Today was special in a couple of ways. First, the more pedestrian reason. Since we were returning to the same motel we didn't have to pack everything up and load it on our bikes. Second, it was tourist day for treshomres2004.Rapid City, South Dakota, back to Rapid City, South Dakota

110 Miles

1618 Total Miles

Today was special in a couple of ways. First, the more pedestrian reason. Since we were returning to the same motel we didn't have to pack everything up and load it on our bikes. Second, it was tourist day for treshomres2004.

We began our day with breakfast buffet at our motel. It was fine in every way but one: no bacon. All they had was some of that plain old ham that could have been country ham if the swine had been lucky. Oh well, we're not in the South anymore.

Today's weather was perfect. Blue skies, no humidity and 70 degrees.

We took off at 8:30 MST and headed for the Black Hills. Although not as impressive in their scale as the Rockies, the Black Hills offers beautiful vistas and a heavily wooded terrain.

An American flag proudly displayed over the Pactola Reservoir

Our first tourist stop of the day was the Crazy Horse Memorial. In 1939 sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski won first prize for sculpture at the New York World's Fair. That summer he assisted Gutzon Borglum by helping to carve the Mount Rushmore Memorial. In 1946 he was approached by several Lakota leaders and was asked to sculpt a memorial to Lakota Chief Crazy Horse. He agreed and spent the remainder of his life toiling away in the Black Hills working on the project. He died in 1982. His family is continuing with the project, funding it entirely with private funds.

The Crazy Horse memorial

The scale of the project is incredible. Overall, when finished, Crazy Horse will be 563 feet high and 641 feet long.

Our next stop was Mount Rushmore. Nelson had seen it before but for Cleve and Bo it was a first. No matter how many times you have seen the pictures of Mount Rushmore, it is very impressive to see it in person. We had lunch there and were able to continue viewing the Memorial from the dining room. The next time you're in South Dakota, you must go to Mount Rushmore and have the salisbury steak!

Mount Rushmore gets a lot of visitors

After Mount Rushmore we took a quick, scenic Black Hills ride back to Rapid City. Cleve and Nelson stopped by the Harley dealer to have a minor repair made on Cleve's bike. Bo returned to the motel and watched Bonanza.

Tomorrow, Nelson splits off and rides solo to Alaska. At this time we're uncertain what route he will take. He might go north through Wyoming and cut into Canada. The other option is to go west to Idaho and then hit Canada. Hopefully, he will post a comment or two on the web site as he progresses toward Alaska.

Bo and Cleve planning to visit Sturgis, which is Ground Zero for the Harley world, Deadwood and Spearfish. After that, we plan to stop for coffee and plot our return to Nashville.

Bo makes a new friend

Stay tuned.