Day Thirteen

Due East to the Black Hills, just a couple hundred miles. The first 150 passed quickly on the open high plains, and then I spend a good 100-150 just riding around and through the Black Hills. Just absolutely a choice day regarding weather and winding roads. Around 4pm I did the tourist thing and visited Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore.

I’m really glad I did both - they were each inspiring and tragic all at the same time. The Crazy Horse Memorial has been in construction sine 1948 and is still very much in progress, completely privately funded, and is a tribute to the people who originally had claim to the Black Hills. The actual story is far more complex and I highly encourage anyone interested to read it. A few links below that should lead to a day of reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_people

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fort_Laramie_(1868)

Mount Rushmore on the other hand was funded with public dollars, and completed (mostly, but enough to call it done) in 1941 after just fourteen years of construction.

Together they are a reminder of just how complicated and many sides there are to the nations, and history in general.