This is and now was the first of my “Big Things” for this trip. Only 25 Miles from Rapid City I was looking forward to an easy and non stressed ride. Rather than set off early I spent the morning writing my blog and updating photos etc..

Setting off at 13h00 I was almost immediately in the foothills of the Black Hills. This is a gorgeous area where the Douglas Firs are on every slope, water running in streams and rivers and magnificent roads. In no hurry I was content to let the bike idle along at 50-55 mph.

The boxer engine (for the uninitiated BMW motorbikes have twin cylinder air cooled engines in which the cylinders are opposite each other and are horizontal – this means they protrude to the left and right side of the motorbike. This is contrary to most Japanese and American motorbikes in which the cylinders are next to each other in vertical banks. These BMW engines are known as “Boxer” engines). Now I have always been a “Boxer”fanatic having owned eight of these motor bikes over 25 years. I love the guttural noise they make when you open the throttle and their sound when they are idling along – as it was today.

I had decided to travel light, as opposed to the past four days and only took my point and shoot Canon camera with me. I also have a very good Nikon but left this and virtually everything else at the hotel. Passing through Keystone which is the village before Mount Rushmore I stopped to take photos of the old village and a steam engine which was pulling in. Bang – my camera packed up – battery flat. Normally fastidious in charging everything every evening I had omitted to do so for the past few nights and now was paying the price for that omission and the fact that I had decided to travel light. I even have a travel charger I can use on the bike, but it too was at the hotel. Fortunately my iPhone was not and all the photos are taken on it.

Arriving at Mount Rushmore, run by the US National Forest Service, is like everything else in America. Highly organised and everyone very friendly and helpful. I am always in awe of concepts or objects that people have created which defy belief. Ideas and “things” that blow one away with their grandeur or functionality. The Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, St. Pauls, The Ely Cathedral, The Taj Mahal and The Golden Gate Bridge are a few that have this effect on me. Mount Rushmore is right up there with all of these. It is difficult to comprehend that someone came up with an idea to carve a “mountain”!

You come around a corner and in front of you, towering in the sky, are the faces of four Presidents. I had picked a perfect day. Some clouds in the sky framing the mountain and the panorama combined to take my breath away. It is awe inspiring and a must see.

Arrival at memorial

The Mountain

Leading up to the memorial are the flags of all the states mounted in a marble stone with the date of their incorporation into the Union. It was of interest to me to see that the last states were incorporated as late as 1959. The four presidents chosen were, George Washington as he was the founder of the Nation, Andrew Jefferson as the framer of the constitution, Abraham Lincoln for his role through the civil war in merging the North and South and Teddy Roosevelt for his role in the preservation of the National Parks and in creating a firm foothold for the economy through the building of the Panama Canal and breaking up many of the Monopolies of that era.

I have included some photos of each of these Presidents most famous sayings. I am particularly drawn to that of Teddy Roosevelt – ” The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight – That he should not be a mere passenger”

Roosevelt

Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Jefferson

George Washington

How true and how incisive. If there is any one issue which highlights why the world is in such a mess, it is because of the number of passengers! Nowhere is this more true than in Europe, the UK and Africa!

Originally I planned a quick look see. eventually I spent more than two hours there. Rather than me giving you the whole story here is the Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore

Eventually after a quick lunch I set off again. This time via Custer, Hill City and then because I had run out of time back to Rapid City. This is perfect riding country and it was shown by the huge number of bikers, even the first BMW’s I have seen. They were here from Colorado. Interesting to note that their riders were also fully dressed unlike the Harley riders. Says something about both sets of riders.

A mere 103 miles today. Now 1247 miles from home. Tomorrow Billings Montana.