Stories From the Road (10 years later)...

Our next insane story comes from the wonderful time we had while driving from Chicago to the town of Rapid City, South Dakota - in one night! That's right folks, 1,008 miles in one night! We left early in the afternoon, and started out after seeing my cousin Stephen and his wonderful wife. We stopped by and got to go into Wrigley Field, (that is a story unto itself!), and then headed out for the road. Now when we first decided to do this trip, we had decided that we would only take back roads, and avoid the major routes, but realized that if we tried doing that in the Middle of NoWhere USA, we would be screwed big time waiting for some help to arrive. So, reluctantly, we decided to drive on the major roads. So in this insane amount of driving we did this one evening, we took major roads. I-55 to I-80, to I-35, to I-90. it was insane, but really fun. Then we hit the border for South Dakota, and found the thickest fog I have ever seen in my life. Literally, we couldn't see 10 feet in front of the truck. I wound us slowing down to about 25 MPH, hazard lights on and all, hugging the guideline on the side of the road just to make sure I was still going straight. Then we got passed by a tractor trailer. Who was doing 85. In fog that could actually be described as "Pea Soup". So I did the most logical thing I could do... follow at a safe distance, and set the cruise control and ride his wake. That is how I know he was doing 86. I was doing it right behind him. I was at a safe distance, I could see his lights clearly, and was merely looking at the ground for the stains of the animals he may have destroyed along the way. I found that to be true about most of the midwest states, especially the ones that had loose speed limit rules. We finally got into Rapid City around 4AM, and slept in the entrance to the Badlands in the truck. We got up early, right at sunrise, and drove the rest of the way to Mount Rushmore. We got there about an hour after sunrise, so instead of the typical white color of the monument, we have amazing pictures of it with a yellow color to it. The sky was was the perfect sky, no clouds at all, and the color of it was so perfectly blue, that when I had some of the pictures blown up, they couldn't replicate the color at all. I finally had my father in law enlarge it a few years later, when the wife and I had just started dating, and he did it perfectly. Anyway, we had a great time there, and were simply awed by the amazingness of the fact that we were actually there, in South Dakota, looking at Mount Rushmore. After a few hours there, we decided to explore some more. We heard about a statue we had never heard about before, called the Crazy Horse. Everyone knows who the Indian is, but how many people knew there is a monument being built to him that already makes Rushmore seem tiny? The carving of George Washington on Mount Rushmore is 65 feet high, from the bottom to the top of Washington's head. Well, the head of Crazy Horse alone is 95 feet high. When finished, it will be the largest sculpture ever made in human history. What is amazing is that the sculpture is being carved out of the side of a mountain. When all is said and done, it will be over 600 feet high. Now when you see it in person, it is simply amazing. Neither of us had heard of it before, and we both keep tabs on it over the internet. So after the drive of insanity, we got to see two of our country's marvelous wonders. There are other wonders we saw on the trip too. But those are for a later date...