…and the journey continues to South Dakota. This was our shortest travel day since we wanted to see Mt. Rushmore, and it really isn’t far, about 2 hours from Devils Tower.
The trip took us through Sturgis, home of the Motorcycle Rally … we feel that we have been a part of for days now! With all due respect to Jeffrey, Rob, Hoagie, Larry, Dana, Darren and any other bikers we know … enough! My ears are tired of listening to noisy exhausts, and sharing a road with hundreds of thousands of motorcycles when we are huge and need enough space to make a left turn or merge, is beginning to wear a little thin!! It is unbelievable just how many there are. We have gone through towns where we have been rerouted through side detours because the main street has been set aside for motorcycles only! Gift shops have had all merchandise replaced with Sturgis Rally memorabilia only! As I’ve said, everyone has been fine and friendly but we feel a little bit like we are in the middle of a noisy party we haven’t been invited to! It has followed us to Mt. Rushmore. Let’s see how far they are willing to travel!
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| Holes blasted through mountains make great roads! |
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| Two cars, our truck and bikes, bikes, bikes! |
The campground we are in here in South Dakota is unbelievable. With 648 campsite and 50 cabins it is the largest RV park we have ever been in! It has all the regular stuff … laundry, showers, etc., but it also has a general store, registration desk that looks more like a hotel lobby, water park, bar (they call them saloons in these parts), restaurant, wine bar, … it’s a KOA town!! Now mostly inhabited by bikers (but I’ve already gone over that) and us, deep in the Black Hills, the surrounding countryside is lovely.
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| Pretty view from our trailer. |
Seeing Mt. Rushmore was a bit of a surprise. It’s much smaller than either of us thought it would be. Now don’t get me wrong, the fact that someone could crawl up the side of a mountain and hammer and chisel four recognizable faces out of rock is pretty impressive in my books. I can’t manage a pencil and paper and produce anything that looks like anybody, so I get how this is a big deal. I just expected, like with so many of the mountains we have seen in the last weeks to come around a corner and gasp. It took a bit of looking to find it, and it is not as huge as it looks in pictures we’ve seen. It is also surrounded (and this probably affects my impression more than anything to be honest) by massive amounts of tackiness! Keystone, the town Mt. Rushmore is in, reminds me of Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls. The area is highly commercial and very crowded – not really my favourite scene! Glad we came, glad we can say we’ve seen it, but with the incredible natural beauty we have been blessed with on this trip, sadly Mt. Rushmore won’t make the top of the list.
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| Mt. Rushmore ... |
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