South Dakota

Our first stop in the Black Hills was to the SD Air and Space Museum which is just outside Ellsworth Air Force Base, home to some 35 B-1 aircraft

We took a bus tour of the airbase and to the Minuteman II missile silo, where we went down into the silo for a closer look. We were lucky enough to see two B-1s take off (Mark also saw one land and earlier in the day, fly over our campground) and what a noise they made

Unfortunately, the museum was in the throes of landscaping so had removed all the signage to the outside exhibits and we couldn't get close to the planes either.

That evening we visited Mount Rushmore, also known as President's Mountain. The carving of the 60ft high faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln commenced in 1927 and was completed in 1941. The reasons behind which presidents to include were based on the following:

George Washington - he was the first president and represented the foundation of American democracy

Thomas Jefferson - with the Louisiana Purchase, he greatly expanded the nation and was the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Theodore Roosevelt - he not only represented the industrial development of the nation but was widely known for conservation efforts

Abraham Lincoln - the president during the US Civil War, he represents the preservation of the nation above all costs.

Today we visited Deadwood, the home of Calamity Jane and where Wild Bill Hickok was shot. Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874 and set off one of the last great gold rushes in the country. In 1876, miners moved into the northern Black Hills where they came across a gulch full of dead trees and a creek full of gold. 

From Deadwood we headed to Sturgis, home of one of the world's largest motorcycle rallies. The small town with a population of around 6,700 gets over 750,000 visitors during the second week of August alone. I always dreamed of visiting when I had my Harley, but glad I didn't as I think it will be rather boisterous. With pubs called  One Eyed Jacks and the Knuckle Saloon, the town looks like it's traded horses for bikes. The Full Throttle saloon is the world's largest biker bar and can hold 15,000 bikers - I bet that's a sight to see.

Tomorrow we start our 900 mile journey east across the prairies to Milwaukee