I finally made it to Mt. Rushmore, not packed but it was a Monday. Very organized and well managed. In the visitor's center they had a short movie on how it came to be. A little back story, the powers in charge had thought about putting faces of Lewis & Clark, and Sitting Bull, but finally the idea of Presidents came to mind, this was in 1927. The sculptor Gutzon Borglum created and over saw the project from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son. Interesting he sculpted all four of the faces in his workshop and then his crew would measure and go up on that mountain and multiply it by 12 times and start craving. Gutzon was so adapt at how much dynamite was needed for each section of the face and they would dynamite before lunch and then at the end of their shift. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln were chosen to represent the nation’s birth, growth, development and preservation. The faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. They had flags going in representing each state and when that state was entered in the Union.
After leaving Mt. Rushmore, I went to see Crazy Horse
Memorial. Unlike Mt. Rushmore, it is not organized or well managed. The cost of going in was $12 not bad but you
couldn’t walk up to the monument you had to pay an additional amount to ride
the bus. And you were so far away you
had to take the bus to get to see him up close.
They said it would take another 20 years to finish him. There is only about 14 crew members working. On a good note I was allowed to
bring Priscilla on the bus, so she was just happy to be out of the RV. Crazy horse is much bigger than the faces of
Mt. Rushmore, the back story on him was sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski from a
family of Polish immigrants, worked on the face by himself for the first 5
years. He built steps on the face of the
mountain (over 1000) and carried what he needed every day to the top. He had 10 children and when they were of age,
they all helped with his endeavor! To
this day, some of his children and grandchildren still work on this project.
Eventually they want to build an university campus under Crazy Horse monument
where you can actually drive down! Oh,
they did socially distance on the bus and asked if you would wear a mask!
Which comes to motorcycles.
They have followed me to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse I guess they
wanted to get all the attractions done before the “Big” run in Sturgis! If I see them in back of me, I just pull over
and let them pass. I would say half of them are NOT wearing helmets, and that
is terrifying to me considering the mountains winding roads! There are all
kinds of caution signs to watch out in your blind spot for bikers, look
twice! There has just been 100 death on
Montana roads alone this year. I drove
to Hot Springs at a campsite (finally found a Passport America ½ price) that I’m staying the night, not too many bikers here as I am 100
miles away! But boy, did it thunder and
lighting last night. The lightening was
scary, I had to google it to see if we were safe in a RV during a lightening
storm! It said yes, so I turned over and
went to sleep. It didn't seem to bother Priscilla or Mo, he kept right on playing through it all! It rained pretty hard and
I hoping that the bugs are washed off my RV, it is pretty dirty. I’m heading back to California via 80, and
Nevada!
Here’s some pictures of Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse
monuments:
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