Mr Rushmore/Custer State Park

Another of the tiny, one-lane tunnels on this road through the "Needles".

This spire, pictured above, is where the area got its name. Way too large to get in one frame from anywhere we wanted to climb.

This is Sylvan Lake on the drive and included here because it was not only pretty, it may well have been the rocky area featured in the movie National Treasure II which featured the Mt Rushmore area. There is no lake above Mr Rushmore and if the ancient Indian city of Gold, Cibolo, is anywhere around here it is still a secret. We did drive by the Crazy Horse Memorial but they wanted too much gold to make us want to go in; Ava snapped a picture from the front gate (attendant's suggestion) and I will add it to the next post.

Mt Rushmore-Custer State Park

Adjacent is this enormous state park, 71,000 acres of the Black Hills; this area should really be given almost a week to see it all.

We chose to go into the "Needles" area where grainite spires inspired the whole mountain-carving idea. Borglum looked at these and declared they wouldn't last as long as he intended - and were not big enough to do what he envisioned: memorialize our great presidents for all time. Still, this was a great drive - luckily NOT pulling the trailer (for obvious reasons, above).

Mt Rushmore Nat Memorial -2

Another of the great shots Ava took of this mountain-sized work of art. The sculptor, below, Gutzon Borglum was born in this country into a Mormon family (his dad married sisters) but his dad soon left the Mormons and having moved back east divorced his mother, the younger sister and second wife. He and his brother both became famous artists. They were also politically involved and fiercely patriotic.

At the Borglum Museum we had a great tour of his life complete with many family artifacts and saw a movie that included a lot of early newsreels of the work in progress. It was really well done and helped us understand the significance of much of what we saw at Mt Rushmore and the area. This fellow, below, is a true artisan in that he has made his living for 34 years making jewelry out of coins. He says he is only one of about 30 that still do this and spends his summers here and winters on the Gulf Coast. We found two pieces that look just right on my photographer.

This picture does not do her skills' justice but we were sitting in a huge amphitheater looking up at Mt Rushmore for the evening progam and lighting ceremony. At the end of the moving, 30-minute program they called all veterans down to participate in a flag-lowering ceremony; it was a fitting conclusion to the day, and, in a way, to this entire journey. God has given us an amazing homeland but only the dedication and sacrifice of many has made it free and freely available to be experienced.

Mt Rushmore -1

We think we are at our last National park or monument, or in this case, Memorial. Its hard to believe this trip is nearing an end.

There is no entrance fee but they exact a $10 parking fee- good for a week. That, plus the efficient fund-raising group for this special place has made it super-nice and continuously upgraded. It has first-class touches, despite getting several million visitors a year.

The particular granite that was found here, and used for each face, weathers at the rate of 1/8 inch every 10,000 years! Teddy's face is recessed because there was a lesser stone seam 80' thick that had to be removed (by dynamite) to get to the good stuff. Behind Roosevelt's head is only twelve feet of rock before you are into the canyon behind!

Some find this smaller than they thought but that is just from their digitally-created comparisons; this is real and it is on a grand scale. We were glad to get to spend a long day here - starting with a fascinating tour of the sculptor's museum in the nearby town of Keystone.

Our first National Monument

We spent the Saturday night in the Gillette, Wy Super Wal-Mart parking lot (with lots of company) and went to church there Sunday morning. More about that later - a great church, like many we found out West. After church we drove a couple of hours into the Black Hills to Devil's Tower. Pretty impressive rock.

We didn't stay long because we had no intention of 'communing with nature' physically or metaphysically.

Its a shame we let some old white guy name this Devils Tower when all the Indian nations had a Bear legend that surrounded this special place in their world - and all called it some form of Bear Mountain - a more fitting name, we thought.

Little Bighorn

Montana gave us one last treat - right off the highway to eastern Wyoming was the Little Bighorn NM.

We had a super Ranger talk from a native-american woman who could just point to the various landmarks and re-tell the battle.

This steep hill was the 'last stand' and Custer's marker, where he fell and was found, was the one with black writing. All were initially buried here (poorly, the ground is so rocky) but were eventually moved to proper graves. Custer is buried at West Point but most are still here, in the National Cemetery that adjoins the battlefield.

The last resting place for those from all wars since this time right up to present. (Jacob, you need to visit here)

Little Bighorn experience

Just before we the highway left Montana there was the Little Bighorn NM. We took the time to stop and were glad we did. It is well done and the Ranger Talk from a native american woman ranger was superb. She could tell the story and point out the places and it really came to life.

This was the last redoubt for what remained of Custer and his men - his last stand. The stone marker with the black writing is Gen Custer's. For some time they were all buried where they fell but were later moved to various places - most here because this became a National Cemetery for servicemen and women from this. and all, wars. A moving experience (you should come here, Jacob).

North by North East

We were next headed for Mt Rushmore but decided (wisely) not to go through Yellowstone NP and thru the mountains but instead to run the Interstates. That took us up thru Idaho to Butte, Mt and, after a great steak dinner (thanks for the suggestion, Arwen) pulled into Wal-Mart with all the other poor campers. (notice the rigs, above - we're the pobrecitos).

Who should be parked right in front of us - the Byrd's! On their way to Helena to see more of Richard's family. So, we just broke out the chairs and had a 'parking lot party'.

Before the sun set we got a rain that proved what Ava has always thought: the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is in a Dollar Tree.

The last night in Montana (snif, snif) was in a Cabela's parking lot - like Wal-Mart they welcome travellers -and Cabelas even has water, dump station and kennels available. Of course, like at W-M, you end up shopping and dropping a bundle. dumb like a fox, they are.

Rupert - final

We ended with a sight-seeing day and a pie supper social after church on Weds nite. Here's some of the guys just relaxin'.

Richard, Team Leader, had grown up in this area and still has family there so he wanted to show us some of the area's natural wonders. We went to Shoshone Falls on the Snake River and they were spectacular. We also drove through a Country Club down below the plateau on the Snake River and looked at a house perched on a cliff. This area is much like Palo Duro Canyon in that it is a flat, high plateau that is dry and parched and then you come up on the river which has cut a canyon hundreds of feet deep as a gash through the land.

The Sojourn Team remnant at the Falls; we are looking forward to being together again in October at Marshall, Tx.; God Willing.

Rupert - 4

Whatcha doin', Jo? Standing on your head on the roof? We had pressure washed/sanded and then Richard and Jo taped all the windows over as seen on the previous post. This west wall was the worst and the paint just blew off!

Jimmy was a wizard with the spray paint gun and did the whole project; I think maybe he knew he had real rookie 'helpers' and left us the important work of moving ladders and filling paint pails.

Ava is putting the finishing touches on the renovated Annex and you can see, below, the job looked "professional-grade good", according to our Sojourner/contractor Jimmy. High praise for this team but we were happy with this outcome.