Crazy times and Crazy Horse

I got up quite early. I wanted an early start for todays leap across South Dakota. Yesterday was the longest run so far. One and a half state. It wasn't too bad. But today, I was planning to go to see the two monuments, man-made such, that made this state famous. As far as I know. Mount Rushmore with it's four heads of dead presidents and Crazy Horse monument. None of these are actually finished. Crazy Horse has barely the face finished. The presidents where supposed to be complete busts, but the artist, Gutzon Borglum, died before he could finish them.
The drive across South Dakota was enjoyable. Things here and there to look at. People and sights. I was running low on fuel at one point, and started looking for a gas station. Suddenly, a sign appeared. "Gas and original 1880's town." How could I pass on that combo? At first, I thought it would probably be some sort of Hollywood thingy, but decided it would be fun to see the "model" anyways. So I stopped by. After filling the tank, I paid my dollars to get in. I was surprised to see that it was actually original. All buildings had where from the 1880's. I loved it. I walked through the town, taking loads of pictures. Trying to imaging what it must have been like to live there in those times. After spending close to an hour walking around, a bus-load of tourists arrived, and the genuine scenes where gone. Couldn't get a clean shot (photo of course) of any building anymore. So I left. This was FUN!

The main street leading to the church

The reception of the hotel. The damages from the spurs
could still be seen in the hotel.

The saloon. This was the only building still in use.

Little school on the prairie?

According to the guy at the entrance, I had passed into "mountain time" 4 miles before the town, so I had reset my watch. I arrived at my hotel in Rapid City around 11am. Not too bad. The girl in the reception couldn't give me a room yet, so I headed south to see the monuments before checking in. Tourist attractions? Think fresh cow dung to flies. It was obvious when driving up to Mount Rushmore that this was a place well visited. It wasn't exactly rush-hour to Rushmore (no pun intended), but there was a steady stream of cars in the road. I stopped a bit from the entrance and took some photos. At the entrance, it was packed, so I decided to continue to crazy horse. I had seen it, and taken photos of the monument, so there was no need to enter the beehive.

One of the people who originally worked on the Mount Rushmore monuments, Korczak Ziolkowski, was approached by the elders of the Lakota tribe. They wanted him to make a monument of their great hero. Crazy Horse. He was stabbed in the back by a soldier while carrying a truce flag, and died at the age of 24. The elders wanted "white man to know red man had heroes too.". It took several years before the work started. And it was slow and painstaking. The first blast to start the sculpture was fired at June 3rd 1948. And Ziolkowski worked his whole life with little or no money to finish it. When he died in 1982, he had barely started the outline. His 10 children and his wife continued the work. He didn't want it to be a government project, so all money for the project comes from contributions and the money made from entrance fees and proceedings from sales at the site. Most of the explosives are gifts, according to a film shown at the site. I must say that I am impressed at the patience shown for this project. It started in 1948, and to date, only the face is finished. The rest is still being carved out of the mountain. When it is finished, it will be the largest sculpture in the world. 550 feet tall. And depict Crazy Horse on his horse, pointing. He was asked by a white man. "Where are your lands now?" He replied : "My lands are where my dead lie buried." And that is what the sculpture is pointing at. Although I have read that native americans never point with their fingers....

Current state

The model

What the area surround the monument will look like when
it is finished

I found that on the 26th of June every year, they had a special "night blast" where they blasted off several charges simultaneously with fireworks and stuff. And I realized it was this day! So I really wanted to come back for this.
I drove back to town to see if my room was ready. It was. I dumped my gear in the room and headed out into town. Some really black clouds rolled in. So I bought some snacks and headed back. It looked like the nights events would rain over. So I decided to stay in town instead of going to Crazy Horse for the fireworks. And BOY! was I glad. God's own fireworks was plenty enough. I was lying in bed, about one hour before the event at Crazy Horse, when I thought the aircon was starting to act up. Then I realized it was rain. I looked outside, and The Flood part II was taking place outside. It was POURING. And there was some serious lightning and thundering going on. In fact, the lightnings where so many and so frequent, the thunder was just a loud, continuous rumbling. I filmed it for a while just to document. And I was really glad I didn't opt for the fireworks at Crazy Horse. Besides, I had a long day ahead of me tomorrow. Driving all the way to Salt Lake City. This will be the longest leg on my journey. 10 hours of driving. But more on that in a another post.