Chief Crazy Horse Was Impressive

We left the Mt. Rushmore KOA and traveled 7 miles to the Chief Crazy Horse Monument/Museum.  The site is a collection of buildings that contain Native American artifacts and several pieces of art, much of which was created by Korczak Ziolkowski like the Fighting Stallons.  He was born in Boston and was completely self-taught in art, sculpture, architecture, and engineering.  He arrived in the Black Hills in 1947 to accept Standing Bear's invitation. He started work on the mountain in 1948 to honor the red man's heroes.

The entire project is privately funded which created financial hardships during the construction.  One story told was about Korczak starting his old compressor climbing the mountain only to have it die.  He later limbed back down nine times to start the compressor to continue working. 

He married Ruth who continues Korczak's work today.  They had 10 children who were raised and worked along side their parents on the mountain.  Today, seven of the children who are grown work to see that their father's dream is completed.

Workers are now blocking out the 22-story high horse's head.  The painted outline shows the 45-foot ear and the 16-foot wide eye, some 260 feet below the head of Crazy Horse.

The day concluded with a program of Indian dancers and a laser light show that entertained everyone in attendance.  The program was another outstanding ending to a glorious day.

The Badlands Aren't So Bad

Today we traveled to the Badlands and spent the day seeing nature at its best. The changing landscape with the bands of color were amazing.  It was hard to imagine this beautiful barren land was once had a subtropical climate that contained alligators and other prehistoric animals.

As we continued our trip along the scenic highway through the Badlands National Park, we ran across prairie dog town.  The prairie dogs habitated several of the mounds found all over the meadows.  For a better view click the photo to the right.

We also were lucky enough to see several big horn sheep along the road.

As we finished our journey we continued to see the banded geographic formations.

The park had elevated walkways that lead to fossil displays of fossils that had been found in the park.

Being an inquisitive group of four we climbed several rock outcroppings.  The views were breathtaking!

Lewis and Clark in South Dakota

We had another glorious day to travel from Fairmont, Minnesota, to Wall, South Dakota. On the trip to Wall we stopped at a reststop near Chamberlain, SD, which has a magnificent overlook. Walking down the path we could see across the Missouri River.  It was hard to imagine Lewis and Clark floating down this same river on their expedition to explore the northwestern territory.  We also enjoyed the museum inside the reststop which had a keelboat that was of similar dimensions to boats used on the expedition. 

Displays explained the purpose of their trip which was to develop relations with the indians, collect samples of plants and animals, and to hopefully find a water passage across the desolate area in the north.

In the evening we took a walking tour of the Wall Drug district which is a shopping area of everything imaginable.  The cluster of shops have the typical tourist trinkets, but also had bronze western sculptures that were priced at $22,000. 

We returned to the coach and enjoyed the AC since temperatures were in the 90's.

We are looking forward to tomorrow when we plan to explore the Badlands.

Muncie to Oregon or Bust

The adventure began on Friday, July 23rd.  We met the Hahns and had great travel weather to Galena, Illinois.  We camped at Palace Campground and prepared to explore the historic city of Galena.  On Saturday we walked along the Galena River near the restored depot.  During the last two days the area had received 10 inches of rain.  We saw the results of the rainstorms.  One van was two thirds underwater.

After walking along the levee we toured the city and enjoyed lunch. 

Our first stop following lunch was the Belevedere House.  It was a home that was built in the 1850's and was furnished with furniture and decorations that demonstrated the wealth of the time.  It also included items from Liberace and the drapes from "Gone with the Wind".

The next stop was President Grant's Home.  He served as a soldier, worked in a tannery, and was elected as the 18th president.  The home was modestly furnished, but had a fantastic view of the city.

Sunday we traveled to Fairmont, Minnesota, and we will camp in Wall on Monday.