394 Miles
I had breakfast in the hotel in Cheyenne this morning and got an early start. The owner of the hotel was fascinated by my cross-country trip and wished me all the best.
I left Cheyenne about 9:00 a.m. and took Highway 85 north. For over 100 miles there are beautiful flat areas of mostly farms and cattle ranches with very few small towns along the way. I took Route 18 east at Mule Creek Junction and soon crossed into South Dakota.
I stopped in Edgemont because I wanted to visit the Museum there devoted to the history of the Black Hills area, but it was closed so I did not stay long. A few miles farther on I turned north and followed Route 385.
This was a beautiful drive. Almost immediately I saw this Buffalo sign. The landscape in the background is typical of the entire drive north.
Shortly after I saw the buffalo sign I actually saw two buffalo.
And then I saw 2 more buffalo, up close!! They blocked the road for about 5 minutes and traffic backed up behind me. Finally, they ambled off.
Steve and Claudia recommended that I visit the Crazy Horse Monument and it was my first stop. When completed, it will be the world's largest mountain carving. The project was started in 1948 and continues today. These photos were taken from the parking lot, as the bus tours up to the top of the mountain had been cancelled because of bad weather.
Notice in the photo below that the head and part of the arm have been completed. The white drawing on the right is where the horse's head will be.
The visitor center has photos of various stages of the process.
A brief history: The sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was born in 1908 in Boston. He was orphaned at age one and grew up in foster homes. He was completely self-taught. Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear learned of the sculptor and invited him to the Black Hills to carve Crazy Horse. Korczak arrived in the Black Hills in 1947 and started work in 1948. He was 40 years old at the time. He knew he could not finish it in his lifetime, so he left detailed plans and a scale model to continue the project. He died in 1982, but his wife Ruth, working with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, is directing the current work.
This slightly out of focus poster gives some idea of the scale of the project. Notice the figure in the lower left corner. This is what the mountain will look like when finished several generations from now. It is a slow process.
Next I visited a more famous mountain carving. I arrived at Mt. Rushmore late in the afternoon with thunder and lightning accompaning my arrival. The rain stopped long enough for me to walk from the parking area to the viewing area. While I've seen many photos of Mt. Rushmore, it really is impressive to see it in the natural setting.
From the National Park Service Mount Rushmore brochure:
I drove north to Rapid City and viewed the downtown area from my car. Had dinner at Sanford's Grub & Pub, a fun restaurant in the old train station. It was decorated inside with old signs and photos. Had a patty melt on dark rye bread and their famous onion rings with a glass of beer.
Then I drove south to Hot Springs, SD and checked into my hotel. Long day!
Notice in the photo below that the head and part of the arm have been completed. The white drawing on the right is where the horse's head will be.
The visitor center has photos of various stages of the process.
A brief history: The sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was born in 1908 in Boston. He was orphaned at age one and grew up in foster homes. He was completely self-taught. Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear learned of the sculptor and invited him to the Black Hills to carve Crazy Horse. Korczak arrived in the Black Hills in 1947 and started work in 1948. He was 40 years old at the time. He knew he could not finish it in his lifetime, so he left detailed plans and a scale model to continue the project. He died in 1982, but his wife Ruth, working with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, is directing the current work.
This slightly out of focus poster gives some idea of the scale of the project. Notice the figure in the lower left corner. This is what the mountain will look like when finished several generations from now. It is a slow process.
Next I visited a more famous mountain carving. I arrived at Mt. Rushmore late in the afternoon with thunder and lightning accompaning my arrival. The rain stopped long enough for me to walk from the parking area to the viewing area. While I've seen many photos of Mt. Rushmore, it really is impressive to see it in the natural setting.
From the National Park Service Mount Rushmore brochure:"When sculptor Gutzon Borglum looked upon the knobby, cracked face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota, he saw a vision of four United States presidents carved into the mountain. In 1927, with the help of over 400 workers and several influential politicians, Borglum began carving a memorial to the history of America."
"The granite portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln represent the birth, growth, development and preservation of the nation."
I drove north to Rapid City and viewed the downtown area from my car. Had dinner at Sanford's Grub & Pub, a fun restaurant in the old train station. It was decorated inside with old signs and photos. Had a patty melt on dark rye bread and their famous onion rings with a glass of beer.
Then I drove south to Hot Springs, SD and checked into my hotel. Long day!
That Crazy Horse sculpture doesn't look much different from when I was there in the late 1960s. Will you get back on I-90 to go east? Will you stop at Wall Drug? Free Ice Water (and not much else of value ...)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you got to see Crazy Horse - incredible. Did you take the tour so you can get closer to the monument? Once a year AVA sponsors a walk where over a 1000 people can walk up to and on to the monument itself. Rick, Jay, and I took a 10K walk at Wind Cave national park where you go through a prairie dog town and buffalo roaming freely across the prairie. Linda
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