Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse

    Thursday morning was clear and cold. Utah is amazing. The salt flats are like an unfinished paint-by-number where someone forgot to paint in the water. You would swear there should be water there, but it’s just miles of sand, ripples and all. The Great Salt Lake looks so out of place. Most bodies of water have the ecological niche to match, but the salt lake looks like it was dropped in.
     Snow again in the passes. Baby has taken to curling up in my lap while we’re traveling. My own little lap warmer. Gracie sits in the passenger seat until she gets sleepy, then naps on the couch, right behind me.  
     We spent the night in a WalMart parking lot in Evanston, WY. I picked up some CD’s to fill out our sparse music collection as well as a few groceries. We woke to snow on the ground, Gracie’s first introduction to snow. She was not impressed. It was easy driving Friday except for the wind. Wonderful scenery: majestic mountains, wide fields of grain, and antelopes in fields along the road with their white butts up in the air. Somewhere I passed the continental divide. The Goose was pulling hard, but we made it.        
     Friday we stayed at the KOA in Douglas, WY. Park was lovely, with an enclosed dog area. There were lots of bunnies huddling under the RVs for warmth. Gracie doesn’t chase small animals, thank goodness. It’s really chilly, and I’ve seen more rain in the last week than I saw in 16 years in Arizona.
    Saturday was the most inspiring, incredulous day so far of my journey. My only regret about some of the items on my bucket list is that I can’t share them with Gracie. Not that she would care, but it means more to me when she is there. It’s hard to explain, but because she was with me for so much of the bad circumstances of the past two years, I feel she is a part of me. So I was looking forward to the Crazy Horse Monument and Mt. Rushmore, but a little sad, too.
     At Crazy Horse, I asked about RV parking and was told to take a ramp at the edge of the parking lot to the bus parking on the upper level. I maneuvered around and as I stepped out, there was the face of Crazy Horse above us! Obscured from the regular parking lot by the visitor center and observation deck, it is clearly visible from the upper parking area. I went to the visitor center, watched the information video, picked up a few items, and returned to the Goose to fix lunch and look at the monument with Gracie.
     Then at Mt. Rushmore, incredulously, the same thing happened. The long RV/bus parking area was nearly empty and provided a perfect view of the monument. After I went to the visitor center, I took Gracie for a walk under the watchful eye of Abraham Lincoln, with George Washington in profile. Despite the biting wind and rain, it was a perfect day.
     We spent the night in a rest stop outside of Wall, SD. This morning we went to Wall Drug. It’s a cute little tourist stop of shops and entertainment. Back on the road again. South Dakota Black Hills (they really are black) and badlands in the fog and rain are behind us, we crossed the wide Missouri and we are in the very corner of Minnesota. I think we’ll spend the night in the rest stop here. The weather is wonderfully mild—I put the winter coat and gloves away, and shouldn’t have to run the heater tonight.