WFRV

We're out of the campground by 9:15am but stop at the Crazy
Horse Memorial while we're still in the Black Hills. It's a fascinating
place; it was started shortly after Mt. Rushmore by the local Native
Americans who wanted to show that they had heroes too. Crazy Horse never
signed a treaty with the white man, never lived on a reservation, and was
stabbed in the back by a soldier under a flag of truce. The memorial is
carved into granite like Mt. Rushmore; it's a likeness of Crazy Horse on a
running horse, one arm raised in the air, hair flying out behind him. It
was started fifty years ago and so far they've finished his head which is so
big that all of Mt. Rushmore could fit in it. When it's completed it'll be
the largest sculpture in the world. They accept no government financing;
the sculptor believed that if they did the government would never complete
the work. He also believed that it was not right to use taxpayer money to
fund a project for the people. He worked alone for fourteen years, hauling
drill bits, dynamite, and hammers up 174 steps; one day he had to go up and
down 9 times because his decrepit compressor at the base of the monument
kept stalling. Leaving, I hope the memorial will be done in my lifetime; I'd
like to see it completed.
We're on the road again by 10:15 and into Wyoming by 11:15. The
land has evened out into a kiddie coaster of gentle slopes, not the wild
ride through the Black Hills. All we see is prairie and the occasional cow
for approximately 600 miles. Every once in a while there is a house or a
silo. Who lives out here? How remote is their house? What do they do all
day? It's beyond me. There are many places where evergreen trees have been
planted in rows of three, probably two hundred plants in all, fenced in on a
hillside. Is it to prevent erosion? Are they future Christmas trees? And
why are there what look like fences erected everywhere that do not connect?
I'd like to hop on the Internet and find out, but I'm driving.
Finally near Cheyenne houses appear. On one side of the highway
is a large trailer park, and on the other side is a development of very big
houses. In fact, the few houses I do see being built anywhere along the
highway are quite big, but I also see quite a few ramshackle houses and
trailers dotting the hills. Is there zoning? And where's all the money
coming from? Come to think of it, why is there almost complete highway
construction through South Dakota and Wyoming? Do they really get that much
traffic? Of course I shouldn't complain being from Massachusetts and the
Big Fiasco.
Because the land is flat we can see storms miles off. A great
black cloud will be in the distance and a grey curtain of rain hangs down
from it as lightning flashes to the ground. It's fascinating to watch that
as you drive in bright sunlight. As we near Denver I see more homes being
built and also huge shopping areas. The homes are oversized and the stores
are the usual. America is largely generic these days. We arrive in Golden,
CO, just outside Denver around 4:30pm. Our RV park is the nicest one yet;
flat paved sites, new pool, excellent laundry facilities, amazing views. We
plan tomorrow's activities, eat dinner, and Mike and I have an exciting
evening doing three giant loads of laundry while the kids stay in the RV
watching a movie. We are here for three days and really looking forward to
relaxing.

# posted by LDW @ 1:48 AM