TUESDAY’S TRAVELS:
Here’s our Tuesday progress.
With the boys we have to keep our driving time reasonable and stop every once in a while, though not nearly as often as I’d expected. To say they have been troopers would be an understatement. We knew they were good flyers – turns out they’re good drivers too. Sebastian is hardcore. He gets mad when I do stop. The Element (which turns out to be the perfect care for us I think) has raised back seats, so he can see out the windshield – theatre seating cross-country. Santana, considering he’s four months, has been solid. He’s had his moments where we drive some miles to a not-so-sweet serenade, but what he wants mostly then is for Mickie to crawl into the back seat so he can stare into her eyes. If she diverts her gaze his lower lip shoots out right away until she looks at him again. Other than that he’s either sleeping or babbling to himself. And Charlie’s about as flexible as it gets. Sleeps until we stop, then pops her head out the window to see where we are.
We went through the Dakota Badlands today – which look straight out of a movie.
This whole area was under water 75 million years ago as part of a sea that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, then become marsh, then prairie, then eroded via wind and water to what we see today.
Or, it was created about six thousand years ago, along with everything else…depending on your beliefs.
Either way, old settlers that came upon this area on horse back and wagon uniformly thought the same thing: “………………………..shit.”
We then moved on to Mt. Rushmore, which I visited as a kid with my mom and dad, but have only a vague memory.
Getting to Rushmore signals a gateway to the trip I’ve been looking forward to. I get to re-trace a portion of my childhood during which we spent five and a half years in Wyoming, living all over the state, much of the time in a twelve foot camper and seeing a lot of land, doing quite a bit of fishing. It’s a time about which I have mixed feelings: it was such a crazy way for my dad to keep a family, and at the same time an unforgettable part of my past that was a bit outside of the norm. I have many good memories of those years, and also some pretty harsh memories. Anyhow, going through this portion of the West with my family is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and we’re finally here.
Mt. Rushmore is a sight to see and amazing to read about the process of creation. We did the whole hike and took everything in. Touristy but a must-do. Borglum was 60 yrs old when he started the project. His son finished it for him and the workers who worked the dynamite and drills were not professionals – they were local guys who would work, then get laid off when Borglum ran out of funds, then drop everything and come back when he’d get more funding.
Also impressive when thinking about the creations of the great men depicted. Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, John Lennon, and George Washington – each one of a kind.
Then it was west into the sunset…
…and, after 25 years, on into Wyoming….
