The Great Road Trip of 2017....Part Twenty Six/Day Nineteen

Part One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Six of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Seven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eight of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Nine of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Ten of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eleven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twelve of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Thirteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE  

Part Fourteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE  

Part Fifteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 
Part Sixteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Seventeen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 

Part Eighteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Nineteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 

Part Twenty of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Then we hit Rapid City, South Dakota as we headed out of the Black Hills National Forest.

We happened to go into their local Walmart to pick up some souvenirs(same stuff we saw in boutique gift shops in this area but at much lower prices-we're no dummies lol).

While wandering around the store to find the souvenir area was saw a separate area which could be closed off where they were selling all kinds of hard liquor.  That particular day one of the then Master Distillers for Jack Daniel's was making a guest appearance(ok Rapid City is not a hot spot for tourists, except when Bike Week in Sturgis is going on).  He was signing bottles of JD when you bought one or ten.  Interesting but Hubs is strictly a George Dickel whiskey fan and not fond of Jack.

We found the small souvenir section.  they had Mt. Rushmore mugs.....

And this strange and poorly painted cheap salt and pepper set in a wire basket the likenesses of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jack on them.  I could hear the both of them rolling over in their graves back in Deadwood from the Walmart. 8-)))

That very same salt and pepper set was being sold at the gift shop next to the Mt. Moriah Cemetery in a bougie gift shop for double what Walmart was selling it for.

Of course there were the obligatory knives shaped like shotgun shells with South Dakota written across them.

And various shot glasses(for your Jack Daniels I suppose), with "The Badlands" emblazoned on them.

I had to chuckle at this tank top shirt...."Lawn Dart World Champion" with a kid wearing an eye patch.  If you are old enough to remember Lawn Darts you know. ;-)

In hindsight I should have picked up this Ren & Stimpy t-shirt for my brother....sigh

This t-shirt was amusing too.  Mmmm....bacon!  I don't think eating all the bacon is a "snaccident" though, more of a well thought out plan. lol

We stopped for a quick lunch at an Arby's near the Walmart(Jamocha shake and seasoned curly fries anyone?)before leaving the tiny metropolis of Rapid City, South Dakota and heading South.

Leaving Rapid City we were behind this car with an Alabama license plate.  Now THAT was unusual as they were far from home.  I guess our rental car with PA plates made us unusual and far from home too. 8-)

On the road again, headed South on winding Route 16.  A Bighorn Sheep Crossing sign?

Loads of bikers on the road around here.  We came upon a biker accident.  See the ambulance on the left side and there is a state trooper standing next to his patrol car on the far right off the road.  See the backside of a woman walking toward the accident in the ditch by the road in the center of the photo?  As we rode by we could see a geriatric motorcyclist laying in that ditch with a huge expensive bike next to him mangled up.  You could see skid marks from the tires on the roadway as you got closer leading into that ditch.  It didn't appear to be a 2 vehicle accident, but a case of that biker losing control and crashing into the ditch.  At his age, well, the age he appeared from our car window, he could have had a medical emergency like a heart attack or something.  I prayed that he would be ok but we continued on as there was no aid we could offer in this situation.

Pop up shops along the highway with bikers hanging around.  Vendors selling merchandise appealing to all the bikers driving by going to Sturgis for the Bike Week Rally.

More Bikers and Vendors on the side of the highway.  Between all the traffic on the road and in Deadwood I've never seen so many motorcycles in my life!

I can't remember now what body of water this was that we crossed of skirted.

A Smokey the Bear fire danger sign along side a "Motorcycles Use Extreme Caution" sign.  Ummmm, after seeing the wipeout North of here, maybe they need more of those signs during Bike Week?

Another bighorn sheep warning sign.  Didn't catch a glimpse of any though.

A billboard for "Naked Winery". Hmmmm.  And more bikers ahead.

Going through a tiny town called "Hill City".  More motorcycles on the road.....this is the theme of the day evidently.

An advertisement for "Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns".  No spelunking for me!

Some touristy attraction called "Bear Country U.S.A.".  Alas it was closed.  Not like we haven't seen bears up close and personal in the wild so we moved on.

This intersection of Rte. 40 and 16A had movable temporary signal lights.  I guess they are only needed in high Summer as that's when there is actual traffic around here.  This was on the way to the Mount Rushmore area.

Billboards for Mt. Rushmore and other fun activities ahead, like Mine tours(no thanks!)and Gold Panning.

Then the road ran through this natural tunnel formation.

And just like that we were entering Keystone SD, or rather the outskirts of Keystone, another touristy area.

Congestion on the main road through Keystone......

And of course......more BIKES! lol

They had painted fake bison statues here, all painted up.  This one was up on a platform above the entrance to a building and was painted with horses fording a stream.

Bikes as far as the eye could see again.  It's not just Sturgis, but this whole part of 

South Dakota that was taken over during Bike Week.

"Teddy's Deli" as in Theodore Roosevelt.  Old Rough and Ready himself would feel at home in SD, not necessarily in these tacky tourist towns. ;-)

Went by a sign advertising the Borglum Museum located near Keystone SD.  Gutzon Borglum is the man behind the creation of Mount Rushmore by the way.....

Another row of little shops dubbed the Keystone Mall, in the Keystone area selling Subway, Dairy Queen, Fudge, Holy Terror Brain Coffee and I don't know what else!

And we finally made it to Mt. Rushmore.  Of course I had to have my picture taken in front of the Parks Department's massive sign there.  Hubs wouldn't even get out of the car so some foreign tourists took my picture for me and I reciprocated and took their photos with the sign.

There was a tremendous line to get into the Rushmore Monument parking area(and it cost $10!)so instead of waiting in that long line for maybe an hour or more just to park before getting out to walk aways to the viewing area, we just continued on the road the wound around the ediface.

Of course we didn't get real close ups(like Jefferson's nostril)but with something on this grand scale, viewing from a distance you can take it all in at once.

I couldn't help but think about the local native Americans and how they looked upon this desecration  of their sacred mountains.

Then the road wound behind and I got a profile shot of George Washington's head.....

Bye, bye cousin George and Mt. Rushmore........

As we backtracked a bit to get on Rte. 16 up to Rapid City and onto I-90 drove along we began seeing these signs........

To be continued next time.

Sluggy