I love alliteration. Headed out of Bozeman forJellystone-bout halfway this fellow pulls up longside and paces us while waving a model VW van.He pulls in front and in a few miles signals a left into a turnaround. Follow him in and he presents us with a Hot Wheels VW van circa 1966. She's red and white! He spotted us in Livingston bout 25 miles back and chased us down to give us the model. that's the kind of trip it's been.
Into Yellowstone and the glories there-Mammoth Hot Springs,etc,etc.Out the East gate and on to Cody for the night.Up in the AM and on to the Big Horn Mountains (thanks Louie). Breathtaking and, once again unique unto themselves. Next stop Sheridan,Wyo. for a short R&R since we both had a touch of somebody's revenge. Perky was SICK. Next to our motel was the busiest(swear)drive thru Dairy Queen in the country-a line of cars 10am -11pm no shit. So we could count cars while recovering.Off to the Devil's Tower featured in "Close Encounters".beautiful drive,lots of antelope and deer.The tower is awesome and another power spot. On to Sundance(not Redford's) and Deadwood notorious home of an HBO series. Apocryphal stories abound but a lot of shit went down there in the mid-late 1800's. It's all casinos today but the flavor has been kept alive.
A slight miscommunication takes us on a drive to Sturgis, SD where we blow the budget on must-have Sturgis stuff including the ugliest hat i've ever owned. Retrace our steps to Deadwood and on to Hill City SD, gateway to Rushmore. Salami,cheese and wine in the room and off to the south in the morn.
Beautiful drive to the truly awe inspiring Mt rushmore and the story of the family who fronted the project. Didn't do diddly for my patriotism but did inspire me concerning the tenacity of a person with a vision. Which was reinforced and surpassed, at the next stop-the Crazy Horse Monument.
The Sioux tribal elders decided their people of all tribes needed a place sacred to them all to make a tribute to their heritage.They hired a sculptor,Korczack Ziolkowski, who lived and worked alone for the next seven years in a tent in the Black Hills.He married and had 10 children and the family continues the project today.Talk about tenacity!You can feel the spiritual side of the place very strongly...Crazy Horse Monument is a MUST see. It is a fantastic story...about the sculptor, his life and vision, and the Indians chose him to do the sculpture. We pulled up to the visitor center/museum. Sitting in the van organizing ourselves, have to leave the dog! Up comes this really cool man, a little younger than we...another story about the VW van he used to have. He was very excited. He works at the museum. What a job! It has been wonderful to see the light in people's eyes when they see the van and remember their experiences! Jay went to Nebraska in the early 70's to work with VISTA. If you don't remember, VISTA was the "in-country America" Peace Corp. A very wonderful program! He was from New York, still has the accent! Great guy. We had a great time communing with him! The museum at Crazy Horse is the best native american museum I have seen. Very moving and complete.
Next...we went thru Custer State Park. What a beautiful park. Didn't see enough so went into the next town - Custer City - to spend the night and go into the park again tomorrow. There was a Buffalo roundup scheduled for the weekend. The wildlife we saw in the park....antelope, mountain goats, wild turkey, prairie dogs, bison...everywhere! Fantastic! Have you ever driven down the road in the country and noticed a single lane, sorta dirt road going up into the meadow and hills? Well...we took the road!! What a feeling to be off the road and going where few go. So peaceful. We had gone a ways and saw 2 horseback riders going across the hill. Man oh man...how I would have liked to been riding with them. Two girls, they were chasing an antelope for fun. We saw the corrals where the buffalo/bison will be herded into. They cull the herd, sell some at auction, the rest, they vaccinate and return to the wild. This happens once a year...and if you want to go to a fabulous place on vacation, see wildlife, and incredible beauty...talk to us and we'll tell you where to go! There is a huge cluster of giant rocks in the park. There is one that has an opening at the top that looks like the eye of a needle. At least 75' tall. Met some great people at the site, one of the ladies gave me a smudge stick she had made. Had gathered the sage and tied it herself. Very touching. We took the wildlife loop. Went up to the top of Mt. Coolidge. We could see Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse all in the distance. A 360 degree vista. Could see the Badlands in the distance too. The Black Hills are very beautiful. The WPA built the majority of structures in all the state parks. A very proud part of our heritage. We need something like it today! At one point we were surrounded by bison. They were all over the road. What a great experience!! I am in love with Prairie Dogs!! Did you know that Prairie Dogs hug and kiss when they greet each other? They are sooo cute! They pop up out of their holes, stand on their back feet and jump up and down! Run around, yip, and are generally cuter than you can stand!! We drove a total of 67 miles, thru the park, in about 5 hours.
Back tothe Rocket Motel in Custer,straight out of the 50's and a great meal across the street.Custer City is a really cool little known jewel.south Dakota is itself a jewel,much more beauty than i expected.So go say your prayers and get a good night's sleep.More later.
el Escargot&Perky
Into Yellowstone and the glories there-Mammoth Hot Springs,etc,etc.Out the East gate and on to Cody for the night.Up in the AM and on to the Big Horn Mountains (thanks Louie). Breathtaking and, once again unique unto themselves. Next stop Sheridan,Wyo. for a short R&R since we both had a touch of somebody's revenge. Perky was SICK. Next to our motel was the busiest(swear)drive thru Dairy Queen in the country-a line of cars 10am -11pm no shit. So we could count cars while recovering.Off to the Devil's Tower featured in "Close Encounters".beautiful drive,lots of antelope and deer.The tower is awesome and another power spot. On to Sundance(not Redford's) and Deadwood notorious home of an HBO series. Apocryphal stories abound but a lot of shit went down there in the mid-late 1800's. It's all casinos today but the flavor has been kept alive.
A slight miscommunication takes us on a drive to Sturgis, SD where we blow the budget on must-have Sturgis stuff including the ugliest hat i've ever owned. Retrace our steps to Deadwood and on to Hill City SD, gateway to Rushmore. Salami,cheese and wine in the room and off to the south in the morn.
Beautiful drive to the truly awe inspiring Mt rushmore and the story of the family who fronted the project. Didn't do diddly for my patriotism but did inspire me concerning the tenacity of a person with a vision. Which was reinforced and surpassed, at the next stop-the Crazy Horse Monument.
The Sioux tribal elders decided their people of all tribes needed a place sacred to them all to make a tribute to their heritage.They hired a sculptor,Korczack Ziolkowski, who lived and worked alone for the next seven years in a tent in the Black Hills.He married and had 10 children and the family continues the project today.Talk about tenacity!You can feel the spiritual side of the place very strongly...Crazy Horse Monument is a MUST see. It is a fantastic story...about the sculptor, his life and vision, and the Indians chose him to do the sculpture. We pulled up to the visitor center/museum. Sitting in the van organizing ourselves, have to leave the dog! Up comes this really cool man, a little younger than we...another story about the VW van he used to have. He was very excited. He works at the museum. What a job! It has been wonderful to see the light in people's eyes when they see the van and remember their experiences! Jay went to Nebraska in the early 70's to work with VISTA. If you don't remember, VISTA was the "in-country America" Peace Corp. A very wonderful program! He was from New York, still has the accent! Great guy. We had a great time communing with him! The museum at Crazy Horse is the best native american museum I have seen. Very moving and complete.
Next...we went thru Custer State Park. What a beautiful park. Didn't see enough so went into the next town - Custer City - to spend the night and go into the park again tomorrow. There was a Buffalo roundup scheduled for the weekend. The wildlife we saw in the park....antelope, mountain goats, wild turkey, prairie dogs, bison...everywhere! Fantastic! Have you ever driven down the road in the country and noticed a single lane, sorta dirt road going up into the meadow and hills? Well...we took the road!! What a feeling to be off the road and going where few go. So peaceful. We had gone a ways and saw 2 horseback riders going across the hill. Man oh man...how I would have liked to been riding with them. Two girls, they were chasing an antelope for fun. We saw the corrals where the buffalo/bison will be herded into. They cull the herd, sell some at auction, the rest, they vaccinate and return to the wild. This happens once a year...and if you want to go to a fabulous place on vacation, see wildlife, and incredible beauty...talk to us and we'll tell you where to go! There is a huge cluster of giant rocks in the park. There is one that has an opening at the top that looks like the eye of a needle. At least 75' tall. Met some great people at the site, one of the ladies gave me a smudge stick she had made. Had gathered the sage and tied it herself. Very touching. We took the wildlife loop. Went up to the top of Mt. Coolidge. We could see Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse all in the distance. A 360 degree vista. Could see the Badlands in the distance too. The Black Hills are very beautiful. The WPA built the majority of structures in all the state parks. A very proud part of our heritage. We need something like it today! At one point we were surrounded by bison. They were all over the road. What a great experience!! I am in love with Prairie Dogs!! Did you know that Prairie Dogs hug and kiss when they greet each other? They are sooo cute! They pop up out of their holes, stand on their back feet and jump up and down! Run around, yip, and are generally cuter than you can stand!! We drove a total of 67 miles, thru the park, in about 5 hours.
Back tothe Rocket Motel in Custer,straight out of the 50's and a great meal across the street.Custer City is a really cool little known jewel.south Dakota is itself a jewel,much more beauty than i expected.So go say your prayers and get a good night's sleep.More later.
el Escargot&Perky
1 comment:
Jeez, how many miles have you guys put in? That's quite a haul, into South DaKota. Amazing journey.
We're all pulling for you.
See it all; tell us what's going on.
Neil
http://believablelies.blogspot.com
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