this off some 60+ years ago. He was a big thinker with commitment, but probably not easy to work with. Everyone traveling west should spend time in So. Dakota's Black Hills to visit this masterpiece and also visit Crazy Horse (more later).
Our Spearfish RV park folks recommended an RV park in Hill City, so we checked it out and it was really a full-service facility called J Bar RV Ranch Resort. This place had wide open spaces and a place for horses, if an RVer happened to be traveling with them. We decided to stay and it turns out that the Wi-Fi actually worked, unlike a few other places who advertised it, but it didn't work unless you were in the park office, if it worked at all.
The night was cold so they shut off the water early in the evening, but that's really no bother to us, because I always keep out fresh water tank full and we use little water anyway. The propane heater kept us warm and toasty all night.
The next morning we headed for Crazy Horse, the labor of love of the family of the original sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski (born in Boston) who, in the late 40s, accepted the request of Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear, to carve a mountain as a tribute to the Indian Crazy Horse, a Lakota hero. This massive effort is totally privately funded and work progresses as funds are available, unless some huge gift arrives, it will be several decades before completion. The face of Crazy Horse was completed in 1998 and workers continue to chip away at the remainder. To give an idea of the size of this project, the Rushmore carving would fit on the head portion of Crazy Horse which will include his outstretched arm sitting atop a horse! This is definitely worth a visit. We were told that 3 million people visit Rushmore annually and 2 million (at $20/head)come to Crazy Horse, which includes a spacious museum of Indian culture and artifacts, some of Korczak's other sculptures and many other attractions planned. Korczak's wife still runs things and 7 of their 10 children are involved in the work.
From there we spent the remainder of the afternoon at the American Woodcarver's Museum and were fascinated with the talent of the carvers whose work was displayed.Then we headed west and stopped, of course at Wall Drug in Wall, So. Dakota. Check out the website for the story of this phenomenon which is advertised for 100's of miles in all directions and caters to 20,000 visitors on a busy summer day. Astonishing! It's obviously much more than a drug store, although they continue to fill prescriptions and coffee is five cents. It's an amazing place and houses a wonderful collection of Western art, among other things. We ate supper there (roast beef dinner for $8.50!).
We stayed in an RV park in Wall and then had breakfast at Wall Drug, too, before starting for the Badlands National Park. This was our last sightseeing sojourn before heading east toward home. The day was clear and calm and the 35 mile loop through the park was uncrowded, as you'd expect in early May, and the formations and colors were beautiful. We stumbled on some young bighorn sheep and, of course, there was a prairie dog town. We had a very easy journey through the Park on a winding road with many stopping places for pictures. We took plenty.
Now we were on I-70 and we pounded that pavement for 450 miles today and are now in Albert Lea (what a strange name for a town/city) Minnesota in the Wal-Mart parking lot after a fabulous Chinese buffet of very good food for $7.50. We chatted with the folks and suggested that their prices are too low. Even a Heinekens was only $2.62!
As soon as we entered Minnesota it began to rain with some strong cross winds on the highway. Fortunately traffic was light with relatively few trucks. It's fascinating to observe the change in landscape and agriculture as these miles rolled by. From the Badlands of beauty to the rolling prairie with mostly ranches and some tilled land, to the deep black soil of the Minnesota farms, big farms, flat, nearly all cultivate with few grazing cattle. I saw no corn west of the Missouri river, but slowly the cultivation changed to include wheat, and other grains and some corn. In the eastern area of So. Dakota and in all of Minnesota so far, corn is plentiful, as evidenced by last year's stalks that are being harrowed under as this year's crop of something else replaces it. God, the land looks rich here and much of the cultivation seems to support dairy herds.
The last 30 miles of I-70 west of here are terrible. Concrete surface with failing joints with no recent bituminous patching. Kerthump, kerthump, kerthump. The left lane was a little better, but Minnesota should be ashamed of such a lousy road. So. Dakota's I-70 is far better. Minnesota gets the booby prize for the worst Interstate highway.
We saw three groups of a half dozen big windmills, but 1/3 of them were not turning, despite a strong wind. I'm convinced that windmills, if they are truly worthwhile as a source of electricity, belong on the prairie, not on mountain tops as Vermont's proposals suggest. I saw no windmills on any hills or mountains this whole trip.
Tomorrow we will be in Madison, Wisconsin and will visit a few days with Bart and Daniella and their two children. She was Carol's Italian tutor when they lived in Burlington. We also visited with her parents in Garlate, Italy a year ago. Now time for a good night's rest. Traffic around this Wal-Mart Supercenter has tapered off to nothing, so it should be quiet.
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