Nancy had been to South Dakota as a teenager when her father was Sup't. of State Missions and South Dakota was part of the Baptist General Convention of Arizona; but Russ had never been. We were looking forward to seeing the many sites in the Rapid City area.
Not far into South Dakota we came across this interesting store. We wondered if he is one our relatives.!
HART RANCH (OUR RV PARK)
Hart Ranch is one of the nicest RV parks we have ever stayed in. It has many activities including an olympic size pool, tennis courts, pickleball courts, Sunday services, Sunday night gospel concerts, and an 18 hole championship golf course among other things.
BEAR COUNTRY U.S.A.
Although Bear Country has a lot more bears than anything else it has many other species including elk (seen below), deer, reindeer, big horn sheep, mountain lions, mountain goats, buffalo and many others.
And of course they had plenty of cubs.
MOUNT RUSHMORE
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and...Russ Jakes, president of the Rocky Mountain Coaches for Christ.
Interesting facts: Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor
Carving dates: 1927-1941
Number of workers: 400
Namesake: Charles Rushmore
Main tools: Dynamite and jackhammer
Rock: Granite
There was a lighting ceremony in the evening which included patriotic music, singing of the Star Spangled Banner and recognition of all military men and women, past and present, who were asked to gather on the platform and say their name and military affiliation.
At the end of the program, the flag was lowered and presented to the oldest veteran present (90 years - front row left in the wheelchair).
CRAZYHORSE
Not far from Mount Rushmore is the world's largest mountain carving still in progress - Chief Crazy Horse. The first blast of dynamite, which took off 10 tons of rock, was in 1948. Sculptor Korczak Ziolikowski has passed away but his family and other workers continue to work on the monument.
This is a model of what it will look like when completed.
WALL DRUG STORE - WALL, SOUTH DAKOTA
While at Mount Rushmore as we were waiting for the evening program to begin, we were visiting with a tourist who told us about the Wall Drug Store. Although we will be going through there after we leave Gillette on our way to Connecticut, it will be a long driving day so we decided to make it a day trip from Rapid City.
There were Jackalopes everywhere convincing Russ of their existence.
This establishment started out as a small town drug store in 1931 and has developed into a bustling place of business that takes up a whole city block!
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