Reflections of My Travel

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We woke up with 1/2 an inch of snow on our car!! We got out and played in the snow a little before starting on our way across South Dakota. Another very long and desolate drive. The whole way there were signs and billboards for Walls Drug. Nothing ever said what it was that was such a big deal and when we passed the exit, we couldn’t see anything remarkable. We finally got to Rapid City where we turned down into the Black Hills toward Mt. Rushmore. It was really amazing to see how those carvings were done and all the work that went into it. And when we came out of the little movie at the visitor’s center, the guide at the desk was looking at the mountain through some binoculars. There was a mountain goat halfway to the faces chewing on a tree. It was so cute. We then stuck around to see it lit up at night which puts a whole different look on things. We even ran into two Floridians wearing shorts. We managed to find a hotel open at this time of year in Keystone, SD right outside Rushmore. The whole town seemed to be closed for winter. There were two hotels and one restaurant. But that shower sure felt nice.

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Found us an open road to Custer’s State Park this morning. We drove the Wildlife Loop and were very pleased with it. We saw bison, big horn sheep, pronghorn antelope, white-tail deer, burros, turkeys, and a coyote. But the most entertaining part of it all was the prairie dog town. Those things are so amusing. They are like the western squirrels. So happy and chattery. They made the neatest little call when we got too close to them. After enjoying them for a while, we drove by the Crazy Horse Memorial, still a work in progress. We figure we’ll come back and actually visit there when it is finished. It is massive though. The picture doesn’t really show the size but where the armpit will be, all of the faces of Mt. Rushmore would fit. Or so we were told. On the way back to the interstate, we discovered a nail in our tire, so we had to make a stop in Custer, SD at a little feedstore where they patched our tire. They even gave us the screw that caused all the trouble. We spent the night in Spearfish, SD.

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We woke up this morning and headed over to Wyoming to Devil’s Tower. This was the first national monument in the U.S. It was actually called Bear Lodge by the Indians, to whom it is still a sacred spot. There was a great little story told by the Indians about how it was formed. A story that had nothing to do with molten magma or igneous intrusion. At the start of the trails there were prayer bundles and prayer cloths hanging from some of the trees. We hiked the trail around the base of the tower. It was 1.3 miles, this was a huge structure. The trail was snow-covered which made it a different kind of hike then any I had done before. It was a beautiful area. And of course, on the way out, we stopped to watch the prairie dogs. Along the way we went through some of the tiniest towns. I remarked when we went through Alva, WY and the sign said pop. 50 that it was amazing they were able to afford the sign. A few miles later, I ate my words when we passed through Alladin, WY where the sign read pop. 15 — 15!!! We then crossed back into SD to make our way up through the southwest corner of North Dakota. Saw one of the most beautiful sunset skies I have ever seen. We ended up in Miles City, Montana for the night. The radio station we had been listening to on approach was talking about the strolling holiday festival going on downtown and the tree lighting ceremony, which I just thought was so cute so we hurried to make it in time. There were townspeople gathered all around the tree singing carols and the tree — well, it was so pitiful — but it was so nice and charming to see the little town all holiday-spirited.