Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Subject: Postcards from Mt Rushmore--#4


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Weather update: Yesterday was perfect weather again. Started off at 50 but then got to 80 by Noon with sunny skies all around. Not sure how we got so lucky but the weather has been beautiful so far. I’m thinking it might be that The Barb is the bad weather omen as when she was with me in Michigan it was awful weather and now it’s perfect weather. I may have to reconsider which trips I take her on next year. Today is predicted to be more of the same.

Went to Custer State Park in the morning and took the Iron Mountain Road to Mount Rushmore. I didn’t tell the boys about this road but it has several tunnels on the trip to Mt Rushmore from Custer State Park and each tunnel perfectly frames the Rushmore monument at one end or the other. This road also has several pig-tail overpasses that are made out of native pine timber. They are engineering marvels and we stopped and took pictures. I know of no other place in the US that has these massive wooden road structures. I’ve been to a lot of state parks through the years, and I’ve never seen one more spectacular than CSP. There are over 74,000 acres in this state park and the second largest bison herd in the world.


We got to Mt Rushmore around 9:00 but there were already a lot of people there. Even so we parked and went on in to tour the grounds and visitor center. We also took the 1 mile walking loop up to the base of the mountain. Easy walk, but there were several stairs at the end.

While at Mt Rushmore, we noticed another oddity. We had begun noticing it while at Wall Drug, but at Mt Rushmore it finally hit home and that was we were seeing OLD PEOPLE everywhere!! Lots and lots of old people in big tour buses. And I’m not just talking old because 3 out of 4 of us on this trip would be considered old (I’ll let you do the math on who is the youngest…) but these were people way beyond 75. They were in the food lines, the check out lines, bathrooms and a lot of other places. We were zigging and zagging around them everywhere at the monument. The silver lining to all these people is that it is nice to see that retirement is working out well for at least one generation of Americans.

After Rushmore, we headed back to CSP by way of Needles Highway. Needles gets its name from the many “needle like” rock formations along the twisty hilly drive. Plus it has a series of very narrow passages which the tour buses like to go through. One especially is only 8’ 4” wide and the buses literally only have 2 inches per side of clearance. While at one of the overlooks, Earl immediately went beyond the railing and was climbing around on one of the rock ledges like a mountain goat. This is not the first time he’s done this and I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t lose him before the trip is over. I should call Susie and make sure the life insurance policy is paid up.

We also took the Wildlife Loop Road in CSP and saw the buffalo herd on the free range. Carlos keeps saying how he wants his picture beside a buffalo but I tell him that is not a good idea. Carlos and Earl are rooming together and if they keep it up we may lose them both. Mike H. and I are drawing cards to see who gets Carlos’ Corvette.


While on the Wildlife Loop we also found the Begging Burros for which we purchased the bread in Rapid City. Only the male was beside the parking area as the females were way out in the prairie over 200 yards away. I’ve had previous experience going out to “round up the Burro herd” so Carlos and I got our bread and headed out to entice them to come in. I stayed on the burro path ever vigilant for snakes but not sure Carlos did the same as he headed off in a parallel direction to me. Walked through several prairie dog towns but they were all in their holes chirping out the intruder alarm.


We were successful in getting the burros back to the parking area where we fed them all the bread. Carlos found out that when feeding the burros, it is best to stay on your feet and keep moving, as he sat on a picnic table and the next thing I know he was hollering as the burros had surrounded him and pinned him down wanting food. Now he knows how Custer probably felt.


Dinner on Tuesday was at the historic State Game Lodge in CSP. President Coolidge stayed at the State Game Lodge back in the 20’s when he was here to commemorate one of the Rushmore faces. Initially he was only going to stay for 3 weeks but liked the area so much he stayed for 3 months. Cal sure knew how to have fun.

Back at the Bavarian Inn the new chalet room was available for Carlos and Earl so we moved them into their room. We were going to Mt Rushmore for the evening Ranger presentation but before going I went down to see their new room. Carlos has been having issues getting the A/C to work properly in the various rooms and while in Mitchell I helped him with his room’s A/C. Now in this new room, he proudly shows me the A/C and how he figured out its operation. He said the only way he could get it to work was to set it at ‘60’. I thought that was a rather cold setting but if that was the way he liked it then so be it… We then left for Rushmore and returned four hours later. Earl immediately calls our room whining (okay, crying like a girl) that it was so cold he could see his breath!! I was literally laughing so hard I couldn’t plug my charger cord into the wall. The next day I never asked what they did to stay warm as I just didn’t want to know.

At the Rushmore evening presentation, we found that again we were in the younger 5% of the audience. I hope I can stay up that late when I get old.

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