I'm in Rapid City!

06 August 2008; 1412hrs Rapid City, South Dakota (USA)

I finally arrived at Rapid City after a 20 minute delay for my flight from Salt Lake City to Rapid City. The flight attendant on that leg was a stickler for rules. No unbuckling of seat belts, and yadda, yadda, yadda.

Chris, my couch surfing host, came to fetch me from the airport and immediately after dumping my stuff at his apartment, we went for a rock climbing expedition! Yes, ME! ROCK CLIMBLING!

I’m glad I tried. I didn’t make it all the way to the top but at least I tried! They move on to a more difficult climb, while I went for a hike. I made it to the top just by walking! The view was marvellous, too bad it was going to rain, so I couldn’t watch the sunset from the top of the mountain…

After the rock climbing session (behind the faces of Mount Rushmore!), we went to watch the lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore. Luckily the rain stopped in time, so the lighting ceremony could proceed.

But, it was COLD! And I was without my jacket! Brr…

Regardless of the freezing temperature, the lighting ceremony was really neat! I’m glad I endured the cold to witness such a cool event. What made it even more memorable was that at the end of the ceremony, a cloud/fog slowly rolled passed the faces on the mountain, and the lights made it red, white and blue. This cloud drifted past the faces, framing them, obscuring them then faced away. It was really amazing! I thought that it was, in fact, part of the show. But it wasn’t. That was a once in a lifetime, amazing, freak event. And I caught it!

We then went back to Chris’ apartment to get my bags. We were going to stay at another place, one that gave me a bed to sleep on. Wow!

Anyway, that wasn’t important. So long as I didn’t have to sleep on the streets, I was satisfied.

This morning, I went to get my tour to Mount Rushmore cancelled. I visited the site again, by myself instead of taking the tour. The tour would spend too much time on the road, and not enough time for me to enjoy the magnificence of the place. In fact, I spent a good 3.5 hours there by myself, learning about the history of the place, looking at the exhibits and watching videos. Since the tour didn’t even include Crazy Horse, there was no point taking part in it.

So I cabbed instead; from Rapid City to Mount Rushmore and back again. It was more than 2 times more expensive but I certainly found the time well spent, perhaps more so than on a tour. The beauty and engineering marvel of this monument were astounding and deserved more time there. And the good thing about going by myself? I went there before the crowd arrived!

However, this day alone, the trip set me back by more than US$200, including souvenirs for my brother and some friends. Very expensive…

So I decided to give Crazy Horse a miss. To travel up there from Mount Rushmore then back to Rapid City would be an additional US$80 at least. It was way too much for me to spend.

Anyway, since the Crazy Horse monument isn’t even completed… (It’ll take another 50 years) I gave it a miss, and bought a DVD that has its pictures and stories instead.

I’m back in Rapid City now, taking a break. I’m feeling a tad tired from yesterday; the climb, late night, interrupted sleep (I wasn’t used to the place), and early morning.

There isn’t much to do in Rapid City itself, but out of it, there are water slides, bear farm, goat farm, reptile world, gold mining and so on. The bad thing is that PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, is once again, NON-EXISTENT! There are no buses to Mount Rushmore, or Crazy Horse. No buses at all! Oh man, America, in most parts of it, seems to be living in the medieval era.

So no more sights in South Dakota for me… my bank for this town is running on empty. I don’t want to spend too much here and be left with nothing for later. I still have a long way to go before I reach home.

It’s also the time for this big bikers rally called Sturgis. It’s held in a place called… Sturgis. Over one million bikers, all Harley Davidsons, converge at that place for races and get togethers. Bikers from all over the world! I saw Japanese, Czech, French as well as Americans. Even though Rapid City (and Gardiner) is not the destination, the number of bikers here is still amazing! I haven’t seen so many Harleys in a single place before!

All in all, I’m glad to be leaving tomorrow and am going to a city where public transportation actually exists. That would make travelling so much cheaper and easier. Really, America needs to do better at their inter-connectivity between towns and attractions. Not everyone drives a car! Even the Europeans are shocked at the lack of public transportation and some locals are embarrassed by it. America needs to do much better.

Quiz: Why are the Black Hills called Black Hills?
Because of the type of pine trees (ponderosa pines) that grow there. The trees are so dark green in colour that they appear black when viewed from a distance.