Drove from Devil's Tower to Hill City and Palmer Gulch KOA Campground. This is the largest KOA campground we've stayed at so far. Five hundred RV sites along with tent sites, cabins and even lodges for rent. Everything is here meaning - you can rent a horse, car, atv, take a tour, two stores and gift shops along with two restaurants. This place is huge. We got settled into our campsite and decided to go to one of the campground restaurants, but a telephone pole fell in the campground and the power was out for dinner time. We opted to go back to our RV and clean out the fridge. Leftovers on the grill it was. We redeemed the leftovers with smores on the campfire later on that night. No sightseeing today, just setting up camp and relaxing.
Sunday 8/21/11
Rented a car today thru the campground. Thought it would be easier maneauvering through the mountains with a car instead of the Chinook. Our first stop was Crazy Horse Monument. The head is completed on the monument, but it is still in the process of being carved into the mountain. I have posted a picture of what it looks like now and a picture of what it will look like when completed. This project began in 1948 by sculpture, Korczak Ziolkowski and is still being carried on by his family. Korczak died in 1982. Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear wrote to Korczak and asked him if he would carve, Crazy Horse on the Black Hills of South Dakota so the white man would know that the Indians had great heroes as well.
We then went on a joy ride so to speak through the Black Mountains. There were lots of tunnels and wildlife in the Custer National Park. We saw chickories, mules, buffalo and one antelope. We also drove past Sylvan Lake.
This route took us in a large circle where our next stop was Mount Rushmore. Gutzon Borglum was the sculptor, artist and originator of the idea of the four presidents being carved. These 4 Presidents, Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington and Teddy Roosevelt were the preservationist of our country. Borglum completed three of the presidents in his lifetime and his son completed the project fifty years after his father's death. Borglum had a budget of $500,000.00 for the project and seven years for completion. It took 1,000,000.00 and fourteen years to actually complete Mt. Rushmore. It was a monumental task.
It began to rain while we were there and on our way back down the mountain we were greated by wild turkeys in the road. Soon after it began to hale and rain in a terrential downpour. The rain was so cold and the largest drops I've ever seen hitting the windshield. By the time we got into town, Hill City, the rain stopped.
We stopped for dinner at Chute Rooster Steakhouse. We headed back to the campground. The Hill City Slickers were playing at the gazebo, so we took our blankets down and sat and listened. They were pretty good. Long day! Enjoy the pics
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