Rapid City

So...if you happen to find yourself wandering around the highways and byways of middle America, you could do a lot worse than to be located in Rapid City SD. Specifically, you should locate yourself in a room at the Microtel. It is relatively inexpensive, the people are pleasant and there is coffee available 24/7. Yes, it is luke warm in the evenings, but there are micro wave ovens in the rooms. It isn't as nice as staying with relatives, but these people won't get as sick of you as fast as family does.

We took a day off of driving so that we could check out the attractions around here, specifically Deadwood and Mt Rushmore. There are lots of other things to do, but Louise can only drag me to a certain number of places before she begins to lose her will to live. There are caves with waterfalls, prehistoric graveyards, museums, hiking trails and a town that is home to four hundred thousand bikers one weekend (week) every year. There is also the other mountain that is being carved into the likeness of Crazyhorse on a horse (crazy!) but it is far from finished and we have seen too many construction projects on this trip already.

First we drove to Deadwood which is just up the I90 from where we are. It's your typical tourist town based on a gold rush and the violent death of Wild Bill Hickock. He was shot to death while playing poker. He had a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights which is now referred to as the deadman's hand. A lot of gamblers would kill for a hand like that. The town fathers decided that a fitting tribute to Deadwood's most famous resident would be to line the streets with small, crappy casinos. Nice...

I was told by someone that Mt Rushmore is a big letdown unless you see it from the air. Not having access to a small biplane or a helicopter, Louise and I paid our $11 and walked in like millions of others have over the years. It is wonderful! The view of the four president’s busts was excellent and we took plenty of pictures to prove it. On the way there, we pulled off the road and had a view of George Washington's profile. We could just barely make out two or three mountain goats that were walking on the top of his head. Just a little something special for us to remember.

I had had enough sightseeing by then and I suspect Louise had enough of me as well, so we headed back to our home away from home to enjoy a quiet evening recharging our energy and camera batteries.

Tomorrow should bring more driving adventures and by this time tomorrow we should be in Des Moines Iowa. Should be...