MONDAY

Monday we got up and left London and Alissa's at 6am.  It is a 5+ hour drive to the Black Hills, our goal for this day.  I have a couple of things to say about Wyoming.  I think that it is a closely guarded secret by those Wyomingites.  I had a group of brothers my first year at Ricks that came from some small town in Wyoming and at the time, I don't think I had an appreciation for the life they described.  But now, having spent a few days there and driving across the state, not on the freeway - I have to say that this is a state that has a lot of things to offer.  Freedom is a way of life here it appears to me.  If anything happens to Idaho, I think I will be moving to Wyoming!


Our first stop on the trail after arriving in South Dakota was Jewel Cave National Park.  While we were waiting to take the tour of part of the cave (we went on a 1/2 mile loop, there are actually something like 150 miles of mapped cave right now) I was looking around the visitor's center and made an enlightening discovery.  I happened upon the difference between the National Park Service and the US Forest Service.  I know that all NPs are not necessarily forest, but I have never given a lot of thought as to why there are two different agencies running things.  Well, here it is:  The US Forest Service is charged with conservation.  They are to regulate the usage of the land.  The Park Service is there for preservation.  The are there mostly to prevent its usage and maintain it in a given state.  I find that interesting, especially when you watch some of the movies they have in their visitor centers, it's as if they are trying to protect nature from nature some times.  Anyway, on to some photos of the cave before I turn this from a travel log into a political blog!

I wish I were better at loading the pictures, but I am not, so the format is the always the same and I can barely manage get text along with them.  So - 
The cave is pretty much completely covered
with this calcite deposit that you can see in the first two photos.  The second one is what most of it looks like.  It is bumpy.  The top photo shows where a chunk has fallen off of the rock it was deposited on.  The bottom photo show the thickness of most of 

 deposits in the cave.  Some are thinner and in some places it is 16 inches thick.  Those in the photo are around 8 inches thick.


The third photo shows a different type of deposit; part has been washed away leaving a honey comb type thing left and quite frankly, it grossed me out!  I understand that the other cave we were considering - the Wind Cave - is mostly that kind of deposit.  I am very glad that we did not go there, as I would have been quite mad had I been 

forced to spend any amount of time surrounded by that creepy stuff!

The strip down the middle of the pic is called cave bacon.  It really did look like cooked bacon!

After the cave, we spent the rest of the day at Crazy Horse Monument.  My camera ran out of battery during the tour in the cave!  Rats! So unless I can get some photos of of Stratton's camera, you will not be able to see it.


 For any who have not heard of this monument; it is a tribute to Crazy Horse, a Native American Indian, who fought against Custer.  The purpose of the Monument is to honor all Native American heroes and provide a place for their story to be told.  It is a private project, with no support from the Feds.  It is substantially larger than Mt Rushmore's carvings and of course, it is not finished.  It was started in 1948 and may perhaps be done in the next 30-40 years.  We found it very interesting and I would suggest that you look it up online.  Also take a look at the sculptor and his history: Korczak Ziolkowski.  He was such an interesting man.  Dallas was fascinated by him.  
http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org//

We stayed until after dark to see the laser show on the monument (don't know what they will do when the monument is finished).  It was pretty awesome.  

Stratton didn't take very many pictures and all of them are pretty much the same.  Sorry! 

Tomorrow is a driving day; 700 miles, 12 hours.  Maybe we will visit the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.