Mt. Rushmore

24 Aug 06 - These photos were actually taken today! The campground we are in (Horsethief Campground near Hill City) is one of the few that has WiFi and it is a luxury. A bit of history for those of us long out of school - Gutzon Borglum was chosen to head the sculpture project. He had previously created something similar at Stone Mountain Georgia which, due to a disagreement, was dynamited off!!! The second photo is a list of the workers on the project (there were no fatalities). The third photo is the 1/12 scale model Borglum created for the workers to take dimensions from. They used a simple angle protractor and plumb bob to take measurements to transfer to the mountain. You can just see the 'model' part of this device on Lincoln's head. Note that the original plan was to show each figure down to the waist but was abandoned before the project was completed. Estimate was $500,000 and 3 years - actual was $1,000,000 and 14 years. Sound familiar co-workers? The last photo is one of the surviving workers that happen to be at the center signing copies of his book. He is Donald "Nick" Clifford and is at the top of the second column in the workers listing.


 

Last of the Badlands

24 Aug 06 - I'm sure you are tired of the Badlands by now but I remember reading about them in the Westerns I read as a young boy (and later) as a place where the outlaws could go and be safe from the sheriff and it was intriguing for me to experience them! I don't know how true to life the novels were but it is certainly a place you would not want to go into on a horse without knowing them! The 'white' stone is apparently volcanic ash - the visitor center film tells you it is up to 30 deep in places! You are never too old to learn - I never knew the ash fell this far away and this thick. They believe it killed most if not all the wildlife - makes St. Helen's effect seem minor!!! Yet it contains grasslands also (and a water hole on occasion). The park is some 244,000 acres and appears to do a good job of letting us experience the Badlands.


 

Badlands Landscape

24 Aug 06 - I was hard to choose what to show for the Badlands as I took so many photos - many of which I was pleased with. Here I am trying to capture the vastness of it, some of the colors (colours), the variety of the vegetation and its ruggedness. For those familiar with the US deserts it will likely look like something they have seen before. It is but it is also different.


 

Badlands National Park Animals

You have to get off the paved roads to find most of the wildlife but they are reasonable gravel roads if a bit of a washboard in places. Locals appear to call them 'windrows' rather than washboard but us Arkies still prefer washboard. The bison were hesitant to move off the road in places, acting like cattle. The deer, on the other hand, did not like anything about people or autos. They ran along side the road until far enough ahead to make a dash for the gully on the other side.


 

Badlands National Park Animals

23 Aug 06 – The real purpose of stopping in Wall was to tour the Badlands, National Park and we were not disappointed. The Visitors Center was outstanding with a good 1 hour video. We were reminded of our Kenya time by the terrain and ‘looking for animals’. We were fortunate to see Prong Horn Antelope, Elk, Mule Deer, Big Horn Sheep and, of course, Bison (oh yes, and prairie dogs). Unfortunately our little digital camera could not capture the elk or antelope and the deer were not very cooperative either! The bison and bighorn, on the other hand, were like the animals of Africa and use to us humans. Don’t miss this drive.


 

Wall SD

23 Aug 06 - Wall, SD, a town of some 800 population, has 13 Motels, 6 Restaurants and 3 Service Stations (all gas/diesel is same price). Along with being the only place reasonable to visit Badlands National Park, it is 'World Famous' for Wall Drug Store. Founded in 1931 its owner, a pharmacist, discovered that no one stopped as they went through Wall. He had a good well in town and decided to put out signs on the highway advertising 'Free Ice Water' and business picked up immediately. That worked out so well he decided to put out more signs along the road and eventually added the London Tube to his list of advertisements. The rest is 'history'. Actually not a bad campground even though their price reflects the lack of selection! Wall Drug has many paintings scattered throughout it stores – this one reminded Becky of two of her sisters at a similar age. Question: Which sisters belongs to which two in the painting?

 

Mitchell SD to Wall SD

23 August 06 - We left Mitchell to travel the 200 or so miles to Wall. These photos give an idea of what much of western SD are like along I-90. I'm not sure how far you can see but it must be a L-O-N-G way. The sky started out clear but changed as we traveled west. We have been told that the wind ALWAYS blows in SD and our neighbor in Mitchell says they don't even call it a wind until it goes beyond 25 mph - winds of 150 mph are fairly common! True to form, the wind came up as we traveled west and for the first time we had the RV steps blow down (open up) while we were traveling! Bungee cord to the rescue. Only crop we saw was sunflowers - only about 2 feet high! The third photo shows the wide open spaces and the clouds building and the last one shows the front - fortunately it missed us to the south!