Mount Rushmore & Crazy Horse

My vacation started Friday morning at 5:00 a.m. when a group of us met up for the journey through three states to Custer, South Dakota. After months of planning, twelve of us rode our Harelys about 10 hours where we spent the next few days riding the famed Black Hills. Actually, 10 of us rode and two drove a truck pulling a trailer with extra gear and space for any broken down bikes! The sightseeing ride the day after we arrived took us to Mount Rushmore.

It took about 400 men 14 years to sculpt the 60 foot busts of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt & Lincoln. This picture of me in front of Mount Rushmore should give you some perspective of how massive this thing is. Each head is six stories tall and each nose is 20 feet long. If the heads were actually attached to bodies, they would stand 465 feet tall!

Since work started on the monument in 1927, a lot of the modern day conveniences were not around yet. I read that the workmen had to climb over 500 steps everyday to work on the liknesses of the four presidents meant to represent the first 150 years of U.S. history.

This group shot was taken at the foot of Mount Rushmore. Standing are Sam, Deb, Kerby, Suzanne, David, Nate, Kim & Don. Kneeling in the front is me, Jerry, Kelly, and Tiffany. I don't know what everyone in this picture does for a living because when your knees are in the wind, riding experience carries a whole lot more weight than income potential! But just to give you a flavor of the diversity of this riding group, in this picture you will find a salesman, a mechanic, a couple with 8 kids, a soldier, a childcare provider and the 2007 Mrs. Colorado! You have to guess who's who!

Not far from Mount Rushmore is another impressive mountain sculpture- Crazy Horse. In 1948, a memorial to honor the traditions and culture of native Americans was started. It was decided that the likness of the legendary Lakota leader Crazy Horse would be a fitting tribute to the living heritage of North American Indians. The completed Crazy Horse sculpture will depict the Chief riding on a horse and will be 651 feet long and 563 feet high. The only thing completed thus far is Crazy Horse's head which stands 87 feet high (27 feet taller than the presidential busts at Mount Rushmore). We found it more than slightly ironic that the federally funded Mount Rushmore did not give military discounts to Armed Forces members, but the non-profit, donation funded Crazy Horse Memorial did.

So, what does a rowdy gang of bikers do at the end of a long day of hard riding? Have some ice cream and play Putt-putt golf!!! Unbelievably, a member of our group had never played putt-putt (Don't worry, I won't mention any names Kelly!). We had a blast up until the 15th hole, but by then we were all so tired, we just wanted to finish the game and fall into our beds. We got back to the cabins somewhere around mid-night and started another full day of touring the next morning. I'll keep yall in suspense until tomorrow on where we went!