3:15 PM (Frank) We just returned from seeing Crazy Horse and four dead presidents. It was interesting but not too enlightening as they are all very stone faced and uncommunicative. Somber you might say. The ride (drive) down was beautiful. This is very pretty country, but also very windy. South Dakota should consider a new slogan for their license plates, perhaps, “South Dakota, where the wind never doesn’t blow.” Or maybe simply, “South Dakota Blows.”
I’ve been to Sturgis Bike Week twice before (1976 and 1990) but this is Cheryl’s first time. I’m enjoying showing her things I’ve seen before, and I’m also marveling at how much they’ve changed in the last 33 years. I last visited Rushmore and Crazy Horse in 1976 and all the roads and facilities have been expanded 10-fold. At Rushmore we found the “historic” viewpoint down and around the corner from the new viewing area. That’s where I stood in ‘76 and it’s a weird feeling to be considered part of history.
I never actually went into the Crazy Horse Monument. I think you could see it from the highway in ’76 and it was just a big stone mountain with a few bare spots blown out of it. It didn’t strike me as worth making a left turn. Now however it is worth visiting. Major progress has been made on the monument and the visitor’s center includes museums, two theaters showing the full history of the monument, a restaurant, and a lot of other displays well worth seeing. When we entered we thought the $10 per person cost was a bit steep but we later found that the whole thing is supported by the visitor admission money and no government funds are accepted by the family who are carving the mountain. That made the price a bit more palatable.
(Cheryl) If we don’t poop out, tonight we’re riding “Da Bus” into Sturgis to get a look at all the bikes on the first official day of the rally. Hopefully we’ll find a place to have a nice dinner as well. Peanut will stay home in the trailer. At Crazy Horse today, they let us take him inside as long as we held him. He seemed to enjoy the movie about the family who keeps carving on the mountain. At least he enjoyed the guy sitting next to me and rested his head on the guy’s arm. Luckily the man was a dog lover! It was a fun day and the weather is absolutely perfect with a high of about 89 and soft breezes. Lovin’ it!
From the romantic land of cowboys and Indians,
Frank, Cheryl and Peanut (more fondly known as Little Toot, Little Bit, and Peachy)
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