Being the aesthetic that I am I choose the most scenic (and painfully long) route , out of yellowstone up the beartooth highway, up over amazing alpine meadows and lakes, down through hair raising switchbacks and mind numbing roadworks. The views up on the pass are stunning, this is what I thought Yellowstone might be like, but here at least I got to see the grandeur that that the area is known for. We also became VERY well aquainted with some less scenic parts of the road as we dawdled along behind trucks or were made to wait interminably by malicious and EVIL road workers (to whom I hold no grudge - or not much of one)
Its about then, after 4 hours on the road and a 3rd of the distance covered that I began to think... "Now hey, its all well and good to be crazy and impulsive but I have to do this driving..." I actually DID start to act like Clark Griswold, urging th family on at every stop "we have to keep going!" I ended up in a crazed trance like state behind the wheel, determined to everything in my power to get those miles down as quickly as possible. I actually was greatful for the wide and welcoming lanes of the interstate for once!
It was worth it though. Only some 8 hours after leaving yellowstone the huge plinth of Devils Tower rose into view.
Its pretty bloody cool to see it look exactly as it did in one of my favourite episodes of the goodies (about 2:30 in). It might also have been in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After a brief walk around the tower to take it all in and look for that hidden military base we struck onwards towards Deadwood, and all its glitzy Casino filled glory. Its the old west as it really used to be, if the old west was crammed with poker machines, casinos owned by Kevin Costner and cheap buffet meals... the buffet was pretty good though! (The meal that is, the town is worth driving though though - its pretty on the outside...)
Next morning was off to Mount Rushmore, its exactly the size I thought it would be. The four figures inscribed upon it actually do instill a feeling of respect, even for an outsider like me. The information boards as you walk around outlining why each Pres is there and his greatest achievements make you realise what an impact these men had on their country, and really, to the rest of the world as well. (I doubt Saint Kevin will be inscribed on any mountain any time soon - put it that way).
While chatting to a lovely lady from Minnesota we got caught up in YET ANOTHER stupid decision - to hop in the car and zoom to the very close (on the map) Black Hills National Park... it was only an hour and a half out of our way. It was worth it though, stunning and strange twisted magical sandcastles in the afternoon light, prarie dogs popping up and down like a game of wack-a-mole and ramrod strait dirt roads flying off into the distance with a lone car raising a trail like a lone rider in the days of the Pony Express. This was wide open country, nothing to blemish the green sweep to the horizon but the occasional farm, haystack, and... something more sinister lurking under the thin soil...
We then struck out south into Nebraska, where our second huge day-on-the-run ended with sunset at a most strange monument. Carhenge... a wonderful recreation of stonehenge in all its mystery and grandeur but made out of cars. But this one was better than the original, as you can WALK RIGHT UP AND TOUCH IT! Take that U.K. National Trust and your stupid rules...We now rest easy in the quiet and pleasant middle of nowhere town of Alliance. I wont be making any more last minute decisions though. The things you can see in a day are amazing, but the petrol costs are killing me!
