Day 3 - South Dakota into Nebraska

Friday, August 8th

While the rest of the world tunes into the Olympics I make my way out of Wyoming.

Somewhere between New Castle, WY and Custer, SD

Today I only managed to travel 288 miles. Since I got off the beaten path to visit Mt. Rushmore, I decided to manuever east on the back roads of America. It takes a little longer to get where you are going from here. These are the roads that are only accessible by a crossroads and once you get on one, you are committed to stay on it until you come to the end.

This is the image I saw from the road and thought, "wow, that is huge", wasn't expecting to see it from the road like that. Then I drove around a few corners and came to the Crazy Horse Mountain visitors center. I figured I would check it out and see what they had. Apparently what they had was the sculpture above. I really thought this was Mt. Rushmore when I saw it at first from my car. I took a picture of it from the backside of the visitor's center, but my camera doesn't capture distance well. So here is a picture of the small scale sculpture that this will become one day. Crazy Horse Mountain is a non-profit memorial. The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, was asked by Lakota indian, Standing Bear, to sculpt the Crazy Horse memorial back in 1948. It became the sculptor's life and his family's. Many times he passed up government funding that was offered, because he didn't want this to be a government project. He believed in free enterprise and that if this memorial were to be built, it would be done by the financial support of those who wanted to see it completed. This vision has continued to live on to the third generation of his family. Ziolkowski also made mention that if it did become property of the government, the work probably wouldn't be completed after his death. Which is interesting when considering the neigboring mountain.

Mt. Rushmore

The sculptor had designed this memorial to include the chest in addition to the faces. The tours weren't being offered at the time I was there to see the sight, so didn't spend much time here. The best part (in my opinion) was when I got back to my car. I noticed a guy sitting on one of the many harleys and he was wearing a bandana and flipped the collar up on his polo then posed for a picture. I was trying not to stare as I unlocked my car door, but couldn't help but wonder....then the guy got off the bike, took off the bandana and gave it to the woman who took the picture. At this time I got into my car and realized what they were doing...and had to take a picture...

I had to be quick and discreet. Notice the guy to the left of the picture, he was sitting on the harley just to the right side of the pic...the black one with flames. At this moment the woman is putting on the bandana so he can take a picture of her posing on the bike. But just before she could get the bandana tied, some biker dudes walked up and she inconspicuously withdrew the bandana from her head and slid it into her pocket as they walked away. It was a funny.

Okay, Mt. Rushmore is located in the Black Hills National Forest and if you have never driven through this forest, I strongly suggest it. IT IS BEAUTIFUL. So much so, I called my mother exclaiming how beautiful South Dakota is, she was suprised.....and I later found out why. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get many pics because the road I was on is a 2-laner with NO shoulder for the majority of the drive, which means I couldn't just pull off the side of the road and take a pic. I'll start with a pic of Keystone...this is an amazingly cute mining town that caters to the tourists and signs litter the businesses to "welcome the bikers".

The Hillside Mining resort of Keystone.

Bikes line the streets of this quaint tourist town.

Black Hills National Forest

The entirety of the forest floor is covered in grass, it's beautiful. Just a thick carpet of fine, light-green grass.

Hills are becoming fewer

It is in the picture below that I begin to wonder if I took the right road??? Last I had looked at the map I would be heading east through the badlands. But, my GPS is showing S as my directional point and I had been on this road for quite sometime, and it seemed to me, the badlands weren't too far from Mt. Rushmore.....
The picture above is looking toward the west, I pulled out the map...and...sure enough, I stayed on Hwy 40 when I was suppose to get on Hwy 44. I've already committed to this road for 50 miles, and this is one of those roads that gives you 2 choices: 1) turn around and go back to the start (50 miles) OR 2) committ to the direction you are on and see where it spits you out. Because there are no side roads, there are no people...this is the uninhabited habited land....there is only thru traffic and no cell phone reception...in short, you don't want to break down out here.

I decided to stick with option 2 and resolved to miss the badlands. It was also at this time that I decided to turn off the music and think...you know, have a little introspective time, I'm out in the middle of nowhere and ain't getting anywhere fast, so why not indulge the psych-e. About the time I was contemplating the existence of aliens, I noticed an opening in the fence that bares the only evidence that this land actually belongs to someone. I thought, if I could drive through that little opening, it might give me a pretty good view of the plains of South Dakota that all are accustom to....by the time I completed this thought, I had passed the opening, so looked for the next opportunity to turn around. The road was going up a slight, yet noticeable, incline....and just as I approached the peak of that incline, do you know what I saw...........

I didn't miss them afterall!

Overlooking the most southern tip of the badlands from where I parked my car on the side of the street. If you look close enough, there is a guy at the very end of the trail. It is from this point that I took the following pictures.....

I sat on the edge of that point in absolutement amazement...it was, yet, another moment that brought me to tears. Amazing, overwhelming, unimaginable, humbling!!! I didn't want to leave, I wanted to just sit on that point until I had nothing left in my thoughts to think.

But, a journey isn't about stopping...so breathe it in, take it with you and move on....and arrive at our most familiar place.....

Crossroads (limited version)

Once you have made your decision, you find out you've arrived in......

Nebraska