Day Four - Keystone SD to Billings MT

Like I mentioned yesterday, the view to begin Thursday morning was awesome.



The first goal for Thursday:­­ walk the presidential trail at Mt. Rushmore and get as close as possible to the colossal faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Mission accomplished!



Did you know that Washington’s stone-carved nose is 21-ft long? The other three presidential proboscises are a foot shorter...just in case you were wondering.

What Gutzon Borglum and his workers blasted and carved into the granite face of Mt. Rushmore most certainly displays the power of vision and determination.



Beautiful forests and lake-side scenes rounded out the rest of our drive through Black Hills National Forest. Places like Deadwood (and more trivia) now take a place in my memory’s data bank. A quick drive through Sturgis SD, and we were back on I-90 heading to the high plains of Wyoming.



The rain started as we drove into Wyoming and that just added to the sense of desolation as we drove. Talk about un-populated areas! At times I found myself thinking of science-fiction movies depicting an abandoned planet.



We finally made it to Montana, driving into Crow territory. Beautiful hills where the deer still roam. Instead of buffalo, however, we saw cattle.



Once we reached Billings MT another hot tub was waiting to sooth our tired bodies. Friday will be our final travel day to Missoula MT.

Day Three - Mitchell SD to Keystone SD

As I write this I can look up and see the unbelievable view of the north side of Mt Rushmore glowing in the rising sun. But I'm getting ahead of myself....

Wednesday started In Mitchell SD as a sad and rainy day but then turned spring blue as we drove west on I-90.

Our first side trip was the Badlands National Park where Victoria got shutter-happy.



God did some awesome work when he carved the Black Hills and set the forces of nature loose on them.



Of course, one cannot drive through Badlands National Park and not stop at Wall Drug in Wall SD.



Who knew that “Nickel Coffee” (5 cents) and “free ice water” would be the magic formula to draw people from all over the world to this drug store in the middle of nowhere?



We ended our day in the little historic town of Keystone SD. Buffalo burger, ice cream, a nice hike rounded out our day. We were back inside by sunset, before the mountain lions started their prowling, according to the locals.

We literally stayed in the shadow of Mount Rushmore at the K Bar S Lodge. We just could not have asked for a better view from our room.

Day Two - Moline IL to Mitchell SD

Hello northern Iowa, southern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota!

Did you know there are rest areas and then there are “modern” rest areas in Iowa?



You want the modern ones, trust me.

BTW, there is still snow in northern Iowa!



And yes, Minnesota IS the land of 10,000 lakes.

Eastern South Dakota kind of went on and on after a long day’s drive.

What is that interesting formation in the distance?

Who knew that in the middle of nowhere we would find a sculpture park along I-90? The behemoth bull’s head and a humongous hammer from Porter Sculpture Park are now forever etched in my memory.

After about 500 miles of driving Tuesday, we were intrigued enough to stop and see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.



After that bit of excitement we found a comfy place to rest. We hit the treadmill and elliptical to counteract some of the sedentary hours we had spent sitting in the rental car, and capped the day off with a restful soak in the hot tub. Ahhh!