I slept well in the tent with the brand new pillow. While I've been getting early starts on this trip, I wasn't expecting daylight to come this early - 5 AM! I stayed in "bed" until about 5:40, then got the day started.
Breakfast - not nearly as good as dinner was - a freeze-dried Western Omelet. The eggs were ok and so were the peppers. It's the ham that didn't cut it. Kind of like chewing on a pencil eraser.
Coffee - well, I forgot to pick up milk & sugar before getting to the park, so the best I could do was non-dairy creamer. Thank god I had some great coffee from Gimme Coffee.
After breakfast, I got everything cleaned up and packed and hit the road at 7. I took a scenic route around the park heading through the Badlands Wilderness in search of wildlife.
I found plenty of prairie dogs. I've never heard their bark before. They sounded more like birds.
Next was the Buffalo. I saw a big herd just off the road. Pretty cool, but not as good as Yellowstone had when I was there three years ago. There they'd actually stand in the middle of the road causing traffic jams!
After leaving Badlands, I headed for Mt. Rushmore. Figured since I was in the neighborhood I should stop to see the Dead Presidents.
There was a short walkway for the tourists to see the sculptures from multiple angles. The sign said "strenuous", so I kept waiting for the hard part. Apparently "strenuous" means there are steps involved.
The funniest thing I heard was a girl looking up at George's nose and saying "he's got a boogie!"
One thing I learned there was that the original plan was to include torsos, but that was later scrapped.
From here it was a short ride to the Crazy Horse Memorial (also on my way to Casper, WY). I was skeptical about shelling out another $10 to see another face carved into a mountain. In fact, you couldn't even get close enough to see it. But there's a reason for that, they're still blasting dynamite there!
The project was started in 1948 by Korczak Ziolkowski (he was already 40 then). During the process, he got married and had ten kids. It took 50 years just to do Crazy Horse's face. Ziolkowski died in 1982, but 7 of his kids have continued his work to this day.
The plan (that's the scale model in the foreground) has Crazy Horse pointing while riding a horse - it's a massive 563 feet tall! The Presidents on Mt. Rushmore could fit within Crazy Horse's head.
Ziolkowski was twice offered $10 million from the U.S. Government for the project, but rejected it both times. The funding comes from the $10 entrance fees and from sales in both the gift shop and restaurant. Now I feel the the 10 bucks was worth it.
Back on the road to Casper, WY. Another 240 miles or so - I'm beginning to lose track. Beautiful countrysides in SW S. Dakota and into Wyoming.
Along U.S. Hwy 18, I saw this train - got a picture for my nephew Jack to see. It was a really long train - it took me three minutes to pass it and I was going 75 mph. I'm sure someone could calculate how long this train actually was. I can't.
Since I really didn't have lunch - just a Clif bar after leaving Mt. Rushmore - I stopped for an early dinner at Clementine's Cattle Company (they're Dining Outfitters, whatever that means) in Douglas, WY. I'm sure you're aware that Douglas is one of America's Top 100 Small Towns.
I asked the waitress what was most popular and she suggested the Chicken Fried Steak. I don't believe I've ever had this and couldn't tell whether it was actually chicken or steak. But it was definitely very fried. The good thing was it included a salad bar - first veggies I've eaten all week!
And to cap the day off, I asked the woman at the Ramada where I could hear some live music and she told me right here in the hotel bar. She said that Rock Band was starting at 9 pm. Me being tired I thought Rock Band was actually the name of the band playing.
Saturday morning, headed to Grand Teton, then Arches, maybe Bryce, Great Basin, and Yosemite before getting to the Golden Gate Bridge next Thursday! Probably the last night in a bed for a little while, better get to sleep.
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