May 9: Mount Rushmore
Weather: 50F/27F
Driving Route:
Wifi/Cell Signal: Not good on the road but decent in the RV park.
May 9th
Freaking freezing my flippers off! It is supposed to get down to 27F tonight! Are they kidding?! It wasn’t awful until the sun went down. I had acclimated. Seriously. I had. But this just takes the cake. It is supposed to be getting warmer, not colder. Man oh man.
Was a short drive to get where we planned to be, even got here before the gates opened to let people in. I used the time to try and find another camping spot. I had planned on boondocking but all the spots were already taken by people that had parked their campers or RVs and were using plain ol’ vehicles to get around.
Finally found an RV park with full hook up that had a vacancy. Expensive compared to the national parks and boondocking, but we needed to refill the freshwater tank and all the other yada yada of van life. Water was free and so was the wifi and the signal wasn’t bad, was certainly better than the phone signal I was just barely getting.
I must have gotten smart by trying to book so early in the day because I heard other people complaining how they couldn’t find a place to camp in the area and had a hard time finding a hotel. Could have also been because of the stupid protestors that tried to make their presence known. We were walking up to the entrance when I had one woman try to force me to sign some sort of petition but all I told her when she got obnoxious was, “You don’t want to scare my kid so back the frick out of our space.” She called me some nasty names while we walked away but I ignored it until Benny said, “That lady was weird.”
"Takes all kinds Little Bear.”
“But she said there are too many people. That we are a affection.”
“Infection. Like a disease. And I said it takes all kinds. Some of the kinds just happen to be know-nothing crazy people.” That made him laugh and then he was distracted further when I told him that we needed to get his Junior Ranger booklet.
Instead of a booklet (they were out of the ones for his age group) we downloaded the Junior Ranger Quest, an app designed by the Mount Rushmore Society that has won all sorts of digital awards. There are sixteen challenges that you complete as you go from point to point on the self-guided tour. If you complete at least twelve of the challenges, you earn your Junior Ranger badge. Well Benny was all over that.
First point of interest was the Avenue of Flags. It is based on a request by a visitor in 1976 as part of the bicentennial celebration. The flags represent the states, DC district, territories, and commonwealths of the USA. Pretty impressive and they are arranged alphabetically rather than by the date they entered the union.
At the end of the Avenue of Flags is the Grand View Terrace. Wow. Mt. Rushmore is one of the most impressive manmade things I’ve ever seen. You just stare and … the sensation is hard to describe. I know that some Native American peoples feel like the monument doesn’t belong there but I have trouble seeing it that way. They certainly go out of their way at the park to highlight the tribes that call/called the area home. And they do try and honor those peoples. On the other hand I suppose that since I’m not Native American I might not really get it.
We walked the Presidential Trail (0.6 miles, rated easy & challenging) – The first 0.2 mile is the easiest as it is set up to be accessible. After that point the trail becomes challenging with 422 stairs through ponderosa pines to get various views of Rushmore. Takes about 45 minutes if you take your time.
While on the trail there is a youth exploration area and the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota Heritage Village. Very interesting though it was crowded. Took about thirty minutes or so to go through each area.
The Sculptors Studio is where Guzton Borglum worked from 1939 to 1941. We stopped for the 15-minute ranger program to learn about the tools and techniques used in carving Rushmore. We also took in the views from the Borglum View Terrace.
The Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center is worth at least thirty minutes of your time as well as you look at the various exhibits. It is also where we got our passports stamped.
There was a Nature Trail that took us back to the parking lot but we didn’t do that until we were ready to leave.
Back at the Avenue of Flags where we went to finish one of Benny’s Junior Ranger activities, I just happened to be lucky enough to catch a guy – turned out to be one of the protestors pretending he was a tourist – pull a long string of black cats out of his pocket and was about to set them off. He wasn’t the only one. I gave a piercing whistle and yelled, “Black cats at two o’clock!!” I know that sounds weird but most everyone knows what you mean if you yell it out.
Security grabbed that guy while I put the wuss I had grabbed into a headlock and threatened to body slam him if he didn’t stop wiggling like a little girl. I didn’t have to follow through on that threat because security came and took him into custody while others ran after some more peckerwoods that had taken off towards the exit gates.
It’s been a thing for a few years for protestors to try and make people think guns are being shot by setting off various kinds of noise makers. Fireworks are their favorite tool. It got to the point that you couldn’t buy black cats at all, and some states had completely outlawed any kind of fireworks. The ones these idiots had looked homemade and overstuffed. I shoulda let him blow his own fool hand off, and would have if Benny hadn’t been so close by.
Speaking of Benny, he stayed close but gave me room to fight, following the rules that I’d given him when I had learned I was going to have to deal with Mizzou and her friends in less than gentle fashion.
“Good job Little Bear,” I told him as I bent down to check him over.
“Why do people have to always spoil things?” he complained.
“What’s spoiled? I don’t see anything spoiled.”
“But …”
“But is that thing you sit on. And those idiots are buttheads. However, I refuse to allow them to ruin our fun. They can keep their jerkitude, I don’t want it.”
Slowly he giggled and whispered, “You said butt.”
“I did didn’t I. Hmmm. Did I earn some demerits?”
He just kept giggling. Thank you Creator for the resilience of five-year-old boys.
I picked him up and he giggled even more. I looked over to one of the rangers that looked in charge and asked, “Do you need me for anything?”
“No ma’am. Just watch yourself in the parking lot … just in case.”
I snorted and pointed. “Looks like your people caught Hewey, Dewey, and Louie. But thanks. I’ll still stay smart.”
To Benny I said, “Now wasn’t there something about finishing a Junior Ranger program?” His smile could have made a stone Lincoln grin.
I was trying to piece out all the activities because I wanted to stay for the evening program. The problem was that as the day wore on it was getting cooler. I decided to get Benny out of the breeze and we shuffled into the gift shop. I’m not a big shopper except out of necessity and the truth was it was getting necessary. Benny and I needed a couple of additional pieces of clothing so laundry wouldn’t be such a pain and so that all of the pieces of our wardrobe would last longer.
I may not really appreciate shopping the way some people do, but I definitely know how to do it. First thing I did was look to see if they had a clearance area. Not all park stores do from what I’m seeing but Mt. Rushmore did. Selection wasn’t great but I’m not trying to enter a beauty contest. I wasn’t wearing the pepto-bismol pink monstrosity which was the first thing in my size, but they did have a couple of other things that fit the bill. One was a navy-colored, long-sleeve, unisex, wicking t-shirt. I had to look twice to figure out why it was on clearance and it was because the logo on the back was a little off-center. Big whoop. I got that one and a short sleeve by the same company in green khaki that looked like last-one rather than a damaged-one. I almost walked away from a long-sleeved hooded t-shirt because it was in sunshine yellow loud enough it could be seen in a dense fog, but beggars can’t be choosers.
I got Benny a long-sleeve hooded t-shirt too, thankfully in gray because he definitely has an opinion of what he will wear and what he won’t. And he can’t stand tags in his clothes but luckily this one didn’t have any. There was a tye-dye t-shirt his size done in primary colors and he looks at me and says, “No thank you.” Alrighty then. Next. And next wound up being a stuffie of the mountain goat shape. This one got named Merl … as in Merl Haggard. Groucho was a fan. Me not so much but the man’s music kinda grows on you so I said so long as Merl didn’t sing in the shower we’d get along.
Benny laughed. “Merl isn’t the one that sings in the shower. You do.”
I opened my mouth to deny it but couldn’t lie. “Fine. You got me. But no competition. Got it?”
Luckily Benny likes my comedy routines and laughed. I’m going to have to find another container for the stuffies eventually. Little Bear and Gus the Pelican are still his favorites, and the ones that he sometimes requests to take on hikes, but the others are his “crew” and I wouldn’t one to accidentally go missing, even if just in the van.
The last purchase was that I got Benny a Dover Coloring Book of the National Parks. Grandfather Barry would get me those kinds of coloring and paper doll books as a treat for a job well done or something like that. He didn’t mind those but he “abhorred” the cartoonish ones. He thought they were only for very small children. The Dover coloring books often came with stories and lessons. I still have the entire collection of them in a box in the storage area with the other things from my life before moving in with Lawrence. Or at least I think they are there. I know I packed them up. It makes me wonder if Lawrence kept everything or trashed some of the stuff without telling me. He checked on the storage locker every couple of months when he wasn’t deployed but rarely took me with him. I only went after he left us and the thought of going through that stuff was so overwhelming I just did what he did which was open the door to make sure everything looked okay and then locked it again. Or put more stuff in there. Geez, it is probably worse that someone’s attic that hasn’t been cleaned out in a couple of generations. When I find us a place to live I have got to do something about that stuff. At the very least I need to get my kayak out and make sure nothing is dry rotting in there.
I was about to walk to the register when I spotted another clearance item. Honey. No, I’m not kidding. It looked like they were clearing out last year’s items to make way for this year’s. It was five 12 oz. bottles of flavored, locally produced honey. I checked the ingredients – honey, natural flavoring – so gluten-free it was. I go through a lot of honey and my last bottle is less than half full, so it isn’t like I was buying stupid stuff.
Finally get to the register and found out that our Gold Star Family designation got us a small discount. Some is better than none and it even covered the clearance items. When Benny and I walked outside the cold air caught me by surprise with how sharp it was. I walked towards the amphitheater only to find out that the evening program has been cancelled. I’m not sure whether due to the temperature or the protestors but either way … rats!
I was debating whether to go back and see how much the digital version of the program was in the gift shop but then decided to just to wait until I could find something free online, maybe a documentary or similar. Rather than be disappointed I decided since I was paying a premium for a spot in an RV park, we might as well take full advantage. Turns out that was a great choice.
I checked around the van for any damage and to check for booby traps. I mean you just never know with the various protest groups. Some of them are real butt wipes. Not seeing anything we got on the road and it turns out that the RV park was super close, so close you could even see Mt Rushmore from their parking lot.
First thing I did was use the dump station since there was a possible freeze. I also got rid of what little bit of trash we had since the dumpster was right there. Our site would have been tight if we were a full blown RV or trailer but since we were actually a van we had plenty of room to maneuver. I connected the hook ups (electric and water) and then put a blanket on our freshwater tank after filling it up. Just to be on the safe side I disconnected the water after also running some water to wash and cook with.
Instead of waiting until after dinner I had Benny and I use the on-site showers while there was still daylight and threw a load of dirties in the laundry while we were in there. When we got out, smelling fresh but freezing, I tossed the now clean clothes into a dryer and walked Benny back to the van and got him settled in, introducing the newest crew member around. I knew the dryer would be finished by then and the van was within sight as I hustled over, grabbed the now clean
and dry clothes and hustled back. Benny wasn’t the only one starving by this point.
I decided there was time and the laundromat wasn’t busy so I stripped the beds and ran the sheets and covers through the washing machine. I made a quick chicken-fried steak out of some minute steaks I’d taken out to thaw and then stir-fried the fresh vegetables that looked closest to going over. Then I ran back and switched the bedding to the dryers.
Food was really yum. I’m getting better at cooking on the road. I knew the bedding would be dry so made another run to the laundromat and back. I didn’t like leaving Benny in the van but it was better than getting him out in the cold.
I put the beds back together as quickly as I could. I know that when Benny got his belly full he went and laid down in his fresh bed. One minute he’s talking to his crew and the next he is out like a light.
Now that all of my chores are finished I’m going to hit the hay as well. Tomorrow is another checkmark on the bucket list in Dad’s honor.
Cumulative Fuel Expense: $2265
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $780
Cumulative miles: 5352
Resources:
Mount Rushmore National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Mount Rushmore Tour | Self Guided Tours | Mount Rushmore (mountrushmoresociety.com)
MORU-parkmap-2018-marketplace.jpg (1133×1515) (nps.gov)