Monday, 2 August 2021
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| today's route |
I turned off for Mt. Rushmore (on Mt. Rushmore Road) and found more winding narrow roadway.
I passed a sign saying "North by Northwest - National Treasure II - Filmed in This Area." I'm not sure about that National Treasure II bit, but that's what the sign said.
Mt. Rushmore
I wanted to see Mt. Rushmore only because I've heard it touted my whole life as a sight to see, and I was in the area (so I thought I'd stop by). I learned a couple of interesting things. One is that the road from the west, that I was on, runs actually on the backside of Mt. Rushmore itself - the mountain, I mean. I found out by accident. I'd been awed by the enormous rock masses I was driving by and, when I found a pull-out area, I stopped to take a photo. And this is what I saw:
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| see George? |
Just around the corner on the right side of this photo I came to the parking area for the monument. Despite the fact that I'd started my drive before 7:00 AM and it was only 20 miles or so, the enormous parking area seemed pretty well filled up. I'd seen signs along the road saying they charged $10 per vehicle for parking, and I sure didn't want to pay $10 for something I didn't much want to see anyway. I learned later that seniors can park for $5, but I got lucky. At the entrance to the parking area, the road widens out - probably to accommodate traffic that's not headed for the monument area - and I pulled over and got this photo.
I think the roof you can see in the photo is for a visitor center just behind the parking lot, which I've edited out of this photo. I know this is a genuine work of art, and I know it's an extraordinary engineering feat. But I think, as sometimes happens, that Gutzon Borglum, the artist, was crazy and that this work was an obsession. And that belief taints it for me somehow. I like the mountain it's carved on better.
That mountain, by the way, was known to the Lakota as Six Grandfathers. During the late 1800s, a wealthy investor named Charles Rushmore used to visit the area for hunting and prospecting and joked that he wanted this mountain named after himself. I guess wealthy investors have their wishes granted, because in 1930, the US Board of Geographic Names officially recognized it as Mt. Rushmore. I don't myself see what was wrong with Six Grandfathers.
I've learned that Borglum chose these presidents to symbolize (from George on the left to Abe on the right) the US's birth, growth, development and preservation, a nice thought. I'm sure the visitor center has a lot of information and I think there are walking trails in this area. I'm told that the best light for viewing this sculpture is in the early morning (which may explain the nearly full parking lot so early), and my photo shows that's probably right.
Back on the road
As I drove through a camping area, 2 deer were running nearby and almost crossed the road in front of me. I saw a family with a baby and a young boy who'd been packing up their car and they saw the deer. The parents were pointing at the deer and the little boy was staring. I'm sure it's something he won't forget in a hurry.
Rapid City
I didn't see a sign showing the population, but online it says there's more than 75,000 people living here. It's the county seat (though I couldn't take a photo of the courthouse) but is most noted for the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. This is a small public college (mascot: the Hardrockers) with a good reputation.
The main reason I came to town was because I'd heard they had 2 sections of the Berlin Wall here. And they do. They have a nice exhibit set up in one of their public parks.
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| The Berlin Wall |
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| The sign reads: "This tank trap, located between the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie from 1961-1989, is donated in honor of the air force personnel at Ellsworth Air Force Base and all South Dakota military personnel who have faithfully stood in readiness to protect the free world in war and peace." |
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| This sign reads: "This tank trap, located between the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie from 1961-1989, is donated in honor of the citizens of Potsdam, Germany (the sister city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota), where religious freedom was first proclaimed for Catholics, Protestants and Jews by the Edict of Potsdam in 1685." |
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| This plaque is at the base of the wall section on the left. |
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| This plaque is at the base of the wall section on the right. |
These events occurred smack in the middle of my life. Much of that time I was living in Alaska and news was sometimes sporadic, but I still remember this time well. Remarkable, the way it all turned out.
Back on the road
From Rapid City I drove southeast to the southern edge of the Badlands National Park. I wanted to visit the park tomorrow and read that park personnel suggested early in the morning or right at dusk as the best time to come, so I wanted to be able to start right by the entrance.
I drove through some odd country with white soil. I wondered whether it was sand or dried salt or maybe an acidic soil? It made the area look more desolate, somehow.
As I drove I saw yellow diamond-shaped highway signs with no words on them. I learned (from experience) that they meant there was a bump in the road. Unlike North Dakota, which is only kidding when it says there's a bump in the road, South Dakota means it.
Actually, there was a stretch of road that was almost a series of dips and made me think of the frost heaves left in some roads in Alaska. I can't imagine they've got frost heaves here in South Dakota, but that's what the road was like.
I passed through a piece of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland.
The town of Interior, pop. 94, guards the far southeastern edge of the national park. The KOA was about 4 miles down the road. It was laid out very oddly and seemed composed of scrubland, but it certainly was handy to the national park.
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