Mt. Rush No More and Crazy Horse

Date: 03/09
City: Rapid City, Montana
Miles ridden: 156
Cumulative miles: 12210

Today we wanted to make it to Rapid City to get our bikes serviced. We had a short stop on a very inviting place, Stoneville Saloon, but we didn’t have time to stay there….


Our next stop was Deadwood, the city were Wild Bill Hickok was killed. We walked through the old township, most of the shops have been restored or new shops built in the same style.


Val tried her luck at winning a Harley, she didn’t win it (maybe it was her lucky day 😉 ).

After a bit of shopping and not winning anything on the slot machines, we continued to Sturgis, a township that is famous for their yearly Motorcycle Rally. This event almost attracts more motorcycle enthusiasts than people living in the whole state of South Dakota.  After we arrived in our hotel, we realised that they had happy hour from 18:00 to 19:30 :D.
After the happy hour we went for a swim in the pool and the hot tub.

Date: 04/09
City: Rapid City, South Dakota
Miles ridden: 10
Cumulative miles: 12220

Not much happened today, we brought our bikes in for a service to a workshop where I had booked them in a week ago. I also ordered the highway pegs, they had arrived and the shop fitted them as well. We heard about these pegs for the first time during the horizon unlimited meeting, two guys with DR650 were raving about them, so I thought we should give them a try.


 

Date: 05/09
City: Rapid City, South Dakota
Miles ridden: 134
Cumulative miles: 12354

Today we planned to have a look at Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse and ride the Needle Highway with a visit to Custers State Park to have a look at Bison herds, so a full day. As such, we didn’t leave too late and arrived at Mt. Rushmore early. It looks impressive.

We had a short walk closer to the heads and took heaps of pictures, don’t worry, we show only two of them J

At the end of the walk we had a look at the sculpture exhibition where the original idea was shown, but the stone formation didn’t allow creating the lower part of the sculptures. In the exhibition were also some pictures and explanations about the hall of records.


After leaving Mt. Rushmore we rode to the Crazy Horse sculpture. At the beginning it didn’t look as impressive as Mt. Rushmore, but by reading through the exhibits it was clear that this was much more than the eye could see. A smaller model showed what it will look like when finished is on the right hand side.

First, Crazy Horse monument is worked on by only one family which refuses to get tax payers funds for their project. And second, the sheer size of it, the four presidents of Mt. Rushmore would fit into Crazy Horse’s head. What I didn’t realize until then was that the black hills where both monuments reside are a sacred site of the Native Americans. This raises the question, why did the white Americans sculpture their four most important presidents into a sacred Native American site? Anyway, it took us much longer than we thought to look at all the exhibits, pictures and explanation about the Native Americans. But at the end we had to leave to ride the Needle Highway, which is a famous road for motorcycle riders with a couple of nice tunnels carved through the rocks. Below you can see the tunnel and a car just getting through it, there was only one lane in the tunnel and you better honk the horn before approaching the tunnel.

The highway ends into Custer’s State Park, which should have the largest amount of free roaming Bison herds.

We saw a huge herd of Bison’s, but I took only a video shot of it and so far I can’t add video to the blog. Anyway, the way back was as enjoyable on a motorcycle as the way to the State Park, nice curves etc. At some stage the road was even like a corkscrew, which was really fun. What a day, let’s see what we do tomorrow, we will discuss that at beer o’clock.

2 comments

  1. Hey guys,

    I always look forward to reading the blog. Looks like there has been a big lull.. in a way good, as that should mean you are getting more material to put here… Hopefully more updates would soon be on the way 😉
    Keep doing what you are doing.. Sounds (actually reads) a lot fun. and keep safe

    Loads Love
    Adi

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