What could be more American than being at Mt. Rushmore on July 4th?
Today was a red, white and blue day, with apple pie, howdy pardner and Harley-Davidson all rolled into one. We started with a later (8 AM) breakfast and then left Hot Springs heading north through Wind Cave National Park. We then entered Custer State Park where we discovered (entirely accidentally) Mt. Coolidge, giving us an extraordinary 360 degree view (60 miles in each direction). We could see (although without detail) Mt.Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, the Needles and a great deal more. It was the most inspiring view so far. It seemed ironic but we shared that view with a group of Harley riders (80% of all bikes on the road by my count) from Ontario. You can see 2 of them in the picture on the dirt road making their way back to the paved road 1 mile down.
Approaching Mt. Rushmore was, to say the least, frustrating. We waited in the line up for the designated parking area for about 45 minutes (a mile at least, and on a steep uphill, making it difficult to stop and start) and decided we would skip the tourist routine, save the 10$ parking fee (no break for motorcycles!) and take some pictures from the road and keep going. However, the route leading there was fun to ride, with lots of curves, tunnels, buffalo, antelopes and prairie dogs (by the millions).
CONTINUED IN PART 2 as too many pictures to add here.