With a local road trip already in the bag the previous day, most would have been content. Scott and I wanted to check out Mount Rushmore though. The last time he was out there, the weather was cloudy and cruddy, which didn't make for terrific pictures. We intentionally toured Colorado on Tuesday and planned Rushmore for Wednesday because we checked the weather out in South Dakota and found it to be more favorable on Wed. At around 5:30 (yea. Three hours after the last trip), we headed out the door to go North.

We went north past Denver and into Wyoming. I did almost of the driving in this next 24 hour period. Since this was a trip I would have done on my own if I had the chance, I had no problem taking the wheel! It was nice to have company! I found a Cracker Barrel to turn in the last Audio book I'd finished before coming into Colorado (Grisham's The Last Juror) and picked up two more for the next leg of my solo trip back home. The first is another leadership book, this one geared towards making decisions as a leader of small teams. The second book escapes me now, but I'll mention it when I remember what it was.

The drive was pretty nice! The sun was out in full force, which meant that it was beating down on me and Scott. We'd crank up the AC and then hear about it from Julie who was in the shady backseat freezing. I think we finally found a happy medium. It involved cold AC for the fellas and a down comforter for her. There isn't much to see out there in Wyoming- even the more populated areas are just places to gas up and get a bite. The rest is just open plains and occasional dune-like hills. I encountered some strange looking fences that were about 9 feet high and didn't close off an area...they just seemed to be parallel to the highway. If I were an animal, I could go to either side to get to the road, so I have no idea what the point of those things might be.

We crossed into South Dakota and eventually into Keystone, SD, where the famous Mount Rushmore is situated. We started seeing more and more motorcycles than normal. (we would later find out that the Nationally renowned Sturgis bikers convention was being held, but I'll hit that touchy subject more later) Coming into the park, we found a spot to leave the car and explore. The first thing you notice is Mt. Rushmore itself, peeking over a huge entrance in marble. Flags from all states line the main entrance walkway, which is quite a sight to behold.

I got my obligatory photo of me with the presidents then took some shots of Scott and Julie. We began walking to the path that cuts closer up to the monument. I noticed that my cell phone had five bars of reception, so I called into my voicemail. Nothing. Hmm. Along the walkway was a cave. From the cave, you get a really neat perspective of the monument through a crack in the wall. I tested out my telephoto lens on George Washington. 12x zoom can show you boogers in his nose if he had any. Pretty impressive!

We descended from the mountain park to look for some food. That's when we ran into about 500 bikers, all having beaten us to the local restaurants. There were motorcycles in front of us, next to us, behind us, at every rest area, every parking lot, every gas station...it was like an infestation. We finally found a place for lunch though. It was good to finally get some food. It had been a long day to that point, and I think everyone's energy tank was on empty.

After lunch, we looked at a map to determine the best way to Devil's Tower, Wyoming. Looking at the map, we noticed that if we went through a few extra roads we could be in Deadwood, South Dakota. What a treat that was. I'd gotten very attached to the HBO series Deadwood and wanted to see where it historically all began. It was a town built on land given back to the natives, where lawlessness could thrive. We even saw a severed head right at the entrance. Getting more into the downtown area, there were even more bikes around. I'm sure they were having fun, but the revving of the motors got pretty annoying. Driving out of the city, I spent more time worrying about them on the left side of the road coming right at our lane that I apparently didn't notice I was going 5mph over the limit.

When the cop pulled me over, I couldn't believe when he told me my speed. I'd been pulled over for much worse in the past. This seemed ridiculous, especially since there were bikers everywhere, going a hell of a lot faster than we were. He brought me back to his car while he took my information. I wasn't worried at all, because seriously- a 5mph ticket? Puh-lease. He wrote up what turned out to be a warning, but not before he got on the horn and demanded that Scott get back in the car. Scott walked out to stretch and apparently was seen as a threat- to what I don't know. I took my warning without any smart-talk, but let the officer know that I wasn't even looking at the speed because the oncoming bikers were literally 2 feet from my car, whizzing by as they passed each other. Their safety and ours was my first concern. Officer Crum, if you're out there, you're a dick. You could have handled things so much more politely, as I did. Man, that guy was so rude.

Anyhow, we got back on the road and eventually crossed back into Wyoming. Devil's Tower is a really cool monolith (popularized by the movie Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind situated in Northeast Wyoming. It took about two hours to get there from South Dakota, but we eventually made it. What a sight it was to behold too.

We got out of the car and walked around taking photos. I had almost filled my Memory Stick and couldn't seem to find my spare cards.... Had I brought them from Richmond, or were they in Scott's apartment? It bugged me that I couldn't find them. I filled my card to its capacity of shots out there. It was beautiful to witness in the sunset. Scott, Julie and I climbed some rocks at the base, which was pretty fun. I took some artsy shots in the woods nearby, and we all got back into the car to head for home.

The ride home took forever. By the time we were leaving Devil's Tower, the sun was completely gone, and we had the next several hours to face in the darkness. The good side of that is how incredibly dark the sky is at night. We saw about three shooting stars per minute. It was amazing. The constellations could be seen in their entirety, as could the Milky Way galaxy. Stars in faded clusters could be seen where I'd never seen them before. It really was an incredible drive. It got pretty tiring though, and I eventually relinquished the wheel to master driver Julie. We stopped for food at Taco John's, a pretty tasty Mexican place.

I passed out sometime around 2am. We pulled back into Aurora at 5:30am, ending one of the longest road trip days I've ever had. We were all exhausted. I don't even remember going to sleep that night in the apartment.