August 21-24,2004
Hi everyone!
Time for another chapter of Jim and Kelli's Great Escapes.
This time, we are headed to Deadwood, South Dakota, for a Hummer Rally. Loading up the bus with the hummer on a car trailer, in tow, we head out.
We met other Hummer friends in Oklahoma and caravanned up there. Steve, his wife, Maribeth with her daughter, and her two sons, each driving a truck- they have an H1 and the smaller H2. We then met up with Mickey, from Dallas, and his silver "slant back" H1, and Dave and Ernie (his wife) with their white H1 on their car carrier "rig". (they are from Tulsa). Mark (Maribeth's husband, is to meet up with us along the way, somewhere, coming from a job, in Denver. We went straight North on I-35, through Kansas, where we met up with Mark, and continued through Nebraska. Then we turned west on 20 and finally stopped to spend the night in O'Neill, Nebraska. The next day, we turned North, in the Northwest corner of Nebraska, and headed to Deadwood, with a stop in Sturgis, along the way. (The Biker Rally had just ended).
We arrived just as a rain storm started, so we split up to find our campground and they went to their hotel. Whistler's Gulch R.V. Park was just up the hill from the main hotel headquarters, and was really neat! The sites were located all along the canyon, up the mountainside, ours was near the top.....what a view!
Keith,(our friend from Kansas) had signed us up for the extreme trails (of course) and the trail on Tuesday was so narrow and severe....there were warnings posted of possible severe body damage (oh boy! I'm thrilled)
At any rate, we spent Monday, driving through creek beds, and through the forest.....it felt like "jungle warfare". We even ran across a guy, panning or gold!
Tuesday was the "severe" trail. Only 6 trucks went (H1s) and there were over 40 at the rally. It was the narrowest, roughest trail we have ever been on! We climbed up the edge on one of the Black Hills mountains for about an hour, then started down the creek beds and "pig-trails". On one of the biggest obstacles, the rear tire slipped off a boulder and into a hole. (we are heavier than most other trucks because of all the tools Jimmy carries with us) This put the truck literally "between a rock and a hard place" (2 boulders)
After trying several different angles, etc., Jimmy decided to use the winch. This would mean that the left side back passenger door would be "crunched" big time, but otherwise, we'd be there another hour, working our way out, unscathed.
Anyway, after the initial "boo-boo", we continued down the narrow trail. At one point, the hummers wouldn't fit between the trees.( our left mirror's plastic cover got cracked) so.....out came the axes and down came 2 small trees!
After " funning ourselves to death" we decided to stick to the road on Wednesday. We went with a group of about 25 other Hummers on a sightseeing tour. We were headed for Mt.Rushmore, Sylvan Lake, along the needles highway and finally the Crazy Horse Monument.
I had never been to Mount Rushmore......it is really amazing and beautiful> Then we drove around the Wildlife Loop through the state park. We saw wild antelope, bighorned sheep, wild donkeys, prairie dogs and lot and lot of Bison (Buffalo)!
We had to stop while an entire herd decided to cross the road in front of us.
After a rest stop at Sylvan Lake- (really beautiful rock formations go right into the water!) we went down the Needles Highway, saw some beautiful scenery and went through three different tunnels that were one lane wide! The H1 hummers barely fit through!
Then we came to Crazy Horse......the most fascinating and incredible monument of all! We went into the welcome center a watched a movie on the history of the carving. Crazy Horse was a Lakota Indian War Chief. After he was killed with a bayonet in the back at a nearby fort (while under a truce flag), the elders of the tribe asked the sculptor (who assisted on the carving of Mt. Rushmore) to carve a memorial to Crazy Horse. The sculptor died in 1982, but his (18 years younger) wife and 7 out of 10 of his children, and now, their grandchildren, have continued this task.
The face was completed in 1998 (I can't imagine starting a project that I will never see completed!) the hole underneath what will be the arm took 1 1/2 years to make, so they could take equipment to the other side. The carving will be 360 degrees.
While we were there, we took a bus ride up to the base of the mountain and watched while one of the sons worked a huge bulldozer (a D-9 Caterpillar) pushing rocks down the mountain.....well into the evening. When they are finished, probably not in our lifetime, the horse's hoof will be touching the ground! 563 feet tall! Taller than the Statue of Liberty, or the Washington Monument. They figure it will be done in another 100 years! Something everyone should see, if they get a chance!
We met our Texas and Oklahoma friends for dinner at a great little steakhouse, called the Stampmill, in nearby Lead, S.D.