Blogs from Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, United States, North America - page 4

Friday, September 11, 2009 We departed Sturgis and Mount Rodney RV Park at a leisurely pace this morning. Our destination was Hart Ranch RV Park, about an hour away. I found this place online; three nights with full amenities for $40. The only catch was to listen to an hour sales pitch come Sunday morning. Hey, I’m open to possibilities! Why not? On our way out of Sturgis, I noticed the 18 wheeler I was following kind of swerved to the left lane from our right lane. I looked in my left side mirror and saw a car coming up fast on my left side. Then I saw what the 18 wheeler’s swerve was for; a dead deer in the right lane of Hwy 90. So, I had to swerve myself, but to the right of ... read more

Our first stop today was Mount Rushmore. It's located near Keystone in South Dakota and is a monumental granite sculpture by Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941), located within the United States Presidential Memorial that represents the first 150 years of the history of the United States of America with 60-foot sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The entire memorial covers 1,278.45 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level. Frank did not go in with me because he had seen it before so he headed of to explore the surrounding area a little and to get the car washed. It had the dust and dirt plus dried crusty bugs from the 10 states that we have been through so far. There is a lot to see ... read more

Hello again, Thursday 27th ,We packed up as usual until Josh went to unplug the trailer and found the electrical cord had welded itself to the plug, Bugger !! So after driving around for an hour and a half , I finally found the parts I needed.So I just cut it off and off we went. From St Louis we headed Northwest, bypassed Kansas City went up from there. From out of the tree laden areas that weve seen for most of the trip. We headed into the flat cropping land of Iowa, Nebraska and into South Dakota. Corn and Soy beans everywhere, The wheat has been harvested , The little towns have become very rural orientated. Like rows of combine harvesters along the main street instead of car yards. Adult superstores and small casinos next ... read more

Every day whilst at Sturgis we went out for a ride somewhere. Except one day when suffering from really bad hangovers we just about managed to get in to Sturgis for some food. We went to Mount Rushmore which is only about 70 miles away. I must confess at this point that I was very much looking forward to going there. It being an iconic image of the states. I was quite interested in finding out as to why the thing had been built in the first place. There is loads of interesting information on boards on why the presidents were chosen, the order, caring for the monument, loads of american history and the making of the monument. I eventually found one little plaque that said that the then senator and two other local dignitaries had ... read more

Today we arrived in Keystone, SD and we took a tour of Custer State Park where we did the entire wildlife loop during an intense thunderstorm. We saw lots of cool wildlife, like donkeys, and deer and antelope. Unfortunately the buffalo were all hiding from the rain. Then we visited Mt. Rushmore. Last time we were here we could not even stand the winds were so strong and this time we got caught in major downpours. Then we went to The Historic Powder House Lodge in Keystone for our hosted dinner of Elk, Buffalo, and Venison which was great. After dinner, we decided to go back to Mt. Rushmore for the lighting ceremony which was a lot cooler than I expected---I was glad we went. We both had fun. I'm exhausted so this is short---last night's ... read more