Note: This following post is being repeated. The original "disappeared" on me while editing another posting.
Korczak Ziolkowski (pronounced Core-chack Jewel-kov-ski) was a self taught artist and sculptor who won a prize at the 1939 World's Fair, following which he was approached by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to see if he would come to the Black Hills to carve a memorial of Lakota Leader Crazy Horse. The chief stated"My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, also".
Korczak agreed and decided to depict Crazy Horse gesturing with his hand outward "My lands are where my dead lie buried." The mountain was chosen and work began in 1948.
We first visited the Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial in 1973 and it looked much like this.
Not much progress in 26 years you say? But, he had blasted over six million tons from the mountain by then. The hole in the mountain is ten stories high!
We saw Korczak on that visit. He was holding court in his home/workshop/museum/gift shop/restaurant. much like in this painting.
Korczak died in 1982 and his wife Rose carried on directing the work until her death in 2014. Some of his ten children are continuing his work today. Two of his daughters manage the enterprise - one the mountain blasting/carving, the other the admin/tourist side.
The face was completed in 1998. It stands 87.5 feet high.
The structure on top was used as a guide to measure where the various points on the face should be located. Today, it is used as a lightning rod - work continues year-round and is interrupted more by lightning in the summer than ice and snow in the winter.
Now, they are working on the hand, finger and horse's mane. That should be completed in about three years.
The following picture will give you a better idea of what the finished project will look like. It is expected that it will take about forty more years to complete.
Korczak's vision went beyond just the carving. He envisioned a native university, an artists' workshop, a museum, and, to some degree these have all come to pass.
So far, the university offers a summer paid internship program that meets the requirements of their first semester in college.
The artists' workshop is a going concern on-site, and the gift shop acquires and sells the work of native artists from across the country.
We stayed until dusk. Hated to leave, even though we have been here many times.
We will return Crazy Horse!
After checking out of our hotel in La Crosse, we visited Riverside Park on the Mississippi.
The city of La Crosse has a nice feel to it (maybe because it is a Democratic bastion) and was named because it was the site of native Lacrosse games. The park has a statue of Hiawatha but no information is given as to why. Hiawatha was instrumental in the formation of the Six Nations Confederacy over 500 years ago.
There is also a sculpture of an Eagle in the park. The sculptor has other art around the downtown but we didn't investigate those.
We saw an old phenomenon today - a plank road. Haven't seen one of those since Mardi was a kid in Hagersville (had to say that - I have no sense of fear - although many feel I could have stopped that sentence after the word "sense").
The area is very boggy in many places and they use heavy equipment to install their large transmission poles. The planks are laid quickly we are told and are removed afterwards so Mother Nature can rehabilitate the area. The planks in the picture below have been removed in the front of this picture but are still in place on the next hill.
The last pictures of this blog are for Ewen. He and I discovered Culvers, the home of the ButterBurger, on our return trip from the Grand Canyon. Awesome burgs! Inexpensive too, and Culvers are located all over the place in Wisconsin and Illinois.
After lunch we ignored the GPS and took I-39 and I-80 around Chicago to avoid the highway gridlock. We also crossed at Port Huron/Sarnia because I hate the Detroit crossing. Those two decisions added an hour or so to our time (our theoretical time -I'm sure the Chicago traffic would have cost us at least that much extra time) and we crossed at 10:30 p.m., an hour and a half before my out-of-province health insurance deadline. Arrived home at 1:30 a.m. and slept in this morning.
We had a really great trip (even Mardi says so). Saw just about everything on our list and many things that should have been on the list.
By the numbers:
33 days
4 time zones
15,543 kilometres driving
50 hours floating
5 provinces, including Ontario
1 territory
11 states
4 times entering and leaving the U.S.
10 entries into B.C. - mainly because the Alaska Highway zig zags over the Yukon/B.C. border seven times.
8 entries into the Yukon
3 entries into Alaska
2 visits with good friends
0 arguments
To those of you who have ridden along with us on this trip, I hope the blog has been interesting and entertaining. It has taken from one hour to three hours each day, depending upon internet speed, but it is my photo album for future reference so it's been fun to produce.
Till next time.
We had an interesting night in Rapid City, South Dakota. The fire alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. so we grabbed some things and got out.
One of the things was my camera.
Mardi was pretty well out of it. She went back to sleep in the van.
Turned out to be a false alarm, so back to bed and surprisingly, back to sleep. But we were not well rested when morning came!
Today, might best be noted for the things we didn't see, rather than for those we did.
We passed up Mount Rushmore - everybody should see it once, then concentrate on Crazy Horse.
No visit to the Badlands. Once is enough. Take this picture and spread it out over 16 scenic highway miles and you get the idea.
No Mitchell Corn Palace. Even though they change the corn cob murals every year, once is enough.
No Wall Drug either.
They still offer 5 cent coffee! And free ice water. It was the ice water that got them their start. Their drug store was a few blocks off the highway and they came up with the idea of offering free ice water to travellers - in those days cars weren't air conditioned, the roads weren't the best, and ice water was a Godsend!
It now covers several blocks of the town and sells everything. We have visited Wall Drug every time we've had kids in the car. Almost a theme park!
But, we did stop at the Lewis and Clark Information Center in Chamberlain, South Dakota. It gives you a great view of the Missouri River.
And, it now includes "Dignity", a fifty foot high statue.
I first saw Dignity in brother Roger's blog a couple of months ago and added it to our trip itinerary. It has only been up for a year or so. It is meant as a symbol of peace in a sacred place. Beautiful!
Driving past some road construction today we saw large rolls of the same plastic that was used on the roads in the north. Have to research that sometime.
It's interesting that, although the speed limit for much of our journey through the states has been 80 mph, the majority of the drivers, us included, seem content to max out at 75 (120 kph). Very few cars go at, or above, the limit.
Once you get past the Missouri River you are in America's bread basket. Wheat, corn, soy, you name it. Mostly corn as you travel further east.
And now, we announce our BST candidates for the day.
The bull above is made of thousands of railway spikes.
You decide. My choice would be the dinosaur on a leash.
Tonight we're in La Crosse, Wisconsin, beside the Mississippi River. Just 12 more driving hours to go.
Before we left Bozeman we made two stops, and saw two excellent metal sculptures.
Beside the Laundromat, a Bison.
And, at the auto lube, a pair of Eagles. Unfortunately, the light didn't cooperate in showing the fine work done on this one.
We were told that there are several more works by this artist around town but we didn't have time to seek them out. We had Crazy Horse to get to.
But, we did see this old Ford at Extensive Care Auto Repair on the way out of town.
The sun was trying to shine, but the wildfire smoke added to the partial cloud cover to make for some strange lighting during the day.
And, it spit rain all afternoon.
The radio show from yesterday really has me bothered. Last night, I looked up "Dr. Strange" on the internet. He has been barred from speaking in the U.K. because he incites hatred. But, he has 20 million radio fans in the U.S. He is loved by people such as the pickup owner who won our BST award for the day. Maybe there are worse outcomes than Kathleen Wynne! That's a pretty scary scenario for our civilization!
But, back to our adventure. We left I-90 and took Hwy. #16, the Black Hills Scenic Byway. An awesome drive.
And the wildlife really cooperated!
Pronghorn Antelope are often seen within a hundred yards of the highway, and don't seem to mind cars dashing by. But when one stops, they bounce away on their four pogo stick legs.
However, these two beauties posed nicely.
Mule deer were seen as well. Missed a beautiful buck but caught this.
These two got away.
We were wondering at one point why the speed limit suddenly dropped to 35 mph. Turned a corner and found out why.
Big Horns. Well, lady and lamb Big Horns.
We also saw another "critter" which shall be our BST for today.
We reached Crazy Horse Memorial Mountain but stayed so late that I'm now too tired to complete this post. Besides, Crazy Horse deserves its own post, so I'll leave you with a teaser.
This picture was taken from over a mile away.
To be continued.
From Moses Lake east, Washington State got progessively drier, much as B.C. does in the interior.
After leaving Washington, we crossed Idaho and much of Montana.
This is the first time I have travelled on I - 90 in this area - every other time I have made sure I visited Yellowstone. The scenery across Idaho was spectacular. Coeur d'Alene Lake is absolutely beautiful - pictures can't do it justice.
We stopped for lunch at Lookout Pass, a ski resort.
For the next several miles it was all downhill - seriously!
An old railway line has been converted into a bicycle path. Miles of steady downhill. I doubt that very many folks ride the uphill route.
You can see the path to the right of the highway above. What a great ride it would be!
Wildfires are the current scourge of the interior mountains and we came across several today.
The smoke stayed with us for several miles down the valley.
And our thoughts were with those who were fighting the fires, including Greg Bullivant and his helicopter crew, who were assisting the firefighters in central B.C.
We saw everything today, from forest to desert. Quite a trip!
We listened to a far right radio station for a few minutes today and it was "educational". According to "Dr. Savage", global warming is not real; gays, lesbians, and transgenders are Democrat things; and evolution isn't so. You know, the Republicans haven't evolved much past the apes, so I can understand that last point.
And we did see a Big Stupid Thing. But the sign was past us so fast that no picture was taken, so I went to the internet to get you this.
Pretty ballsy sign I would say.
Every August, apparently, the bulls are castrated. And, waste not want not, they are eaten (not the bulls stupid, the balls).
And, with that, we carry on.
Tonight we are in Bozeman, Montana. Tomorrow we see how Crazy Horse is doing.
