Day 7

Start Miles 6978

End Miles 7500

Total Miles 522

This morning was another gloomy one with fog and heavy clouds. We traveled up to Mount Rushmore rain free and a few peaks of sun breaking through. If you’ve never seen Rushmore, you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s amazing that it was started back in the 20’s by sculptor Gutzon Borglum. We went photo crazy here, naturally.

When we were at the main viewing area there were two large white mountain goats just off one of the main trails. Thanks to my family for taking me “scouting” on the back roads of Milton, Vermont when I was a kid. Now I can spot a moving animal from hundreds of yards away! Bill and I have now started to keep track of the animals we’ve seen along the way. It’s quite large.

In the gift shop at Rushmore, there is a “Passport to Your National Parks” and it’s exactly that. In America, there are some three hundred and ninety one national parks, monuments, and historical sites, and recreational areas. Each area has a picture and a dated stamp for your passport book as well as regional stamps. We now have a goal, and it’s to fill it up!

If you stop to Mount Rushmore, you must stop at Crazy Horse. Its a project that's been going for decades, slow and steady. Its a private, non government funded project and its going to be amazing once its done. It will be the largest monument in the entire world. The four heads of Rushmore will be able to fit in Crazy Horse's head alone.

Updating along the way

We’ve been on the way to Jackson, WY for quite some time now. We’ve gone through Casper, just a ghost of a city, and turned onto 20/26W on our way to Shoshoni. Along the way there should have been small blips of towns where we could fuel. Those towns are now non existant. Closed because of the economy or closed since the 70’s, who knows. All we know is there isn’t a gas station in sight. The one town with a population of 10, might not have a population of 10 anymore, maybe just two.

We’ve been getting major winds on our head which has slowed us down and guzzled the gas – just like a yacht. At a rest stop exactly half way between Casper and Shoshoni, we noticed we’re 57 miles to empty. It’s 50 miles either way, so best keep heading on. At least we’re being economical, 60 rather than 80. Let’s hope there’s a gas station, and that we make it.

At 40 miles, the gas light comes on. At 30 miles, it just says “fuel low”. Seeing this is nerve wracking. At about 19 miles, and our slow speed, motorcycles and a truck seem to think drifiting behind our big Jeep is the thing to do. Assholes. We reached the gas station in a small sleepy town! Yay!