Day 6 - Incredible!

Mt. Rushmore was majestic! Driving up the mountain to the sculpture, you round a bend at about 5,000 feet and there it is. It’s exactly like one remembers from the pictures that have been seen a million times. But in person, it’s astounding to think Mr. Borglum could produce art on that scale. The Monument area itself is large enough for big crowds and tastefully done with lots of granite. We got there before 10 as the Park Service advised ahead of time. We left at noon and there was a mile long line of cars waiting to get in. A must see if you’re ever in South Dakota.

The rest of the day was traveling through Wyoming and landing in Southern Montana for tomorrow’s gig at Little Bighorn Battlefield. The sunset here in Big Sky country was amazing (was gonna say to die for but not appropriate where Custer and his boys made their last stand). Speaking of which, tomorrow we visit the Battlefiied, another National Parks Monument.

The ghosts of that Little Bighorn battle must have been working hard against us as we tried to arrive at camp. We were outrunning a huge thunderstorm coming at us from the west when we made a wrong turn and ended up at a desolate intersection in the middle of Crow Indian country in the rain. As we sat there getting our bearings, a Crow twenty-something with a menacing Native American haircut stood 10 feet away staring at us. To our left another 15 feet or so stood a hungry-looking coyote (or wolf —it was dark). We decided to move on and found the camp in spite of ourselves. This is what Rum and cokes are for. We toasted the nicest sunset we’d seen in a long time.

Stayed at: 7th Ranch RV Camp, Garry Owen, Montana. Full service. Very clean.