October 1st – Rapid City, South Dakota

 October 1^st – Rapid City, South Dakota                                                   Weather –Clear  7 C

Total Kilometers this trip – 3620.2                                             Kilometers today –  0

Today was very wonderful.  The weather was clear, and although it was clear in the morning, the temperature only went to 23 C, the wind kept it cool.

We headed out along Hwy 16 towards Mount Rushmore, there were a number of attractions, but being this late in the season they were closed – Old MacDonalds Farm etc.  There are others open which we intend to see tomorrow.

Our first place of stopping was Keystone, a small community which blossoms during the summer season.

There is also two chainsaw woodcarvers, Dahls brothers from Minnesota.  They have some very wonderful carvings, quite a talent.

We headed up to Mount Rushmore – spectacular.  Those fellows did an amazing job under difficult circumstances.

We walked along the pathway to get a closer view and to see some of the tools which they used.

 

 

At the gift store, there was a special guest signing autographs.  His name was Nick Clifford, 91 years old and he was one of the sculptors on this project.  Vadie got him to sign a picture of Mount Rushmore.

The hills around this area are beautiful with the trees changing color.  We decided to do the Iron Mountain Road drive.  I come from the Sunshine Coast in BC and the road is continually winding, but this beats it by far.  You go under the overpass then make a tight 270 deg turn to go on the overpass.  There was also 4 tunnels to go through, definitely not made for big trucks and large motorhomes.

This road continued on to where there was some farming

We drove from Iron Mountain Road to Hwy 16 and onto Custer.  At Custer there were numerous attractions as well but most were closed too.  One that was open was the National Museum of Woodcarvers.  When you think that most of this work was done in the 40’s to 60’s it is incredible.  The carver wanted to make the wooden carving to animate, so under the carvings were mechanical belts, pulleys and arms. This is well worth seeing.

Special People – Mark and Mike – management of the Kemano Hydro Electric Station.  Lets keep it running guys.