road muse – an improvised trip across the US

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The scenery changed abruptly as we climbed into the Black Hills from Rapid City.    Look ma, there’s trees again!

And water!  (That’s actually a reservoir, a much-needed resource in a place where the erratic rhythm of floods and drought make water supply unpredictable.)

The big attraction of the day was going to be the Crazy Horse monument, another “must see” in this part of the country.   And there is no doubt that it is an incredible work, even in its unfinished state.   This photo is from a mile away, and to get an idea of the size, imagine that all 4 heads on Mount Rushmore could fit inside the back part of Crazy Horse’s head (wow).

(The small sculpture in the foreground is what the statue will look like on its completion – Crazy Horse on his horse.   But that could be years from now.  Each part of the statue needs to be meticulously dynamited – talk about an oxymoron!)

Yes, it is an incredible feat of sculpture, especially considering that mostly one man was responsible for its sculpting (the idea itself was from Lakota elders).  But to be honest, we were a little disappointed in this attraction.   The whole focus of the video and exhibits seemed much more about the work and life and family of the sculptor, than about Crazy Horse the man, or the Lakota tribe as a people.   Also, I resented paying 20 dollars entrance fee and not being able to approach the monument by car or even on foot (you had to pay another 4 dollars for a bus ride, something which was not explained at the entrance).

There were opportunities to spend money everywhere, which is, frankly, what this whole attraction seems to be about, raising money for the site (it was mentioned – proudly – several times in the video and elsewhere, that the sculptor and his family have refused to take any government money for their work, even when it has been offered to them).

Cedric did his best to film from a distance, using the (coin-operated) viewfinders.

One of the reasons I agreed to pay the 20 bucks was to see the sculptor’s studio; I always love glimpses into other artists’ work dens.   But the studio itself was off-limits to visitors,  so I had to content myself with a zoomed-in photo from a distance.

I’m sorry to sound so bitter, but I just kept getting the feeling I was being ripped off.  (Imagine how the Indians must have felt.)

This gate was pretty, though.

(And I will read more about Crazy Horse and find out more about all the history on my own – I can’t expect to get a whole education just from one eccentric roadside attraction.)

Anyway, the man-made stuff is a small fraction of what there is to admire in the Black Hills.   Click on the photo and check out the colors on this beautiful dragonfly (who had the misfortune to fly smack into our Thule box on the top of the car).

There was a whole family of mules lunching by the side of the road.

And finally, after several hairpin turns (over hair-raising cliffs), we got close to the Main Event of the Black Hills, the reason most people come here.

Do you have a good imagination?   I hope so.  Because this is the only picture of Mount Rushmore I was able to get, since I was the one driving (and after feeling bilked by Crazy Horse memorial, we flat-out refused to pay the 10 dollar fee to park in the Rushmore parking lot just to get a picture we’ve all seen on postcards a zillion times.)

Coming down out of the Black Hills, we passed the town of Keystone, another relic from gold mining days.

We could have kept going and gone on to Deadwood, but decided we didn’t want to see the town from our beloved HBO series (Deadwood) in its modern casino-filled iteration.  So I bought the book instead!