day 2: squeezing the most out of a day

DAY 2

Chimney Rock

Alliance, Nebraska

about 2 miles north of Carhenge

Custer City, South Dakota

Crazy Horse Monument

Abe had an itch

The whole roadtrip idea started when my boys told me they wanted to see the "heads"! The heads? Oh...you mean Mt. Rushmore! So I began to plan out our trip. The beautiful thing about a roadtrip, you can't plan everything. It's the unplanned, unexpected things that make the trip so authentic and unique. You just can't plan running into a bunch of hay barrels spray painted with REST AREA, with a toilet and recliner propped up on top. But of course, you have to STOP! The roadtrip is about the people you meet along the journey. I love to see how people live! A farmers life seems so simple, yet so hard! I couldn't help but wonder, will they ever journey outside their comfort zones?

We left Gering around 9:30 a.m. and headed 20 miles to Chimney Rock. There wasn't much there. There was a little museum, but the boys didn't want much to do with it. We took our token pictures and head off towards Alliance, NE. I had read about a place called CARHENGE. It was a about 15-20 miles out of the way, but so worth it! Carhenge did not disappoint. One of the best things about it, there were no other people around! We had the place to ourselves. Take that Disneyland! This junkyard of abandoned cars was pure art. I couldn't stop taking pictures..it was so amazing. One of those things you don't see everyday! Things like this just make me love the USA that much more. The boys thought it was pretty cool and ran around all the cars..getting much needed energy out! They had a little gift shop with a smashed penny machine..bonus..and a Christmas ornament! So far a perfect day!

We had about a 3 1/2 hour drive to Mt. Rushmore. We drove passed all kinds of wild life..the buffalo and prairie dogs were favorites. We made it to our campground: THE FLINTSTONES CAMPGROUND around 3:00. Our camping consisted of a cabin with no bathroom..camping enough for me. The boys went swimming to cool off and then we headed out to see Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore. My opinion of Crazy Horse..they're not going to finish in my lifetime. I gave the map duties to Skyler and we ended up taking a 1 hr. 45 minute detour to Mt. Rushmore {would've taken us 15 if he read the map right..oh well, it was beautiful country}. We got to Mt. Rushmore at dusk. One can't help but feel a strong patriotic rush when they see the faces etched in the mountain. I was in love. The black hills were so beautiful..who would have thought, South Dakota was so beautiful? Not me! We stayed for the night lighting, which again, struck a patriotic cord as the Star Spangled Banner played and the lights illuminated the 4 Presidents. I love this place.  After a quick pizza dinner in Keystone, we headed back to our cabin in Custer City {about 20 minutes away}. We didn't get to bed until 11:30! Another successful, full day!