06-03-11 Crazy Days and Crazy Nights

06-03-11
Crazy Days and Crazy Nights
100.3 miles
Posting in Hot Springs
I get up in the morning finishing off the writings for posting this morning. I head over to post them near the only site I know of for internet access, in front of the Best Western Motel in town.
I’ve finished and drive thru the old town of Hot Springs wishing I had the time and money to really explore it better.
Driving thru Wind Caves - taking the pah of least resistance out of town towards Hill City I find myself in beautiful landscapes of high green grasses and gently rolling hills. There are a few stop offs on the side of the road to comment on the area and it’s history. I take a few pictures of the ones that appeal to me
Passing thru Custer - After the lush rolling grasslands of the Wind Caves prairie coming into Custer, SD I start to see the massive rocks that let me know I’m nearing the kind of geology that produced Mt. Rushmore. Huge rock formations amid pasture land an valley floor. I drive on and to my right I’m
- Seeing the Crazy Horse Monument from a long distance away.. Even incomplete, it is impressive! I am looking forward to the march tomorrow and standing at the furthest reach of his arm with his face behind me. Talk about a Kodak moment! I stop at the information booth and get some useful information about the light show. It’s $10 per person, but if we go after the walk, we can come back that night for free. Paul and I had planed to see the light show tonight, but with this news it looks like tonight will be better to see the Mt. Rushmore light show and do this tomorrow.
Continuing on I pass the turn off for Mt. Rushmore and note it for later. Continuing, I find the road blocked ahead. They are doing road paving and are convoying cars in each direction with a “Pilot Car”. I’m stopped in from of a bar that has already adapted to the traffic jamp. On their billboard outside the sign reads “Why wait in traffic - pull in here!” I take a picture of the sign for the name of the tavern - “The Silver
Dollar Saloon” because the band Heads Hands & Feet use that name in their song “Jack Daniels Old No. 7”. After a wait we are escorted thru and I find myself:
Going into Hill City. It is a touristy place. Lots of bars and motels and little kitschy shops. I only found two “chain” fast food places (Subway & DQ) There is a train that goes to Keystone and back with a museum of old trains on the site. I go into a market called Krulls ( I think of Sci-Fi Sword & Sorcery Movie) across the street from where My friend Paul is staying. I get some chicken from the deil and share it with Mischa and use the down time to look for a place to camp. I head north and find a campground near lake Sheridan. There is a placard that says there was a town named Sheridan here once, it’s remains lie under the water of the lake. I go up to see about camping and it’s too rich for my blood. $21 for a tent site and $2 more for my dog. But the man in the kiosk suggests a place up near Mt. Rushmore called Wrinkled Rock. It’s free camping in a dispersed fashion. I go up to check it out, passing again thru the road construction gauntlet. I find the place. It looks to be for backpackers and rock climbers primarily. I read the instructions but don’t know precisely what is meant be ‘dispersed camping”. I try to call the park service but there is no reception there. I drive the short distance to Mt. Rushmore to see if anyone there knows about dispersed camping or Wrinkled Rock. I get to the turn for Mt. Rushmore and the view away from the faces is (to me) more magnificent than the Presidents in stone. It is a huge panorama of wondrous scope. Teddy Roosevelt would have been inspired by the view. Looking up at the faces on Mt. Rushmore is was a bit disappointed. As the saying goes “I thought they’d be bigger. They sure were in North By Northwest! (And where was that futuristic villain’s house?) The toll to get into Mt. Rushmore is $11.00 for parking, but I just want information, or at least to do a turnaround. I get both. I’m directed to go up the RV lane to the cross walk and wait for “a guy in a go-cart” I get up there and don’t see the go cart so I try my cell. It’s got bars! I reach parks people from the phone number on the Wrinkled Rock poster and just then the go cart shows up. I signal that I’m in conversation and he attends to some other people. The people on the line seem ill informed about their own parks and policies. I finish the call after talking to two people and then ask the go cart guy about Getting out of the parking lot and if he knows anything about dispersed camping, specifically how close to the road/bathroom I can camp under those provisions. He doesn’t know but says there is a ranger inside that might be able to help. He also direct’s me on how to leave when I’m ready, then he’s off to the next person in need of help.
The ranger is not that familiar with wrinkled Rock, but has a good idea of what dispersed camping is and ow close I can get. Satisfied I leave but also go to the full campsite below Wrinkled Rock to talk to the camp host about being there. He gives me the inside scoop and says I’m even welcome to come to his park for water if I need it. I fill up my jugs and solar shower (it’s warm enough these last few days) and then, feeling satisfied I’ll have a place to camp tonight, I head back to Hill City. I could have put my tent up then, but figured I could leave my car there when paul & I got to Mt. Rushmore tonight and he can drop me off on the way back and I’ll put up the tent then. Back in town I go back to krulls and try to reach Paul. It’s near 5 pm.
I get a call around 5 pm from Paul saying he’s landed and will be there in about an hour from Rapid City. Having nothing better to do I occupy my time with a pin-ball game on my netbook called “Poggle”
Suddenly I hear Paul next to my window. He’s already registered at the motel and was walking across the street to the store to get some potato chips. We talk and he askes if I’d gotten his email (I hadn’t) or phone message (I had). I ask if he’d gotten mine ( he hadn’t). We catch up briefly and when he goes for the chips, I bring out the gifts I’d picked up in Iowa & SD for him. The main one was a lapel pen that said “Is This Heaven? Not this is Iowa” from the Field of Dreams in Dyersville and a “Mt Rushmore” spoon (He collects “State” spoons) from the Old West Trading Post just west of Charlton, S.D.
It is at this time that paul mentions that “It’s not much but you can sleep on the floor in the room. It’s a lot. The floor in a motel - with wifi and a bathroom…or an isolated barebones mountain campsite…hummm…tough choice (Not!)
I find the place to park and move a few things into the room (sleeping bag, comforter, computer, some clothes and bath bag) and set up a sleeping area.
Then it’s off to the:
Lightshow at the Mt. Rushmore Bowl!
The problem of getting cash without having to throw away $2.00 in an atm transaction is not helped by Hill City. There is, like
Hot Springs, any business I can find that will give cash back on a debit transaction. Paul will front the fee and I’ll pay for something he needs later. We get to mt. Rushmore just before dusk, around 7;30 pm. The parking is $11.00. Paul has been given a big SUV instead of the compact he’s requested and this is becoming a problem for finding parking and maneuvering in tight spaces. I get out and guide him into a spot but it is so confined he can’t get out the drivers side door. So he climbs out the passenger side. We get to the amphitheater just in time to see the last showing of the history of Mt. Rushmore. Did you know what percentage of it was carved using Dynamite? It was 90%!
We go down to the stone seats reminiscent of the Hollywood Bowl and listen to the ranger giving the presentation. It is a fairly good presentation - high on patriotic and historic comments and imagery. At the end the ranger invites on stage all past and present veterans. It is a very large amount. Everyone give them a standing ovation. Then the Ranger asks for all the Vietnam Veterans to take a step forward and says of them “This is a group that was never “Welcomed Home” formally let’s welcome thee home now!” and the applause it thunderous.. Well done! I start to tear up as I see the effect it has on these men and women. Long overdue, but for these Veterans below…you can see what it means to them here and now. To me, that was the best part of going to Mt. Rushmore. The huge stone faces above had seemed small and were now dwarfed by the small faces below that were now emblazoned large in my memory and heart. There was a flag lowering ceremony that concluded the evenings events and some people from all of the different military campaigns participated in lowering, folding and presenting the tri-angled flag back to the Ranger.. The participants were Ad Hock, but showed that, once in the military, the training stays.
We drove back and got some sodas and other things at a gas station convenience store. Paul’s items were about $5.56 - perfect - half the $11.00 parking fee! I love it when a plan comes together!