What's Out There Anyway?

I still had several days before I needed to arrive on the reservation, so I hit as many national monuments and tourists sights as I could. My first stop was Devil’s Tower, which I actually thought it was in Colorado. When I saw a sign for it along the Wyoming highway late at night, I decided it was worth it to pull over and sleep in the car so I could take a few pics in the morning. After all, it’s not every day you can see where the aliens landed.

I may be dating myself here, but did anyone else carve this into their mashed potatoes as a kid and then turn to their mom and say “This means something… this is important!”

After the tower, I raced to the southwest corner of South Dakota. There isn’t much in the Dakotas, but what is there is located in this small region. Not long after crossing the state line, I found myself in the infamous town of Deadwood.

I didn’t watch the Deadwood TV show past its first season, but I caught enough to know that this place is where Wild Bill Hickok met his end. He was playing poker with his back to the door—something he almost never did as a lawman with lots of enemies—and was shot in the back by the cowardly villain Jack McCall. The poker hand he held was a set of aces and eights, thereafter known as Dead Man’s Hand (I wrote a book report about Wild Bill in junior high and it had a big influence on me, so there). I toured the town, then found Hickok’s grave with Calamity Jane’s right next to it (her last words: “Bury me next to Wild Bill”). As for the town itself… well, it definitely has it’s wild west look and tourist museums. What I wasn’t expecting, though, were all the casinos. Deadwood is like a cowboy’s Vegas.

Hickok's Grave

A couple hours south of Vegas is Mount Rushmore. For some reason I can’t totally explain, I’ve wanted to see Rushmore for years. And when I finally stood in front of it, my first impression was “that’s all?” I mean, it was cool and I was impressed after watching the history video that showed how it was built, but still, it just seemed kind of… small. I guess I had it built up in my mind as this humongous, towering sculpture that would leave me completely awestruck. Really, I think it should be called Rushmore Hill, as the “mount” seemed like a bit of a misnomer. And, even more disappointing, Elvis still isn’t up there.

I'm not quite sure why they put a bust of Lenin at Mt. Rushmore, but whatever. It's cool.

The Crazy Horse memorial, just a few miles down the road, was considerably more impressive—or at least it will be when it’s finished. All of the Mount Rushmore heads will be able to fit in Crazy Horse’s head and hair, and it’s three-dimensional! Since the builders of the project have refused all government support and have chosen to have it privately funded, the work is taking a bit longer. I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished in a few thousand years.

The mountain and the sculpture of what it should eventually look like.

That night, I came across another unexpected surprise and found Wall Drug. I didn’t know much about the place, except that I had a couple friends on the East Coast who proudly bore Wall Drug bumper stickers on their car. I always thought it was in South Carolina, so when I saw a billboard (or thirty) advertising it, I felt compelled to check it out. Turns out it’s quite the tourist hot spot now. What was formerly the only drug store in Wall, South Dakota (famous for giving out free ice water), now takes up a whole block with a gift shop, restaurant, second gift shop, drug store, third gift shop, etc. I’m afraid I arrived ten minutes before they closed, so I didn’t get to see the animatronic t-rex. I did stock up on free bumper stickers, though.

Those friends with the Wall Drug bumper sticker now live in Minneapolis. I haven’t spoken to them in about five years, but sent them an email from the Deadwood library asking if I could come see them on this trip. The ironic thing is that they called me just as I was pulling out of the Wall Drug parking lot. Now it was a race to see how fast I could drive to east Minnesota!