Our Mt. Rushmore Adventure(s)

When in South Dakota, it is a given that Mt. Rushmore, just about 27 miles from Rapid City in the west end of the state, should be a must-see on everyone's itinerary. The majestic carvings of four of our most influential presidents blasted and hammered out of a portion of the Black Hills is one of the most recognizable views in the entire world.

Gifted American sculptor Gutzon Borglum took an idea from South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson, and spent the last 14 years of his life bringing that dream to fruition, passing the torch to his son, Lincoln, who finished the monument as it stands today a year after Gutzon's death. Each head of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt stands 60 feet in height at an elevation of more than a mile at 5,725 feet. The visitor center itself is situated below, and even that is more than a mile up in the mountains. Additional heads have been suggested (Susan B. Anthony at the time of construction, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan in later years), but engineers in 1941 and opinions reinforced in later years have determined that the remainder of the mountain isn't stable enough to add any more. Probably a good thing.

Interesting little historical tidbit: The original design called for each president to be carved from the waist up, but topography and cost derailed that idea. You'll note in pictures that George Washington is the only president carved with more than just his head.

While establishing our South Dakota residency 5 years ago, we had checked into our hotel, had an early dinner, and had little to do that evening after a long drive to get to Rapid City. Just on a whim, we decided that we weren't going to be in South Dakota for just a single night and day without seeing something, so after dinner we drove the 27 miles or so to see one of America's national treasures.

Just by happenstance, we ended up at the monument at sundown, and were able to experience the end of day ceremony which entails a brief history of the monument, a summary of the presidential accomplishments which got their faces on the mountain, the playing of our national anthem, and the lighting of the monument just as the last strains of the Star Spangled Banner faded into the night. They asked if any active duty or veterans wanted to participate in the flag retirement ceremony at the end, but at the time I just wanted to be with Barbara to experience the end of day together.

Fast-forward 5 years, and it's time to renew our South Dakota residency and driver's licenses, both of which have to be done in person due to our being full-time RV-ers. Instead of a single night in South Dakota and a quick turnaround, we decide to spend three days in the area to recover from the 2-day, 24-hour drive from Georgia to Rapid City and back again.

That gives us three whole nights to revisit Mt. Rushmore, and this time I intend to volunteer to participate in the flag retirement ceremony at the end of the day.

Night 1: Our memories, backed up by some pictures taken 5 years previous, was that the ceremony started at sundown, so we found ourselves in the visitor center at approximately 7:30 waiting for sundown to occur at 8:08 pm. The appointed time rolls around, and no hint of a ceremony. It's getting darker and colder, and we're both beginning to wonder if the US Parks Service no longer performs the end of day ritual any more. Now understand, we had packed clothes for expected 90 degree weather based on forecasts. Well, as usual, the forecasts had changed on the way to South Dakota and we're now a mile up, it's dark, and it's also windy, and we don't even have the first layer of a jacket with us. Because . . . forecasts! 8:45 rolls around, and we decide to leave, still not sure when the ceremony was scheduled to begin. After all, we've got two more nights to get this done, right?

Night 2: Back at the visitor's center, this time a bit later. Find out the the ceremony is scheduled to begin at 9:00 and end at 9:30. We are at least wearing long sleeves this evening. Sunset is now 8:07, but in the distance, there is the ominous rumble of thunder. A quick check of our weather app shows a couple of storm cells working their way heading RIGHT TOWARDS the monument area. Now, if you've never experienced a Great Plains thunderstorm, you're in for a treat if you love bad weather (as I do) and a miserable time if you hate bad weather (as Barbara does). So, just when is this bad weather expected to arrive?

You guessed it: right between 8:45-9:00. We hang in for a bit in case it has plans to dissipate, but Mother Nature has decided to NOT cooperate this evening. About 8:40 rain spatters begin. Another check of the radar app and we know tonight is not going to be the night. Ceremony canceled. We do, however, get to experience the full fury of a Great Plains thunderstorm on our drive down the mountain in our Jeep, watching bolt lightning of astonishing power with little attenuation due to the higher altitude. Alas, no joy, but one more night remains.

Night 3: This was it. Last chance. It's back to Georgia the next day. We arrive just before sunset, but this time, we're outfitted in some new fall-weight jackets and hoods to keep us relatively warm, which we had picked up at the local Cabela's earlier that day. No storms on radar.

As we sat along the display of every state flag lining the pathway to the overlook and monument, Barbara and I engaged in one of our favorite pastimes – people watching. I mentioned in my last post that we were in town during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and a lot of bikers visited Mt. Rushmore each of the 3 nights we were there. One biker this evening walked by us with five live parakeets perched in each pocket of his denim vest and colors, while a cockatoo sat on his shoulder. I kid you not. We assume he had a cage or two strapped to his bike in order to get the birds to and from his destination, but who knows?

Finally, 8:55 rolls around, and an announcement is made that the end of day ceremony would begin shortly in the auditorium below the overlook, so Barbara and I headed about halfway down to some bench seats. The Park Ranger gave a very nice and accurate history of the monument and the reasons why each president was enshrined on the mountain. She then asked for military or veteran spectators to be recognized on stage, and between 25 and 30 of us headed further down.

Now it was time to ask for volunteers to retire the flag for the day. This entails the Park Ranger lowering the flag, and a detail of six of us to fold the flag into the traditional “tricorn” to present back to her. I was honored to lead the detail, and my fellow veterans and I did a credible job, given many of us hadn't done anything like that in decades.

The park ranger and I with the fruit our our detail's labor

 

They say that “third time is the charm”, and in our case that certainly rang true. I left the venue both honored and humbled to be part of something few people get to experience, and Barbara and I could now head back to Georgia satisfied that everything we needed and wanted to accomplish in our short visit was done.

If you're going to be in the Rapid City area, a visit to Mt. Rushmore is a must. And the TIME to go is at sunset, even if you have to wait a bit for the ceremony to start.

A South Dakota State of Mind

Five years on the road at the end of this month.

Lots of miles. Lots of smiles.

We've detailed the reasons for setting up our full-time residency in South Dakota in previous blog posts, and if you're members late in our journey you can find them in our early archives on this site. Needless to say, South Dakota is a wonderful state to begin with, and it's one of the best states in which to set up residency if you're going to go full-time on the road.

And with five years under our belts, it's time to renew, well – everything - to do with “living” in South Dakota as an RV-er. You have to show proof that you stayed in South Dakota for one night to renew your residency, and you've got to renew your driver's licenses after 5 years. As full-time RV-ers, we are NOT allowed to renew our licenses online as permanent residents can do, so since we had to stay our requisite one night in SD, we also had to head down to the nearest RMV from our county tax office to get new driver's licenses.

And instead of having our mailbox provider handle our annual vehicle registrations as they do every year (for the paltry sum of a $10 fee), we could also renew them at the tax office as well.

Finally, after seeing what my brother, Doug, went through earlier this year as executor of my Dad's estate (and having to establish power of attorney due to Dad's worsening condition before his passing), a lawyer friend of ours suggested that we have end-of-life documents such as wills, living wills, and powers of attorney originating in South Dakota so as to avoid any probate conflicts. Our earlier wills were rather dated (mine was more than 7 years old – Barbara's was significantly older than that) and had been established in our previous residency in Georgia, so we engaged a local Rapid City attorney to draw up new documents.

South Dakota – and Pennington County in particular – is nothing if not efficient. At the tax office, we were given a number and told we had a 35-minute wait. We were called in 20 minutes. Took the clerk at the counter 5 minutes to process our residency renewal and get our new tags. After a 15-minute drive to the RMV, we were alternated in between people who had appointments (we didn't - hey, we're retired!) and we were out of the building with a warm laminated driver's license in 25 minutes. Almost had a problem, as the guy at the counter asked for two pieces of mail to prove residency. Well, we don't have any mail because we don't get any bills (or most anything else), but when I pointed out that we are full-time RV-ers, he brings out another form for me to sign and we're good to go.

From the time we finished our late breakfast to the time we have everything done, including travel time, it was less than 2 hours.

So now that the important stuff was done, what to we do?

Frankly, after two 12-hour driving days from Georgia to South Dakota, it's nap time for me. After all, we have an evening date with the end of day ceremony at Mt. Rushmore to attend. More on that in another post.

Our second day was the obligatory trek to Wall Drug. Wall Drug is appropriately named for the town approximately 50 miles east of Rapid City, Wall, SD. It's the epitome of a tourist trap. In fact, if you look up the term “tourist trap” in the dictionary, there's a picture of Wall Drug. Cheap t-shirts, relatively inexpensive Black Hills gold jewelry, bison burgers; you name it, it's somewhere in the twenty or so buildings which comprise downtown Wall, SD. We had two goals; trinkets and trash for the grandkids and finding more brass state ornaments for our Christmas tree. We are about eleven states shy of having ornaments from every state we've visited, and Wall Drug has a display of all of them. After our visit, we just need six more to catch up with our travels!

We also made the obligatory drive thru Custer State Park. Some bison were spotted in the distance, but they tend to cross roads earlier in the day. We did however, get to feed carrots to the wild burros who hang around in the same spot waiting for generous tourists like us to drive along. Found out the Jeep could navigate all the tunnels in Needles Pass, but it sure had a LOT more room when we took the Mini through them 4 years ago!

Barbara talked to the burros a lot. Mainly because one in particular kept following her no matter where she went. That burro was a pig!

It's hard not to smile when feeding these burros. Some are shy, some are very forward, but they're all cute.

One semi-sour note to the trip. Don't schedule your visit to the Rapid City area during the first two weeks of August. Three words:

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

First off, IF you can find a hotel room, they will be double the usual price. Local businesses love Sturgis; local residents – not so much. Second, while there are many fine people riding motorcycles across the country, not all of them come to Sturgis. Sixty-something men and women showing way too much heavily tattooed skin, excessively loud bikes revving all hours of the day and night, and - let's face it - were beard braids ever really in style?

This picture below sums up the 7-day trip in numbers pretty well.

 

Overall, the roads to and from were in good condition, except for Illinois. Despite five years of construction, the same stretch of road between the Kentucky border and Missouri is still a mess.

Next up in Parental Parolees – Our Mt. Rushmore adventure(s).