Day 35

Tuesday – We got an early start this morning knowing it would be a full day. Went to the Crazy Horse Memorial and got there before anyone was manning the entrance gates where they charge admission by vehicle. There were three motorcycles ahead of us. We had the place mostly to ourselves. The visitor center changed drastically since we were there 12 years ago. For those who don’t know what Crazy Horse is about 60 years ago the Native Americans asked one of the guys that had worked at Mt. Rushmore to carve a mountain so that the Americans would know that the Indians have heroes too. They asked him to carve one of their former chiefs “Crazy Horse” sitting on a galloping horse pointing towards their lands. Crazy Horse was quoted as saying “my land is where my people lie buried” when the US government was trying to put the Native Americans on reservations. The four faces at Mt. Rushmore would fit in the face of Crazy Horses face. This is a very large rock excavation project and that is where my interest lies in this undertaking. Our drive across South Dakota was uneventful. We drove 417 mile and stopped at exit 62 on I-29 midway between Sioux Falls, SD and Sioux City, Iowa. I decided to drop down to I-80 here rather than drive through Chicago on Thursday. Tomorrow we plan to drive to Davenport, Iowa which is about 400 miles.


Progress at Crazy Horse

Typical South Dakota landscape