ROAD TRIP 2024

UNITED STATES

APRIL 16 – 22, 2024

We weren’t home long before we decided to hit the road, once again. This time in the van and to the east coast of Canada. We chose to go through the United States. Yes, the trip was longer in miles and time, but much cheaper for fuel. We calculated we saved about 40 cents per litre – and this is after converting from US gallons and US dollars. All total, we estimate we saved around $500-600.

We took advantage of our neighbor to the south and took in some sights at the same time. I had wanted to see DEVIL’S TOWER in Wyoming years ago and now was my chance.

We spent the night in Hulett, Wyoming. The next morning, driving around looking for a place to eat, we discovered that we were indeed in the wild west. This was not the only establishment decorated with real antlers and wagon wheels.

We drove a short distance out of town toward Devils Tower. It was not hard to find. It rises out of the landscape like a huge pimple.

There was something very surreal about it as we got closer and buffalo were grazing in its shadow.

Devils Tower rises 386 m (1,267 feet) above the Belle Fourche River, standing 264 m (867 feet) from summit to base. The summit is 1558 m (5112 ft) above sea level. The summit is 55 by 90 metres (180 by 300 ft) – the size of a football field. The circumference of the base is 1.6 km (1 mile). Amazingly, the summit is not barren rock, but covered in sagebrush, prickly pear cactus, and grasses. There are even rats, snakes and chipmunks up there!

The greenish color is lichen.

It was formed 50 – 60 million years ago by molten magma being injected into layers of sedimentary rock forming the tower 1.5 miles below the earth’s surface. The sedimentary rock continues to erode, exposing the symmetrical 5 or 6 sided columns that make the tower that we see today. These columns are the largest in the world. Some are 183 metres (600 ft) high and 3 – 6 metres (10-20 feet) wide. Chucks of the columns fall off, every now and then, causing a boulder field at the base. The west side of the Tower has more collapsed columns due to getting more sun, thereby causing more expansion and contraction of water in the cracks.

It was called Bear Lodge by the indigenous people. There us a legend that says some children were playing and a huge bear began to chase them. The children climbed up on a big rock and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. The Great Spirit had the rock rise up out of the ground to form the tower. The giant bear left his claw marks on the sides, trying to climb up and reach the children.

20 indigenous tribes consider the area as sacred ground. As such, prayer bundles are tied to trees where the prayers are released into the wind.

Even though it was a cold and windy day, and not conducive to a leisurely stroll, we still spent a couple of hours walking around the base. There was an interpretive area that was very informative with information and dioramas.

Devils Tower was featured in the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

As we left Devils Tower we saw other, smaller, towers along the road.

We went to the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is visible from the highway.

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction since 1948 on privately held land in the Black Hills, in South Dakota, about 27 km (17 miles) from Mt. Rushmore.  It depicts the Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing to his tribal land. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korzcak Ziolkowski. It is on a granite mountain 1991 metres (6532 ft) above sea level.

Why Crazy Horse? He took up arms against the US government after he saw the treaties broken, promises reneged on, and fellow chiefs killed in cold blood. His hand never touched a pen to sign any treaty. The monument is not so much to Crazy Horse himself; but to the spirit by which he lived.

When Rushmore was being carved with famous president’s faces, Luther Standing Bear, Henry’s older brother, proposed that Crazy Horse should be along side of them, to show that the red man had heroes too. His requests went unanswered. Henry Standing Bear was eventually granted a permit to build the monument on a barren mountain. Henry chose not to take any government money, but instead relied on donations from people interested in backing his cause and now, from visitor fees and gift shop revenues.

Ziolkowski reportedly was offered US$10 million for the project from the federal government on two occasions, but he turned the offers down. He felt the project was more than just a mountain carving, and he feared that his plans for the broader educational and cultural goals of the memorial would be overturned by federal involvement. When he died in 1982, his wife Ruth took over the project and was CEO until 2010. She altered the course of the sculpting, correctly believing that completing the face of Crazy Horse would draw in more visitors and more funding. Their 10 children and 2 of their grandchildren continue to work on the project.

The sculpture’s final dimensions are planned to be 641 feet (195 m) long and 563 feet (172 m) high. The outstretched arm will be 263 feet (80 m) long, the opening under arm 70 feet (21 m) wide and 100 feet (30 m) high, and the finger 29 feet 6 inches (9 m) long. The face of Crazy Horse, completed in 1998, is 87 feet 6 inches (26.7 m) high; by comparison, the heads of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each 60 feet (18 m) high. The Horse’s head will be 219 feet (66.7 m) high (22 stories). The mane 63 ft (19 m) high. The ears 54 ft (16.4 m) long. The eyes 20 ft (6 m) wide and 15 feet (4.5 m) high. The nostrils 26 ft ( 8 m) in diameter.

We had an informative and funny bus driver / guide. He was a native fellow and told some hilarious, politically incorrect stories about life on the Rez, as only an indigenous man could get away with.

There was a nice interpretive centre and gift shop, as well. The interpretive centre had lots of ethnic clothing,

art

and even dolls.

We hit the highway. We continuously wondered aloud, what the pioneers in covered wagons must have thought when they came through this unforgiving land. We were driving about 140 kph (85 mph) and we wondered if it would ever end. Can you imagine in a covered wagon, plugging along for days, and days, and days…..??

We passed through huge wind farms. And although the wind was blowing hard, the turbines were stopped. We googled it and discovered that wind turbines cannot run if the wind is too strong. Well, what’s the point of that?? We passed numerous trucks hauling wind mill blades, too.

We passed through a town that had a huge Smoky the Bear made out of split wood.

We stopped in Sioux Falls and went to the Falls Park. It is one of the top 25 best city parks in America, with good reason. With the roaring Big Sioux, waterfalls and unique rock formations, the park’s views are never-ending.

We went up the observation tower and had a birds eye view.

There was an old hydroelectric plant that was built in 1908 thata had been converted to a restaurant. Unfortunately, it was closed.

We passed through Chicago in the late evening and saw the Sears Tower lit up.

Even though it was late evening, traffic was horrible. I cannot imagine it during rush hour.

We spent the night in Gary, Indiana. The next day we googled where to find a Subway for breakfast. It was not far away, so off we went. I don’t know what kind of neighborhood we were in, but there was thick bullet proof glass the entire length of the counter. Yikes!

It was still early spring, but I was quite happy to see that the trees were blooming, with the promise of warm weather.

All total, we passed through Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. It was a whirl wind journey with a lot of miles but not a lot of sightseeing.

We entered back into Canada late at night, where the adventure continued…..