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Day four got off to a great start in Hot (Warm) Springs with breakfast at a place called “Daily Bread.” It is the sort of café every town deserves—good coffee and food, plenty of donuts and cookies, and a wide assortment of breads. Behind Marcia at one table were about 10 of the town’s women discussing the affairs of the church, to my right was a table of gentlemen discussing whether or not someone was ‘born again’ and why another fellow’s wife left him. The seeming organizer of the guy table had driven up in a beautifully restored 1957 Chevy Bel Air which he saw me admiring as we left and I shot him a thumbs up to his smile.
We made our way to Wind Cave National Park and decided to take a tour deep underground. Fortunately our ranger/guide was a Lakota Sioux and she shared with us the ‘emergence’ story of the Lakota people while we stood some 300’ underground. The cave is sacred to the Lakota as it is from where both the people and the bison emerged in their creation story.
From there we made our way through Custer State Park,
seeing bison, antelope, deer, and prairie dogs. Spring is clearly in the air, with new bison and antelope calves almost everywhere we looked.
We then took the Iron Mountain highway to Mt. Rushmore. It consists of, according to the signs, 17 miles, 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, 2 splits, and 4 Presidents. No need to say how awe-inspiring the actual monument is. It was summed up by one little guy who looked at his grandma as they were leaving and said, “Grandma, why is Mt. Rushmore so
good?”
Then we drove to the Crazy Horse monument. It is, of course, also very impressive if only very partially done. But I (George) wondered about how little of it is finished and how much the place seems to be a tribute to the guy who started carving it. Certainly there were many Native American kids working there and a number of Native American artisans as well. But so little seems to be happening on the monument (after over 50 years only the face is done) and so much of the place about the artist. Controversy does swirl around it, you will have to
New Friends in Deadwood
I am bringing Wild Bill and buddy home with us. be your own judge.
We wandered on through the Black Hills until we arrived at tonight’s lodging in Deadwood. On the way a short stop in Hill City to see the Teddy Bear museum with 9,945 teddy bears--only 55 more need to be donated to make the goal of 10,000!
Deadwood is wall to wall gambling parlors, bars, restaurants, and tourist shops—it is perfect! A town that sprung up during the gold rush and was mainly saloons, gambling parlors, and brothals has returned, for the most part, to its roots! We wandered into Saloon Number 10 in time to see Wild Bill Hickock gunned down and his assassin captured on the street in front of the bar. Then we followed the crowd to the reenactment of the trial of Jack McCall, his killer. All good fun.
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