Know anything about South Dakota? Well, neither did we; we thought it was just another rectangular  mid-western state full of endless cornfields, but it turned out to be full of interest. For a start, it contains the town of Sturgis where literally thousands of bikers (Harley, not mountain) turn up for the world's biggest rally in the first week of August, but we missed this and the aftermath by a week or so.

Wednesday 22 August 2001 (continued)

First, into the Black Hills and the South Dakota Woodcarving Museum in Custer. We had assumed, not unreasonably, that this was a museum of woodcarving in all its aspects. In fact it is a showcase of the work of Harley D Niblack, a South Dakotan businessman who made lots of money by his early forties, retired, and devoted the rest of his life to creating humorous and often animated woodcarvings. They're very good, but we were expecting a little more variety given the name of the place.

Had bison burger and bison chili for lunch: lower fat and cholesterol than beef, and they taste nice as well. Next, Crazy Horse monument, also in the Black Hills. This is a mountain sculpture along the lines of Mount Rushmore but on a much vaster scale. It will ultimately be a representation of Crazy Horse on his steed; to give some indication of its size the four presidents of Mount Rushmore would fit into his head twice over, never mind his body and horse (the photo was taken from over a mile away). It was proposed in 1939 by Chief Standing Bear of the Sioux, commenced in 1948 by a sculptor called Korczak, and so far just the head has been completed plus some roughing out of the horse. Mr. Korczak died about ten years ago, but the work is being continued by his wife, seven of his children and as many employees as they can afford. However, it's being done totally without federal funds, just from the proceeds of the visitor centre and other fundraising projects, which is why the timescales are a little extended.

Camped at Mount Rushmore KOA, and went out after dark to view the monument lit up and see the nightly son et lumière which unfortunately we just missed. After Crazy Horse it was a bit of a disappointment, and the illuminations didn't do it any favours. Back to bed after a record number of things seen in one day.

Thursday 23 August 2001

Back to Mount Rushmore (Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, in case you're wondering) to see it in daylight, which shows it to much better advantage ...

Note the small speck on Teddy Roosevelt's head, which is yet another lunatic abseiler. Nothing is sacred.

Booked into Custer State Park campground - no hookups, but lots of space and very pretty - and went for drive round Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway in the park, named after a commendable politician in the 1920s who protected the Black Hills from development. It lived up to its description; this is the Needle Rock, named after its eye ...

... and just round the corner the road goes through a tunnel cut through the hills which is precisely 6" wider than the truck with its wing mirrors extended. We folded them flat for the passage. Also saw a large flock of bighorn sheep ...

... but as yet we haven't seen them doing their mating display which involves butting each other in the head with great force for hours until one gets discouraged and goes down the pub.

Friday 24 August 2001

Left Custer State Park via the wildlife trail, which included the many wild donkeys whose main activity is cadging from passing tourists ...

... to Wind Cave National Park. This is a huge cave formation stretching almost 100 miles across; it is famous not so much for the traditional stalagmites and stalactites, of which it has very few, as for its boxwork ...

... so named because someone thought it looked like the large racks of post office boxes found at most US Post Offices. The name arose because of the breeze which blows through its single small opening either into or out of the cave, depending on the difference in temperature between the inside and outside.

Note the jackalope in the background: this is a mythical hybrid of a jackrabbit and an antelope, featuring in many westerners' tall tales. We tried the free iced water from the original fountain; Christine spilt a little on her shirt and it's left an indelible yellow stain, so heaven knows what's in it.

Through the afternoon we drove east through the grass prairies, spotting some pronghorn - the USA's fastest land animal - for the first time on the way (hurrah), until we came quite suddenly to the Badlands National Park.  By 'quite suddenly', I mean that the grass just stops and the strange landscape of the badlands immediately begins, without any intermediate region ...

The Badlands are very beautiful, similar in appearance to the bungle-bungles in Western Australia: dome-shaped formations of sandstone with lovely colouring and striped markings ...

... but they must have been murder to try and cross by horse, hence the name. We stayed overnight in the Cedar Pass campground in the park: nice surroundings, but no facilities whatsoever except for a toilet block five minutes'  walk away.

Saturday 25 August 2001 - Sunday 26 August 2001

En route next day, after coming out of the Badlands, stopped at the Prairie Homestead. This is one of the few remaining original sod huts, constructed in 1909 and typical of the type built into the hillside by settlers who were trying to establish their 160 acre claim. You were required to build a house, farm the land and stay for five years, but many people didn't manage to do so as the land is poor and 160 acres is pretty marginal for survival. Building this way required less timber, and also provided insulation against the extremes of heat and cold. The shed-like part to the right is a later addition, an old miner's hut stuck on to provide more living accommodation.

Living in the grounds of the homestead is a unique colony of white (not albino) prairie dogs ...

... all descended from one ancestor captured in the 1960s when a colony containing a few of them was being poisoned to reclaim the land for agriculture. Aren't they cute?

Long drive east to Mitchell, home of the famous Corn Palace, and stayed in Lake Mitchell Campground

The Corn Palace was closed on Sunday, and the weather was stiflingly hot and humid, so we bummed around in the trailer doing postcards, web site etc. in noisy but air-conditioned comfort. However, on Monday we went out to see it and marvel. The original palace was built in 1892 for the state's Corn Belt Exposition and decorated, inside and out, with huge panels constructed by nailing on different coloured varieties of corn cobs. The current palace is the third one, the previous two having burned down early in the 1900s - wooden buildings covered in corn and straw: now there's a surprise - but fortunately they caught on and it's now of stone construction ...

The outside panels are changed every year. This year's design has been drawn up, but the men with nail guns on extendible towers were just starting to apply the corn while we were there so we couldn't see it in its full glory. However the main hall, used for concerts, basketball games etc., has  a large frieze of panels which are very impressive ...

The corn is not just any old genetically modified rubbish; there are eleven different shades specially grown for the purpose by one man who has the awesome responsibility of ensuring that it's ripe, harvested and ready to go by mid-August.

 Another long afternoon drive to Iowa.