This is an unusual view of George W. without his compatriots at Mt. Rushmore!Pam: Pronghorn does sound like a Fictionary word................we knew what it was because we had a picture!!! We'll be home on Sunday.
April 23, 2008
Yesterday morning we left the “shabby chic” Hotel Franklin in Deadwood SD. Peter thought that the dealers in the casino area of the hotel were the most professional and friendly he’d ever seen. The whole atmosphere of the hotel was very accommodating, we were happy to have stayed there and it was quite inexpensive. We took the scenic Route 385 through the Black Hills with remnants of snow on the hillsides but the weather was great with sun and blue sky, temperature about 50. We saw deer everywhere along the side of the road so we proceeded carefully.
Our first destination was Mt. Rushmore about halfway south on 385 back toward the Oregon Trail, Route 20. Mt. Rushmore is a National Park but our senior pass didn’t work there so we had to pay $10 to park. Bummer!! This is a “must see” for every cross country road trip and we understand why. Mt. Rushmore is an awesome sight! There’s a grand viewing area and quite a strenuous walk up and down stairs to reach the base of the monument but well worth the effort. It’s hard to believe that anyone could carve these likenesses out of rock. We were impressed with the detail of the carvings especially Teddy Roosevelt’s eye glasses! The whole area around the monument is “presidential:” full of flags and granite walkways and impressive buildings. And this area of the Black Hills has plenty of high granite precipices.
Back on Rt. 385, we again proceeded south toward the Crazy Horse Memorial, a monument in progress. It was started in 1947 by a sculptor born in Boston and has been continued by his family (he had 10 kids!) since his death in the 1980s. This monument, like Mt. Rushmore, is being carved out of a granite mountain. However, Crazy Horse will be “monumentally” larger than the presidents; we were told that the faces of the four presidents would fit on the head of Crazy Horse. The Black Hills is a Lacota Indian spiritual area and Crazy Horse, as a Lakota chief, is revered by the Native Americans because he never signed a treaty with the United States and he refused to live on a reservation. The head of Crazy Horse was unveiled in 1998; there’s no proposed date for the completion of the memorial. The work depends on private donations because the family feels that there should be no federal money involved in the project. The area also has an impressive Native American museum and cultural center. This was another reminder to us of how badly the Native Americans have been treated by the white settlers and the US government.
The rest of our drive through the Black Hills was very scenic and we could easily understand why the Native Americans consider this area spiritual! After leaving the Black Hills, we entered the Wind Cave National Park where we saw more bison and lots of prairie dogs. The scenery became more prairie-like as we descended into the National Grasslands and on into the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Turning east on Route 20 in Nebraska the land flattened out and the weather turned good enough to put down the top. It’s been several days since it’s been warm enough to do that. The road was straight as an arrow, the sun was behind us and, in spite of the boring flat landscape, was a beautiful afternoon for a drive. Soon the scenery became rolling hills and farmland but still not many other vehicles on the road. The rolling hills changed again to flatland and, in between towns, it’s pretty desolate. We had predicted that our road trip would be about 8500 miles but, here in western Nebraska, 2000 miles from home, we passed the 10,000 mile mark……..it’s hard to believe we’ve driven that many miles! Now we were passing wild turkeys and pheasants along the road! So we cranked up the CD player and just enjoyed the ride. We stopped in Valentine NE for the night just in time to get take-out and watch “American Idol” and the results from the Pennsylvania primary!
Today we’re headed across Nebraska into Iowa to Waterloo, still on Route 20 the Oregon Trail, to spend the night with Andy and Christine Sexton and their two girls. We passed through many rural towns, lots of farmland, saw more turkeys and more deer, still traveling at 65 mph on a lonely two-lane road.
We made a quick stop for coffee in O’Neill where the Giorgios lived for part of the summer in 1961 when Peter's father was involved in a government research project to study cloud formations. O’Neill was chosen because it’s located in a large, flat plain. Peter doesn’t remember much about the stay except that his mother used to buy fresh chickens and his father had to chop off the head before plucking the feathers! We saw the Catholic church where the family probably went to mass on Sundays. O’Neill has a population of 3000+ which is a lot higher than most of the other towns we passed through which have populations of 99, 71, 133, etc. It looks pretty prosperous with both a Catholic and a public high school and a couple of banks.
The rest of our trip along Route 20 in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa can best be described by one of our books. “There’s not a lot worth stopping for in the 90-odd miles west of the Missouri River (which marks the beginning of Iowa, where there’s not a lot either). If you’re doing a long-distance haul along US 20, and time is tight, you can drive all night through northeast Nebraska and no one will ever point out anything you missed.” However, we always find it interesting to slow down to go through the small towns where you never know what you’re going to see from old buildings to quaint churches to abandoned structures to funny signs: Bacon Repair, Town Pump (gas station), Lube and Espresso, Motel & Storage, etc.
Yesterday morning we left the “shabby chic” Hotel Franklin in Deadwood SD. Peter thought that the dealers in the casino area of the hotel were the most professional and friendly he’d ever seen. The whole atmosphere of the hotel was very accommodating, we were happy to have stayed there and it was quite inexpensive. We took the scenic Route 385 through the Black Hills with remnants of snow on the hillsides but the weather was great with sun and blue sky, temperature about 50. We saw deer everywhere along the side of the road so we proceeded carefully.
Our first destination was Mt. Rushmore about halfway south on 385 back toward the Oregon Trail, Route 20. Mt. Rushmore is a National Park but our senior pass didn’t work there so we had to pay $10 to park. Bummer!! This is a “must see” for every cross country road trip and we understand why. Mt. Rushmore is an awesome sight! There’s a grand viewing area and quite a strenuous walk up and down stairs to reach the base of the monument but well worth the effort. It’s hard to believe that anyone could carve these likenesses out of rock. We were impressed with the detail of the carvings especially Teddy Roosevelt’s eye glasses! The whole area around the monument is “presidential:” full of flags and granite walkways and impressive buildings. And this area of the Black Hills has plenty of high granite precipices.
Back on Rt. 385, we again proceeded south toward the Crazy Horse Memorial, a monument in progress. It was started in 1947 by a sculptor born in Boston and has been continued by his family (he had 10 kids!) since his death in the 1980s. This monument, like Mt. Rushmore, is being carved out of a granite mountain. However, Crazy Horse will be “monumentally” larger than the presidents; we were told that the faces of the four presidents would fit on the head of Crazy Horse. The Black Hills is a Lacota Indian spiritual area and Crazy Horse, as a Lakota chief, is revered by the Native Americans because he never signed a treaty with the United States and he refused to live on a reservation. The head of Crazy Horse was unveiled in 1998; there’s no proposed date for the completion of the memorial. The work depends on private donations because the family feels that there should be no federal money involved in the project. The area also has an impressive Native American museum and cultural center. This was another reminder to us of how badly the Native Americans have been treated by the white settlers and the US government.
The rest of our drive through the Black Hills was very scenic and we could easily understand why the Native Americans consider this area spiritual! After leaving the Black Hills, we entered the Wind Cave National Park where we saw more bison and lots of prairie dogs. The scenery became more prairie-like as we descended into the National Grasslands and on into the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Turning east on Route 20 in Nebraska the land flattened out and the weather turned good enough to put down the top. It’s been several days since it’s been warm enough to do that. The road was straight as an arrow, the sun was behind us and, in spite of the boring flat landscape, was a beautiful afternoon for a drive. Soon the scenery became rolling hills and farmland but still not many other vehicles on the road. The rolling hills changed again to flatland and, in between towns, it’s pretty desolate. We had predicted that our road trip would be about 8500 miles but, here in western Nebraska, 2000 miles from home, we passed the 10,000 mile mark……..it’s hard to believe we’ve driven that many miles! Now we were passing wild turkeys and pheasants along the road! So we cranked up the CD player and just enjoyed the ride. We stopped in Valentine NE for the night just in time to get take-out and watch “American Idol” and the results from the Pennsylvania primary!
Today we’re headed across Nebraska into Iowa to Waterloo, still on Route 20 the Oregon Trail, to spend the night with Andy and Christine Sexton and their two girls. We passed through many rural towns, lots of farmland, saw more turkeys and more deer, still traveling at 65 mph on a lonely two-lane road.
We made a quick stop for coffee in O’Neill where the Giorgios lived for part of the summer in 1961 when Peter's father was involved in a government research project to study cloud formations. O’Neill was chosen because it’s located in a large, flat plain. Peter doesn’t remember much about the stay except that his mother used to buy fresh chickens and his father had to chop off the head before plucking the feathers! We saw the Catholic church where the family probably went to mass on Sundays. O’Neill has a population of 3000+ which is a lot higher than most of the other towns we passed through which have populations of 99, 71, 133, etc. It looks pretty prosperous with both a Catholic and a public high school and a couple of banks.
The rest of our trip along Route 20 in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa can best be described by one of our books. “There’s not a lot worth stopping for in the 90-odd miles west of the Missouri River (which marks the beginning of Iowa, where there’s not a lot either). If you’re doing a long-distance haul along US 20, and time is tight, you can drive all night through northeast Nebraska and no one will ever point out anything you missed.” However, we always find it interesting to slow down to go through the small towns where you never know what you’re going to see from old buildings to quaint churches to abandoned structures to funny signs: Bacon Repair, Town Pump (gas station), Lube and Espresso, Motel & Storage, etc.
1 comment:
Hey Wondering Minstrals,
I'm not sure if you're still in Iowa or not. Did you have an opportunity to visit the homestead where they filmed "Field of Dreams"?
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