Monday, September 21, 2009

We were up early this morning so we could call Mr. Dodge at 8 a.m. when he opened, the result being that he could see us at 2 p.m., why oh why was I up so early!!

The weather today was deplorable, we saw a high of about 60F (15C) when we were in Rapid City but the average temperature around the park and Mt. Rushmore was about 40F (4C) – brrrrr!! It was a weird day with some sun then sudden showers, but we had no real hard rain. When we left I had on a sweat shirt as well as my fleece jacket and didn’t remove the jacket until we got to Rapid City.

Our Site at Crooked Creek Resort



This morning we spent some time on the internet, which was working so-so (still that is better than tonight which is nothing at all!) so in my poor wisdom I thought I would wait and post yesterday and today at the same time tonight – doesn’t seem likely to happen at this point.

We left about 11 and went back to Mt. Rushmore as the ranger in the studio yesterday had said the faces change with the weather so we thought we would check out the monument in overcast conditions and she was right, the mood of the faces did look different.

A Mountain Goat On the Way to Mt. Rushmore



John at the Entrance to Mt. Rushmore



Avenue of Flags



Bust of Gutzon Borglum - Mt. Rushmore Sculptor



More of Mt. Rushmore







The Meaning of Mt. Rushmore



Yesterday we missed the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center (Lincoln was Gutzon’s son and also worked on the sculpture) so we visited it today. This centre contains information on the mountain carving, the presidents, the sculptor, the workers and a history of the US – very interesting. We also watched a video on the carving of Mt. Rushmore.

From Mt. Rushmore we went into Rapid City (about 40 km) for our appointment with the Dodge dealer. It appears that the bearings are gone in the differential so we have an appointment at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning to have them replaced and are hoping that it is only the bearings and not the gears. It will be about $800 to replace the bearings and I don’t want to even think about what the gears would cost.

We made a stop at Wal Mart then returned home to think about getting dinner ready.

It is now bed time with no sign of internet so hopefully I will get today and yesterday’s blogs posted tomorrow.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to tomorrow’s adventures.

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