Crazy Horse and The NeedlesSep 9, 2007
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A Sturgis bike rally leftover gettina a refill
Chief Crazy Horse Monument
Me and a replica model of completed monument
THURS 9/6
The morning turned out to be nice so we went on to the CRAZY HORSE Monument. The face was completed in 1998 and they are working on the arm and outlying the head of the horse. It is gargantuan;the whole 4 Rushmore faces would only cover half of the face profile. This is all a privately funded project started in 1948 at a request by Chief Standing Bear as a memorial to all tribes honoring their native heroes. Crazy Horse was chosen by the Indians as the epitome of the spirit of men who fought to keep the way of life and traditions secure. Standing Bear chose sculptor Korczak Ziokowski. Korczak dedicated the rest of his life to this project. His wife Ruth and 8 or their 10 children are continuing on with the project. I was completely blown away by this monument. Afterwards we drove to Custer State park but the weather turned bad, thunder, huge rain drops with hail and high winds so we turned around and went home. The next day we visited Jewell Cave one of the nicest caves we have ever been in. A Ranger leads you over 3oo ft. down into the cave over 3 levels and 750 steps. It was a wonderful tour. We then went back to Custer state park as the weather was great and went through the Needles area and took the Peter Norbeck Wildlife Loop Road. The only wildlife we saw was some mountain goats and a couple big herds of Bison. It was a lovely road and we came back through the Needles area with massive spires and narrow tunnels and beautiful Lake Slyvan. On the way home we found a large patch of White Boletus Edulis mushrooms. One of my favorite! We picked the best ones and had grilled mushroom caps for dinner and vacuum packed the rest. Today, Sunday,it is cloudy and cold so we are staying in to catch up on cards, website, laundry, showers, etc. There is a big field where I can let the boys out to run their little hearts out. Tomorrow we are on to Sioux City to stay the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. We'll be offline for a few days so will catch up with you when we have service. Miss you all!
