At the Missouri River...2200 miles and counting

Hey there. Well, more heat, more mileage and more WOW's. I had a great day again. Left out early, and got into South Dakota, and the Black Hills. Passed through motorcycle Mecca at Sturgis, South Dakota, just north of Rapid City. I was expecting to be struck by lightening there, or pick up a few points in IQ...but, no, just saw more "STURGIS 2011" baseball caps, suspenders, t-shirts, underwear (yep, underwear) and other stuff than I have ever seen.
The big ride was through Needles and onto Mount Rushmore. Needles is a fabulous ride of twisties in the mountains in Custer State Park. My bike does so well there...loves to breath at altitude. The views were spectacular. But back to Mount Rushmore.

I was pretty well amazed with the carving by Gutzon Blorgum. The carvings just leap out at you when you come up from Keystone. They are a bright white compared to the grey background and green trees. Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln...staring off in the distance. However, the site itself has really been made into a remarkable visit. It has two museums, two visitor centers, bookstores, gift shop, cafe, and a large amphitheater. Hundreds of visitors from everywhere were at the exhibit.

So here is the amazing part: Blogum began carving in 1927, at age 58, and it took 14 years. Chisels and jack hammers...and a vision. Amazing vision. He was an amazing guy. Summer temperatures in excess of 100 F, and the bitter winters of snow, ice, and wind...and 14 years of work. He also had the basic design for Stone Mountain, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. He started but didn't finish the Georgia carving. they are different...the Georgia carving covers a much larger surface area, but it is a relief, not a full sculpture like Rushmore.

Oh, one more good samaritan story. I pull up at Rushmore, and roll up to the gate, armed with my National Park senior pass, with a big grin on my face. I give the young woman my best "old fart" smile, and she says "Sorry, we don't take passes here.  We are a private company that runs the facility." Well, good for the country...entrepreneurial spirit and all that. So, she says "$11 please". I hand her my credit card...and, guess what? Cash only, and I hadn't been to an ATM in nearly 2 weeks. So I was cash short. Ah, but she is a good samaritan..."go on in and have a good time. There are two ATM's and get some money, spend it here, and bring it to me when you leave". So I did...nice people all over.

the rest of the ride east was along I-90. I thought about taking other surface roads, but they just parallel I-90, and they have similar speed limits. So, I was on the Interstate, pushing east. The temperatures exceeded 103 F, so the ride was tough. I stopped every 90 minutes at most for hydration. The last one was funny....I poured a bottle of water over my head, spalashed water on my face...and looked up at these little kids staring at me...thinking that I was taking a shower...I would have if I could.

I stopped in Wall, South Dakota, to see the WALL DRUGSTORE. For nearly 100 miles I saw these billboards for free water, 5 cent coffee, airconditioning, buffalo burgers, and more. So, I  counldn't pass it up. Well, WALL DRUG, since 1931, was a huge stop...buses, cars, bikers, hikers, bicyclists...all stopped into see this massive tourist...well, trap. It was interesting though. Neat little burg. Reminded me of SOUTH OF THE BORDER, a massive tourist trap on US 301, at the South Carolina border that I saw as a little kid when we did our big road trip from Miami, Florida to New York to see our family every summer. It was a real milestone...and invested the same amount of money in billboards as did WALL DRUG.

I spent last night on the east side of the Missouri river, looking at green trees and a big working river. Nice "sight for sore eyes". Next stop: Rochester, Mn.

More later.