Long, strange journey. Part 2

Again, I never imagined myself doing some of the things I did today.
Stop #1, Crazy Horse Memorial & Indian Museum of North America. This was absolutely one of the most emotionally engaging sights and displays. I am saddened by the legacy of abuse perpetrated on American Indians by settlers, and the government. Also, the portrayal of Native Americans is often unfairly represented or inadequately presented. However, I learned a lot about the Lakota tribe and Crazy Horse that I otherwise would not have known.

Prior to the movie about the memorial, there were intermission "filler" facts. Crazy Horse reportedly commented, when asked to be photographed, "Would you like to imprison my shadow, as well?" Also, Crazy Horse was killed during a time of supposed truce between the government and the tribes. Injustice all around. It put all of the other tourist-location accounts of western expansion into perspective. Perspective easily forgotten. Artifacts and historical descriptions gave the history of the memorials' creation and Lakota traditions. This was both mmoving and beautiful to learn. I'm thankful this trip brought me this far. Just as humbling, but on a different more humane level, as the land views I've seen so far. Here I am at the "base" of the mountain. In the next picture, a view of the memorial with the scaled-down full model in the foreground.












A digression --
Earlier on, upon entering the memorial, the gate attendant noticed my NY plates, and inquired:
"Are you near that monument?"
[....Quizically I stare for a moment...]"Monument?" [not thinking, 'of course, he means NYC...']
"You know, the...Lady in the Water?"
"Ah, Statue of Liberty. No, I'm not too close to that"


Sight #2, the flashy, at times silly, and informative, historical Deadwood, SD: This was the stop that might not have been. After Crazy Horse, I was ready to drive for a while, get some miles under me. I had to backtrack toward Deadwood, and I almost decided against it, not sure how much I might find there. This was again, a wise choice to return to. I first stopped in the Deadwood depot/info center. The adjacent Adams Museum was the real sight to see. Deadwood is known for Wild Bill Hickcok and Calamity Jane, but the admission-free, donation-suggested museum presented more than the usual flashy cowboy, saloon-town stuff (that would come later). The information at the museum, and the displays were fantastic. Turns out, the gold rush brought a diverse group of people to settle into Deadwood, making it swiftly progressive and developed. The town had a sizeable Chinese and Jewish population. Families also kept informed of European culture. There was a section of artifacts from something called "curiosity Cabinets" kept in Deadwood residences. Here, I saw a stuffed, two-headed calf. Apparently, this was more common than imagined; 1 in 10 million cows were born this way.
Deadwood was also weathly, making yearly revenues of $8 million from gold. And of course, the rumors are true, Deadwood was center of licentious behavior. (Best part-- first paragraph) I'll drink to that:Then, downtown, Saloon # 10 began the flashy, touristy sights, which I took full and unabashed advantage of. This Saloon #10 is near the original location of the saloon of the same name where Wild Bill was supposedly shot in the back while playing poker. See "death chair" for full appreciation of the legend....speaking of, check out the shootout. Performed (about 10 times) daily, the shootout was a frivolous little play -- it was great. Note the Buick and videocamera technology available in the late 19th century (I told you Deadwood was advanced for its time). Also, a pic of ensuing carnage from shootout. Oh, wild west. Too much fun for one person. And I came, I saw, I can't-believe-I-did-that.































...and just two more stops to round out the day, I promise.



Quickly, stop# 3: Sundance, WY -- my intro to the state of Rodeo and Big Things.
Wyoming is vastly different than SD. I noticed changes immediately. On I-90, the terrain changes right away. From scary, put-the-car-in-second-gear, hills to flat big expanses. Then, there were the massive hunks of Ford trucks that would've rolled over me without blinking. I discovered cowboy boots are not a fashion statement, but rather required footwear. Who knew? Ugh. Keep me in the car as much as possible, please.

-Picture 1, the cool, aforementioned sign








-Picture 2, Sundance Kid. Turns out, after being on the run numerous times for stealing, finally apprehended, sentenced and serving jail time, he was pardoned by the governor. The pardon came one day before his scheduled release. Semantics, I guess. Also, all this happened before the Sundance Kid ("Henry" by birth) was 21.




-Picture 3, caption: "Only in Wyoming"







-Picture 4, from inside the Sundance Kid/Cook County museum, caption "Only in Wyoming, part 2" Locust plague, anyone? Ugh.
















Final sight of this long day, Devil's Tower Monument. In a word? Euphoric.
The sky was threatening rain for the whole time I was there, but it held out, and I enjoyed a breeze and severe reduction in temp. from the 99 degrees earlier to, I would say, about 85 or so. I wasn't sure how much DTM would have to offer, I didn't even know it was a national monument/nat'l park service location (the nation's first official monument, in fact). But, anything demonically inclined is OK with me, so I went for it.

After the visitor's center info, I decided on the 1.3 mile Tower Trail to see the entire land formation. At the beginning of the trail I had the humorous fortune to follow/lead/be-caught-in-the-middle-of a group of 13-year-olds on a group trip. Their opening conversation went something like this, as we all passed on the trail:
Girl # 1: "You can't die holding your breathe right there, not voluntarily, anyway"
Girl #2: (shrill voice) "Yes you can! Underwater, anyway"
G1: "Well, yeahhhhh, underwater, of course"

This convo went on for some time. Then, somehow, despite being on the same trail, I lost the gaggle. What was becoming a silly, amusing walk, became a silent, sensory experience. The wind blew through the pines around me as I was walking. I caught the distinct, burned-match smell of recent forest-controlling fire, and I caught glimpses of both vulture groups riding the wind currents at the top of the formation and rock climbers traversing to the top. Euphoric, once again. Great walk, great picture opportunities. I did the picture-taking-switch-off with another couple, as well.


...And them, to round off the trail, I (somehow) caught up with the gaggle again. I caught the end of another of their riveting conversations:
Different girl # 1: "It was just a stupid rock" (refering to Mt. Rushmore, I soon found out)
Different girl # 2: "Well this was just a stupid rock too"
DG1: "Well, at least we got to climb this rock"
DG2: "Yea, but the other one had AIR."
DG1: "Umm...air?" (confused...)
DG2: "You know....air, inside the shops, air conditioning, it was cooler (at Mt. Rushmore)"

Geeze. That was fun. But the in-between time on the trail was great. Another strange amalgam of events to round out today. And stick a fork in me. I'm done.

Beautiful natural colors, I can't get over it:













Also, reminding me of the Crazy Horse Memorial experience, there were clusters of peace offerings around the Devil's Tower trail, left by Lakota (and other) tribes. Devil's Tower is an important site of reverence for these tribes. It is linked to the performance of one of their important ceremonies, the sun dance. Left in tribute, these cloths were blowing in the wind. Very poignant.


The Stats:

- Gas: still hovering at the $3.00 mark, regrettably.

- AAA: Back home, My Trip Tik planner mentioned the Black Hills as the place she'd choose if she could only go to one place in the whole country. I fully agree with her.

- Sanity Keeper #1: "Smart Wool". I'm not usually one to peddle brand names (much), but these wool-blend hiking socks saved my ankles. I'm excessively blister-prone, but I've worn these socks now for two days. They are cushioned in the ankle and keep my sweaty feet at bay. Buy them! They are AWESOME. Then go hiking. Also awesome.

- Sanity Keeper #2: Wilco, "Driving Sideways" by Aimee Mann, Elliott Smith. All the music that kept me afloat while driving between stops.

- Near-sad moment of the day: Driving I-90 Momma Turkey chose the moment I was driving by to escort Baby Turkey across the interstate (speed limit: 75mph). I saw them, and in a moment I pleaded for them to stop walking. All I could imagine was the baby's life flashing before its eyes (main highlight including seeing the inside of its egg and little else). I couldn't do much to swerve or stop in time, because of other traffic. I thought I hit the poor thing as momma turkey looked on. I saw a swirl of baby feathers, but on backward glance, they were both calmly walking across still... Weird. I don't like killing things with my car grill... Had it been one of those WY monster trucks, BT might not have been so lucky, however.

What a day.