DAY 9

Day 9

I just noticed that I missed Day 9, so I’ll rectify that now. Day 9 was travel from Rapid City, SD to Cheyenne, WY, 300+ miles through lots of wide open spaces. No one can feel cramped in this part of the country. We drove through mile after mile of scrub brush, sage and wide open spaces.

Our lodging for the night is another old hotel,The Historic Plains Hotel in Cheyenne. The hotel opened in 1911. The accommodations were enjoyed equally by cattle barons, oil tycoons and tonight by Dick and Judy. The hotel received a “face lift” in 2002 and is really quite nice.

Here are a few photos, 1st us and the boots, next The Plains Hotel, The Union and Pacific train station.

DAY 11

Day11

Today we packed out of Cheyenne at 9:30 am and headed south on I-25. Where yesterdays traffic on I-25 was light to none, today traffic increased greatly. The closer we got to Denver the heavier the traffic. Fortunately, our route to I-70 took us out west before we got into Denver proper. The connection with I-70 was smooth and within a short time we left the Denver traffic behind us.

If you have ever wished for a truly scenic interstate highway, then I-70 west of Denver is the answer to your wish. The 240 miles we did on I-70 today got better mile after mile as we traveled west. Mountains, valleys, sweeping curves when climbing out of the valleys and sweeping curves coming down the mountains, it was beautiful. But, the highlight of the day was the Glenwood Canyon section of the highway. Just incredible! Canyon walls rise up on either side of the road as it follows the Colorado River. The road it self runs on two different levels, east bound is just above river level while west bound is supported by viaducts suspended from the mountainside above the east bound road. Toss in a few tunnels and you have the most scenic, exciting and unusual Interstate highway I’ve ever been on.

I can’t offer you any photos as I was too busy driving to take pictures. I sure if you Google Glenwood Canyon you will find lots of pix.

Tonight we are in Grand Junction, CO. Tomorrow we visit Arches National Park.

DAY 10

Day 10
We are at another historic hotel this one is in Cheyenne, WY. The Plains Hotel opened in 1911 as Cheyenne's premier full service hotel. The hotel received a "face lift in 2002 and is really quite nice. Our room is huge, and the  shower is tiny. We are across the street from the railroad station which is an architectural delight. It was a 310 mile drive from Rapid City to Cheyenne. That's 300 miles of wide open spaces. This is a BIG country.

DAY 8

Day 8

What a devilishly good day this has been. Today we visited Wyoming and the Devils Tower. Another must-see monument. The first, Mt Rushmore was carved by Gutzon Borglum, the second, Crazy Horse Monument was sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski and the third, Devils Tower was carved by Nature.

Awesome is a much overused word that can’t come close to describing this natural wonder that rises out of the Wyoming landscape. You have to see it!

On the way there we crossed into Wyoming and stopped at the most unique Welcome Center we have yet to encounter. Perched on top of a rise overlooking the Interstate 90 it has wonderful interactive displays telling the Wyoming story.

It takes longer to get to the Tower than it does to visit the visitor center, take photos, try to see the climbers and use the heads. But, well worth the experience.

DAY 7

Day 7

Crazy Horse Memorial is the largest sculpture in the world. That’s a big statement to make, but it is true. It is impossible to grasp the scale of this monument by looking at a photo. In fact standing there looking up at the mountain you still cannot appreciate the size of this sculpture.  The fact that the Mt. Rushmore carvings would fit in the area that will be Crazy Horse’s hair gives you a good idea of how big it is.

We planned to spend about 2 hours there and ended up spending 5 hours. The whole site is dedicated to the Native Americans of all tribes. The reception center is a museum of all things relating to Native Americans. We took a bus tour to the base of the mountain and saw the working backside of the project.

It will be many years, even generations before it will be completed. I hope the commitment to the work does not diminish.

Here are a few photos.

 

 

 

DAY 6

 

Day 6

We had our Mt. Rushmore experience today and may I add it was a breathtaking experience. The scale of this rock sculpture cannot be appreciated by looking at photographs. Standing in front of it, it is overwhelming.  As this is Labor Day the crowds where not as bad as I had though they would be.  Parking was a easy with plenty of room at 11am. We elevated up from the parking garage and got our first view of the monument. Watching the visitors it was plain to see that all were in awe. A stroll down the avenue of flags brought us to the Grand View Terrace and a grand view it is. The Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center is on the lower level of the terrace. There we watch a film about the making of the monument.  Lunch was at the Cravers Cafe where a hostess came over a sat with us and made us feel welcome and very special.

Later in the afternoon we headed for Custer State Park, via the Iron Mountain Highway. What an awesome motorcycle road. Narrow road, hill tight turns and pig tails! This is a turn that doesn’t stop at 360 degrees, you get to go around again before coming out of the turn. It was really to first time that I truly missed not being on the Harley. The Wildlife Loop road in the park is not to be missed. We had our Tatanka (Buffalo) experience on this road. All in all we had a wonderful day.

Here are a few photos.

DAY 5

Day 5

 

South Dakota, wow, what a beautiful day this has been. A storm blew through Sioux Falls last night. We woke this am to 68 degrees a light breeze out of the north and clear blue skies. The ride across I-90 was awesome, all 355 miles of it. The terrain starts off as nearly flat grass plains. As we traveled west it started rolling into gentle hills that grew into steep hills and deep valleys. As we approached Rapid City it became higher, rougher and bad. I guess that’s why they call them the Badlands.

 

South Dakota farm report; Kansas just lost its claim to the Sunflower State title,  all along I-90, both sides of the road from horizon to horizon all you can see are sunflowers, sunflowers and more sunflowers. Don’t know what they do with all those sunflower seeds.

 

Our first stop of the day was Mitchell, SD home of the “World’s only Corn Palace”. Every year the exterior and interior of the build is decorated with murals of maize. It’s an amazing thing to see and impossible to describe.

I ‘m not sure where the signs start in the east or where they end in the west but anyone traveling I-90 can’t miss the Wall Drug signs. So being in our tourist mode we stopped to see Wall Drug. It’s in Wall, SD and is Wall, SD. It’s the whole town! This day, like every other day I’m sure, the place was packed, tour buses galore. If you have ever seen Pedro’s South of the Border in Dillon, SC then you have an idea of what Wall Drug is like. We did not linger. It was a quick stop and shop, bought my t-shirt and we were gone. Would I go back, no? But we can say we have been there.

 

 

We are now settled in at the Alex Johnston Hotel in Rapid City, SD. It is a lovely old hotel that opened in 1928. We have a corner room on the sixth floor that over looks the city with the Black Hills in the background. Mt Rushmore is a half hour drive from here.