The trip began with my co-pilot sleeping the first hour. Riveting. Actually, it truly began with the pilot oversleeping one hour. Our first stop was only 80 minutes into the drive where we met my son for a tour of his job site in Fort Collins, Colorado and to get some free coffee!
Wow! His cubicle looks pretty official, with the largest whiteboard in the complex. (He stole it from someone else.) It had lots of cool notes and neat formulas written on it, and his computer screen had some programming on it. I had no clue what was going on, so obviously I was no security risk for the company. After our brief building tour, the son had a conference call to attend, so we bid him adieu and headed back on our northern route, but only after leaving him with a complimentary tube of toothpaste.
Immediately outside of Fort Collins the I-25 sign flashed warning us of an accident at the border. It took a good 80 minutes or more to get past the accident and into Wyoming. Some truck had burned to smithereens. That hour delay, coupled with the driver ignoring her alarm, put our excursion a good two hours behind. However, the traffic delay allowed us to see the camels in Wyoming, the bison, and get a pretty good photo at the border. It also allowed for a butt dial to my sister who entertained us for five minutes or so. Odd moments to be cherished.
Aside from not reading the directions thoroughly and going about 30 miles out of the way, we coasted through the quaint town of Fort Laramie, where we used the facilities at the local bar, bought some dice made of bones (we hope they were bison bones!) and generally had a good walk-about. Our next stop was gas and food time. Then we were back on track, only to run into road construction. That was okay. It was a 15-minute delay which allowed us to get out of the car and stretch. More photos. Just stunning photos, too.
Eventually we were back on the road and driving into South Dakota, stopping for another photo. The driving was quite decent, and really, not much traffic anywhere. Either Mount Rushmore is not approached from our direction, or it’s not the busiest month yet. We coasted along smoothly, making our first stop at the Crazy Horse monument. I had been there before – but there was nothing to see 35 years ago! Now there is a face – and other features being outlined. We really enjoyed the movie, the ice cream, and the walk around there. It was worth it. It’s all privately funded, so you have to see it. Keep it going.
Oh yes. For fun, we are doing license plates, keeping track of road kill, and looking for green Ford Escapes, Titanium model only. So far, we have 40 plates, road kill in the amount of 2 deer, 3 fox, 2 prairie dogs, 1 raccoon, 16 unidentifiable, and 4 rabbits. We quit counting at the South Dakota border. Tomorrow we’ll find something else to count. We did see one green Escape – but not Titanium!
After Crazy Horse, we hit Mount Rushmore, right as the shadows made for awful photography. We hiked around there though, bought some souvenir jewelry, ( a must on any excursion!) saw the film, and did get some great views and decent photos once the sun got behind the hill. We left the monument, making sure to walk through all of the parking levels in order to get more license plates, and then went into the town of Keystone for pizza and a beer. We returned to Rushmore for the light show that evening. Warning: The light show is basically a slow illumination of the faces – nothing colorful or tacky. We all sang the National Anthem, the lights came on and it was beautiful. Prior to that was a 25 minute chat and film. At the end, all men and women of the armed forces were invited on stage to retire the flag and be introduced. It was a fitting tribute and quite moving.
We managed to successfully navigate to Deadwood – with the help of my husband on the computer. Our GPS had no signal out in these hills, and the author of this missive did not print out any directions. I just figured there would be signs everywhere pointing to Deadwood. Anyway, thanks to him we had the correct highway number and we made it here fine. I was giving my daughter the “watch for wildlife” speech, when we encountered two deer on the highway. I know why they’re called the Black Hills, too. It is pitch black out here, and you can’t see a darn thing if you don’t have your brights on! We hardly met a car the last hour of our drive. Apparently no one is stupid enough to be out in the pitch black with the wildlife.
Our hotel is a casino and gaming hotel – rather nice though. The wallpaper border is of cowboys! It is neat and clean, quite spacious, and a coffee maker outside of the bathroom is the touch of elegance we need. We might go gambling for breakfast. Or not. It’s midnight and we should be sleeping, but we are both a little wired from our glorious day.
Okay. I can’t promise anything more exciting than this, people, but I’ll keep you posted on the travels for tomorrow. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers as we meander across America.
Love this, mom. Love you!