To the U.P.!

I left Glacier National Park on Saturday morning, August 14, on a mission. I had three days to drive 1700 miles to Ironwood, Michigan.

By far, these would be the three longest days of driving of the trip thus far. But I was on a mission: I'd been invited to spend time with my friend Heather (a friend of mine from Atlanta) and her family, who lives on Lake Superior. Heather would be in town until August 19, so I wanted to get there no later than the 17th by lunchtime. At the last minute, though, I decided to push it so that I'd arrive by dinnertime on the 16th, instead.

The first day, I drove almost 800 miles, moving southeast through Montana, crossing briefly into Wyoming, and then ending up that night in Rapid City, South Dakota. The first part of the drive was interesting, because I drove right through the Blackfeet Reservation. I had seen it on the map but hadn't really thought about it. But when I stopped for gas and a cup of coffee, I realized I was on the reservation right away, because everyone in the store was clearly a member of the Blackfeet. Everyone was nice to me, certainly -- it was just obvious that I was the visitor in the store.

As I continued to drive southeast, the weather perked up somewhat. The mountains also changed into rolling hills, and then into prairie, flat as flat can be. And I drove through another reservation, the Crow Reservation. I also passed the Little Bighorn monument. I'd have love to have stopped, but I decided that I needed to keep driving, in order to make it to Rapid City before it got too late.

I passed through Wyoming for about a half a second, and then went right on into South Dakota without even realizing it. I finally made it to Rapid City around 9:30 that night, and it was already very dark. I was glad that I'd decided to skip Little Bighorn, although I feel sort of guilty for passing a historical monument, especially since I've decided to learn more about the American and Alaskan natives on this trip. Oh, well....I simply cannot see everything, I guess....

The next day I planned to drive further eastward, to get to Sioux Falls, SD, for the night. But this would be a sightseeing day for me, and I was excited. I was to see Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument, and the infamous Wall Drug before arriving in Sioux Falls.

First was Mt. Rushmore. It's surprising: here I was, driving along through the Black Hills (which are beautiful, by the way), and it just appeared, right before my eyes. I rounded a corner, and saw the monument, off to the right. I was so surprised by how sudden it was, that I didn't even have time to stop and shoot a picture of it. Instead, I drove a bit further, paid $10 to park at the actual site, and then walked in to the formal viewing platform to snap my photo. And I have to admit, it was pretty cool seeing it up close and personal.

I left Mt. Rushmore after buying a few postcards and went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. I spent more time there -- not because I was expecting to, but because it's a huge complex! First, there's a movie there which the folks at the entrance highly recommend that you see, and the movie took 20 minutes or so. It explained the reasoning for the monument, why the entire monument is funded only with private contributions, and quite a bit about the sculptor, the Lakota tribe, and Crazy Horse himself.

Crazy Horse was a member of the Lakota (Sioux). His was one of the tribes which refused to yield to the US army, and which defeated Custer and Little Bighorn, and which was defeated at Wounded Knee. He supposedly responded to a white man's question about where his land was with: "My lands are where my dead lie buried." The sculpture depicts this moment; the monument will be of Crazy Horse on his mount, pointing over his lands. I say "will be" because the project has no completion date. The sculpture was started in 1948, and as of 1998, only the face has been completed. Currently, work is progressing on the face of the horse, but it will obviously be many, many years before this statue will be finished. In fact, I wonder if I'll even be alive when the monument is completed.

Of note, it'll be the largest sculpture in the world when it is completed. All of Mt. Rushmore will fit inside of Crazy Horse's head. The sculpture will be taller than the Washington Monument! And like I said, there's a large complex on the grounds, with a museum, art galleries, restaurants, and a planned university and medical complex for the education and care of the American Indian. Pretty amazing overall.

Finally, I left Crazy Horse and drove eastward. After 60 or so miles, I ended up in Wall, SD, home of Wall Drug. Wall Drug started as a lonely pharmacy on the prairie, but ended up as a marvel of American entrepreneurship with its unlikely heroic marketing campaign: the proprietor started advertising for "free ice water", and a conglomerate was born. Now Wall Drug literally hosts a shopping mall, an amusement park, and a chapel. I didn't begin to look through all of it, but I did have lunch there, and wandered through a couple of shops there, as well.

There was a nice Native American art shop, and they had really cool things: authentic tomahawks, bows, arrow bags, drums, peace pipes, and ceremonial rattles. I loved so many things in there, and I finally bought a ceremonial rattle: it's totally amazing. It's Cheyenne-handmade, from a turtle shell, with deer hide to seal the sides and hold the rattles inside. The handle is wood, wrapped with deer hide, beaded with typical Plains Indians beads, and the neck is covered in beaver fur. Totally excellent. I'm so glad to be able to add this to the other outstanding things I bought in Alaska. I now have quite a little collection of native art to place in my little house in Atlanta!

I left Wall Drug around 3:30 and continued onward toward Sioux Falls for the night. Monday morning, I left South Dakota and drove through Minnesota and then Wisconsin, and I finally arrived in Michigan early that evening. It was great to see Heather after so much time! She looks great, as always. She'd left her son with her parents that evening, and so we had an evening to ourselves that night, so that we could catch up. It was really nice. After dinner, we went to her parents' house, and I met them and saw Bryce, her son, whom I hadn't seen in probably 2 years or so.

The next day, Heather and I went up to Lake Superior to the lakehouse. It's beautiful there. The house is a small blue cottage, one bedroom, and absolutely perfect. It overlooks the water, which is clear and cold, and which has beautiful small waves that make perfect lapping sounds. After Heather and I'd had a few hours there to just enjoy the day, Heather's mom and Bryce met us for a cookout. We had steak, potatoes, asparagus, and salad, and then later that night, we went down to the shore where we made a small fire and cooked marshmallows for s'mores, as well. It was lovely, toasting marshmallows and watching the sun set over Lake Superior.

The only glitch in my trip came that night, because I got sick and even threw up in the middle of the night! No one else got sick, so maybe I just ate too much. But I hardly slept that night, nauseated and sweating all night long.

The next morning, I felt minimally better, if only because my stomach was empty. Heather and I had planned on kayaking on the lake, but it was raining and I still felt lousy, so we just sat inside and relaxed, looking over the water. Later that day, we went back to Heather's parents' house, and Heather and Bryce went for dentist appointments while I took a two-hour nap. I felt much better afterwards, and was finally able to eat some crackers and cheese.

That night, Heather, Bryce, her parents, and I all just sat around, chatted, and enjoyed each other's company. Her parents are really nice, and I enjoyed them a lot. Her mother is a schoolteacher, and she's warm and funny, and she and Heather are a lot alike. Her father is a former Marine, and then served as a Michigan state police officer until he retired in 2003. He received a Purple Heart during the Vietnam War. As he himself said, he's "lived life on the edge". Now, he and Heather's mother travel pretty extensively....by motorcycle. In fact, they've done the Alaska trip that I did....by motorcycle. And they've done the Eastern Canada trip that I'm planning on doing, as well....by motorcycle. Makes me feel totally lame, by comparison. After all, I get to sit in a warm, covered Jeep in my t-shirt and jeans, while they ride in the open air, regardless of the wind, weather, or bugs, wearing fully-protective gear and helmets. But hey, it's not a contest, right?

It's been an interesting few days, for sure. In the past 6 days, I saw the mountains of Montana, the plains of Wyoming and South Dakota, a monument to American Presidents and another monument to the Native American spirit, a symbol of American entrepreneurship and ingenuity, the farmlands of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Lake Superior. I also got to spend a few days with a good friend, her son, and her parents. What more could I ask of any road trip?