Day 5: Badlands Loop - 307 miles
Lot to do today. The Crazy Horse Memorial was just down the road, so we thought we'd take a look at it. Crazy Horse was an Oglala Lakota warrior fighting federal encroachment of native lands, eventually battling Custer at Little Big Horn. The Lakota tribe commissioned the statue on private land in 1948. If completed, it will be over 600 feet long and 500 feet high. After the sculptor died in 1982, the widow took over. When she died in 2014, seven of the children were working for the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation to help raise funds and continue the work. They have a long way to go.
The ultimate goal
Went back to Mt Rushmore for a look in the daylight. It was early and hardly anybody was there. Gutzon Borglum designed and oversaw the project from 1927 until his death in 1941. The sculpture was originally devised to promote tourism to the South Dakota area. Seems to have worked pretty well.
It is truly a man-made wonder. The heads are 60 feet tall and depict 4 of our greatest presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Ariel view swiped from the web
My Rushmore was also the backdrop for the great Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in 1959.
Off to Rapid City for a quick look. Ran in to a rather special and charming downtown right out of the 40s, 50s and 60s. Very clean and colorful. They also have a life sized statue of every American president on each of their street corners. Fun.
Jefferson and Adams
Colorful Art Alley
Back on I-90 and headed for the Badlands. But before arriving there, you can go to Wall, SD and stop at Wall Drug. A roadside attraction and tourist trap if there ever was one. But, neat, none the less. The original owners started a massive advertising campaign with signs all over the roads for hundreds of miles offering free ice water for parched travelers to the newly opened Mount Rushmore. It worked. It's in the middle of nowhere and a destination stop in it's own right.
The town has some pretty new silos
The Store is many shops nestled together over several blocks.
Anybody seen Tom Hanks?
Ok, ok. Where are the car pics? From here on out its Scenery Pics, Car Pics and Car Pics in Scenery. Hope you enjoy.
Hwy 240 south out of Wall takes you to the Badlands National Park. Not much in the way of services, but the scenery is stupendous.
Badlands are found on every continent, consisting of softer sedimentary rocks and colorful clay-rich soil that has been extensively
eroded. Our U.S. park protects 243,000 acres. Its vast. You drive only 24 miles from the North Entrance to the South visitor center.
The road follows the rim of a canyon that erodes to the south. Very interesting. Very colorful. And way more than I bargained for.
I'll just present these without comment. You'll get the idea.
The Ben Reifel Visitor Center at the far east end turned out to be the farthest eastern point we were from home. 1,294 miles by the
fastest road back to the house. Everything from here on was just going home. In a roundabout way, however. We're just getting started.
Grabbed a souvenir for the garage.
We looped under the Badlands on Hwy 44, a marvelous but desolate stretch of road, back to Rapid City, Sturgis and back into Deadwood.
It is an old mining town in the Black Hills. It's now full of casinos, restaurants and T-shirt shops. Made popular by the 2004 - 2006 HBO series.
Stopped in to a casino to use the restroom. Dropped $20 into a slot machine. Hit the button 3 times and ended up with $53.75.
Cashed out. Made 169% in 15 seconds.
Nice stools..........
Went back to Hill City to look for dinner. Alas, the few restaurants were crammed.