Sturgis and more

Our next stop was Sturgis, South Dakota.  Being that we owned property in nearby Custer, we'd been here before but were excited to spend a week exploring the area.  Especially when we pulled into the RV Park and found it maybe 1/3 full.  

The park was 2 blocks from historic Sturgis so we left the truck and took a walk.  What a surprise to see a Mustang rally taking place.  Not that we're car enthusiasts but the people in town sure were.

Cars, cars, and more cars on display and in pristine condition.  We could see by the license plates that they had come from all over the country.

Besides cars - and motorcycles - there are lots of bars in Sturgis.

We missed out on the group photo but saw a sample from years' past.

That's a lot of people!

And a grim reminder that our service men and women come from all corners of America.

We then drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial.

The memorial is a mountain monument under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills.  When completed, it will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing to his tribal land.  The monument has been in progress since 1948 and it is estimated the construction will continue for approximately 60 more years.  It is operated by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization.  If completed as designed, it will become the world's second tallest statue, after the Statue of Unity in India.  

We took a photo from the parking lot - looks pretty much the same as it did about 18 months ago when we were last here.

There is a bus tour which we'd never done before which takes you closer so that you can have a different view.  So, we climbed aboard and found ourselves here.

And they were right - a new view that we hadn't seen before.

Look at that detail!

And then we were off to nearby Mt. Rushmore.

The sculpture's design was created by Gutzon Borglum and he oversaw the project's execution with the help of his son, Lincoln.  The sculpture features the 60 foot tall heads of four U.S. Presidents recommended by Borglum - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.  The four presidents were chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development and preservation, respectively.  The mountain's elevation is 5,725 above sea level.

Peter Norbeck, U.S. Senator from South Dakota, sponsored the project and secured federal funding.  Construction began in 1927 and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939.  After Gutzon Borglum died in March 1941, his son took over as leader of the construction project.  Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31, 1941.

A flag for every state

The amphitheater attracts visitors for special events.

The four presidents standing proud.

 

What a busy day!