Custer, SD to Medora, ND

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

We managed to get up and get out of the Crazy Horse Campground by 9:00am, that’s a really early start for us!! We headed north on Highway 85 and John and Fran were leading. Made a quick stop in Spearfish at the Wal-Mart to get a few things and check the new tires. Everything fine, so we continued our trip north.

The first part of the trip was through more rolling hills of green grasslands, used mostly for grazing. Along the way we saw lots of cattle, and some Antelope and Deer. There were a couple of signs notifying us that there were private Bison herds, but we didn’t actually see them.

We eventually crossed into North Dakota, our first time in this state!!

We really didn’t think there was much to see up here, so we hadn’t bothered. Let me be the first to say that we were wrong!  Lots of beautiful countryside to see!

Since before we left on this trip, we have been hearing about how busy the south west part of the state is due to oil drilling and pipeline. We saw several new oil drilling sites, the equipment pumping the oil is the same we have seen everywhere all over the country, the same up, down pump. I was kind of surprised that technology hasn’t upgraded this process. We didn’t see any evidence of pipeline going in, so that must be happening elsewhere.

About 2 miles below the surface of western ND is a formation called the Bakken, this is a rock layer rich with oil reserves. Until recently this oil was not extractable. A new and controversial technique-hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” has now allowed oil companies to get the oil out of the ground. We have had personal experience with “fracking” in Arkansas, where they are using this method to get the natural gas out of the rock. In Arkansas this method has caused numerous earth quakes, and although this drilling is a good 60 miles from Little Rock (as the crow flies), we have felt some of the worst quakes in Little Rock.

Each new well means another drill rig, well pad, pump jack, debris pit, flare pit, storage tanks, and access road on the landscape. Each new well also requires 2000 ‘trucking events’ to complete its setup and to begin pumping oil. Noise and dust from the heavy truck traffic and pumping equipment is constant. The oil boom here or gas boom in Arkansas begs a difficult question: how can we develop our resources while still protecting our parks and communities??

We arrived at the Medora Campground late in the afternoon. This is a nice park, just on the west end of the City of Medora, and we think the city owns and runs the park. Just to the south of the campground are the Little Missouri River, then I-94, and then the train tracks. We occasionally hear the train if the windows are open, but no whistles, as there is a no whistle ordinance. So crossing the tracks is done carefully.

Shortly after we got set up, it started raining, quickly turning the hard packed red clay park roads into a slimy, slick mud track. The sites we are in have a layer of rock on top of the mud, so we are able to keep our shoes relatively clean, if we step with care. There are mud puddles everywhere!!

Iron Mountain Road and Mt Rushmore

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Woke to clear, blue skies this morning, clouded up this afternoon and we had a few sprinkles, but nothing to get excited about.

Since the weather was so good, we decided to give the Iron Mountain Road a try. This is a road that goes through the mountains, on the way from Custer State Park to Mt Rushmore. It winds its way up through the mountain passes, and then at one point, it loops around and goes under itself! Good thing I don’t get motion sickness as bad as I did when I was a kid! It is really a beautiful drive. We came to a pull off and noticed that a truck had stopped in the road, going the opposite direction. So, we pulled over (where it was safe) and went to see what they were looking at. About 10’ down from the road was a mountain goat! First one we had seen!!

He appeared to be a young male, and I’m guessing here because his horns were not very big. He stood there the whole time, while we took pictures, so I don’t think he was very bothered by us. Phil was even kicking the guard rail to make him look up into the camera. It was a real treat!

Just towards the end of the drive, we went through another one of those tunnels in the rock, and as we came out of the tunnel, and framed by the tunnel itself, were the faces of Mt Rushmore! Of course, neither of the guys had their cameras out to snap the picture!! Just up the road though was an overlook, so we stopped and the guys took lots of pictures.

A short drive later, we stopped in Keystone for a late lunch. Phil had Buffalo Ribs, he said they were good, but tough.

Then we headed for Mt Rushmore. This is an awesome experience, and even though we had all been there before, we were still inspired!

Clouds had been building all day, and it finally started raining while we were there, so we left.

Today was the last day of our stay here and we had an awesome time! It is so much more fun to stay in one place long enough to really see the sights!

Crazy Horse Memorial

Friday, May 25, 2013

We had an absolutely amazing day! We drove just a few miles down the road to visit the Crazy Horse Memorial. I really expected this to take no more than a couple of hours, but we were there nearly all day! There is so much to see there!

The story of the sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, was inspirational all by itself. He was born in 1908 in Boston of Polish descent and orphaned a year later. He grew up in foster homes and was completely self taught and never took a formal lesson in are, sculpture, architecture or engineering. After winning first prize at the 1939 World’s Fair, Korczak was invited by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to the Black Hills to carve Crazy Horse.

Korczak arrived in the Black Hills on May 3, 1947 to accept the invitation and started work on Crazy Horse in 1948. A strong believer in the free enterprise system, he felt Crazy Horse should be built by the interested public and not the tax payer. Twice he turned down offers of federal funding. He also knew that the project was larger than any one person’s lifetime and left detailed plans to be used with his scale models to continue the project. Korczak died October 20, 1982. Since his death, his wife Ruth, and seven of their ten children continue working in concert with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation.

The first thing we did was to take the bus trip out to the base of the construction site. This was very interesting and we had a pretty good view of the carving. On the way back to the complex the bus driver mentioned that for a donation of $125.00 each we could go up to the top and see the ‘face’ up close. Well, that sounded like a lot of money to us, but after much discussion, we decided to make the investment and take the trip to the top. Our guide, Tom, drove us up to the top via the construction road. From the back entrance, it didn’t seem that high up. Since it is Saturday, the construction crews weren’t working, but we were issued hard hats anyway. The last thing that Tom said as we started to walk out on the platform was to not look back until he said to. Of course, that is what we wanted to do, but we waited, then when we were about 40’ out, he said we could turn around.

The impact of seeing the face of Crazy Horse that close was priceless! We were all speechless. The detail in the face, you can’t see from the complex or even at the base of the mountain. Up close, you see the detail in the eyes, eyebrows and the lips, the expression on the face. Breathtaking!! The platform we walked out on is what will eventually be Crazy Horse’s arm, and they are supposed to start working on that this year. Who knows if the Crazy Horse Memorial will be finished in our lifetime, but I do believe that it will be finished, and when it is, it will be there for all time, for generations to come, in memory of our Native American Ancestors.

 

Korczak and his wife Ruth with the working, to scale, model of 

Crazy Horse

Wind Cave National Park

Friday, May 24, 2013

Woke to a beautiful sunny day, for a change! So, we took advantage of it and headed out to see some of the sites. We back tracked on the roads we came in on.  Our first stop was to the Wind Cave National Park, and we were just in time to take the tour of the cave.

Wind Cave is so named because the guy who discovered it put his head up to the hole of the cave, where he had heard wind blowing. When he did so, the wind coming from the cave was so strong, it blew his hat off. At another time when he was showing the opening to some friends, the cave sucked his hat into the hole. The Ranger today said this is caused by barometric pressure. The cave was formed by the winds that rush through it, not water, as most caves are.

The descent into the cave is 300 steps and at times we had to turn sideways through the passages. There are no stalactites or stalagmites because there is no water. The cave is known for Boxwork, which is made of thin blades of

calcite that project from cave walls and ceilings, forming a honeycomb pattern, or boxes. The tour of the cave is ½ mile and takes about 1-1/4 hours. At one point they turned out the lights and I swear, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. Fortunately, our exit from the cave was by elevator! I don’t think I could have climbed back up the 300 steps.

Wind Cave National Park is more than just the caves. Currently, the park includes over 28,000 acres and is home to Bison, Pronghorn, Elk, Prairie Dogs and numerous birds. These animals are wild and allowed to graze freely, which means they are sometimes on the road, and they have the right of way! On our way south this morning, we pulled into one of the pull offs as a herd of Bison was crossing the road ahead of us. Several people were standing on the sign platform watching these huge animals as they crossed the highway. Three of them headed for the platform and looked everyone over, then one came forward towards the crowd and stopped again, staring. This was a bull, they can get up to 2000 pounds and stand about 5 feet tall at the shoulders, oh, and they can run about 35 miles per hour. People quickly returned to their cars, in no mood to argue. For all of their size and bulk, they are kind of mangy looking right now as they are losing their winter coats. It is also calving time and there are several babies in the herd. They are so cute!!

The other animal out in abundance today were the Prairie Dogs. They are really a rodent and they make a mess out of the pastures with all of their holes, but they are so fun to watch! I believe a moderate population would be in the thousands!

A Day in Rapid City

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Today was a day of taking care of business. We are once again plagued with tire problems, so we took the two rear trailer tires into the Goodyear dealer in Rapid City to have new tires put on the rims. Also discovered that one of the rear tires had four puncture holes in it, so we put the spare on to replace that one.  Only the Taylor’s can have this kind of (rotten) luck with tires!

We spent the afternoon at the Verizon Store, John and Fran joined the Verizon family and both bought iPhone's. I also decided to give up on the Droid and got an iPhone 5. Now we are all learning how to work new phones. So, if you call and things go wrong, give me a call back, I’ll get it eventually!

I have decided to try blogging the travel journal as it is suppose to be easier to add photos and you won’t have to download them. Also, if you aren’t really interested in the journal, you now won’t have to deal with it in your email. I do understand that there is a problem with trying to subscribe to the blog (already), so I will have to do some research on that. I have never done this before, so it will be a learning experience…hopefully a fun one.