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(upper) Crazy Horse Memorial.

(center) Mount Rushmore

(right) Deadwood, where cowboy legends were made!

After 20 days on the road and counting, living day-to-day out of suitcases—packing and re-packing on a daily basis—we are heading home tomorrow morning from Rapid City, South Dakota. It will take two days to get there, but there will be no more stops for tourist sites, mountain overlooks and gourmet meals. Jump in the car with junk food, diet coke and books on tape.

Today, arriving in Rapid City at mid-day from Sheridan,Wyoming, we wrapped up the tourism sites by visiting Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. These are two places we wanted to see and Mount Rushmore just overwhelmed us. Four great Americans—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln—carved into the face of a granite wall in the Black Hills National Forest. The figures, who in different eras literally shaped our country, cover a span of rock that stretches 800 feet wide by 500 feet high. It's a National Park and very well done.

When you first walk into the memorial, you feel a great sense of American pride, marveling at how and what these workers did to take a design by Gutzon Borglum in 1925 and turn it into this wonder of the world that took some 14 years to complete. The tools the workers used compared to today were ancient antiques of chisels, hammers, air drills and early-edition jackhammers, workers hanging on the side of cliffs and using model masks of the figures and hanging pointers from the top of the cliffs to make faces that are remarkably like the individuals they depict. Borglum selected the four leaders of our country to place on the face of the mountain and they all changed the history of our country.

Mimi and I hiked the Presidential Trail part way up the mountain where you can get a closer view of the faces and see the remnants of rock and shale from the granite. Ninety percent of the memorial was carved using dynamite, which is incredible that someone could form a nose or a mouth or a mustache by blowing up part of the mountain. You talk about American visionaries.

Then, we drove about 25 miles to the Crazy Horse Memorial, which has only just begun the task of carving one of America's best known native Americans into a granite mountain. the finished product will include Crazy Horse on his horse and pointing to the land he once defended. This memorial will be a great tribute to Native Americans and the task—inspired by Indian Chief Standing Bear and sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski in 1947—is being undertaken without any government help and through all private funding. The current status of the mountain sculpture is the front of the face of Crazy Horse and a rather small hole to begin his pointing arm are the only distinctive features completed. Ziolkowski and Standing Bear have since passed away but the sculptor's family is continuing the project with little funding. When finished, and who knows when, the memorial in the mountain will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. It will be awesome to see and the workers are using modern drilling systems to get the task finished as soon as possible.

As we drove to Rapid City, we made a quick stop at the famous western town of Deadwood—you all remember the "Deadwood Stage" don't you—now refurbished with an attempt to take it back to the days of 1875. The city, now a national historic landmark, calls itself the place where cowboy legends lived and died. This town made famous the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (the real ones not Paul Newman and Robert Redford) and other famous cowboys and outlaws. The restored buildings are terrific, but most of the town is full of casinos now to draw tourism so we didn't stay too long. It's just neat to say that we visited Deadwood!

Anyway, look forward to seeing everyone soon and can't wait to show you all our slide show. I know you can hardly wait for that!!!

Happy Trails.