Rest - Recuperation - and Repair

Yes, our plans changed from yesterday, and we drove this morning from Wall to Black Hawk, South Dakota!  We are staying at the Three Flags RV Park, which is on the outskirts of Rapid City!  We felt like this was a better place to get Tom's hitch repaired, and were we ever right about that!!

After our arrival and set up, Tom called several welding and repair shops.  He drove his truck to one of the businesses he had talked to, Wallace & James followed along, just in case Tom needed to leave his truck.  All was well, however, and Tom ended up getting a brand new hitch, had it installed, and he was back in no time at all.

We all had our supper, and drove the 36 miles to Mount Rushmore, to see the lighting ceremony.  What a beautiful, beautiful national treasure it is!!  I've seen this all my life, studied about it in school, seen it in movies, but nothing beats seeing it with my own eyes!!   Seeing the busts of the four patriots of this wonderful country is just mind boggling!

We made our way toward the amphitheater and waited for the ceremony to begin.  Sadly, we didn't get to see the film they usually show due to the high winds, but the Park Ranger gave a wonderful short talk on our liberty, how these four men were crucial in the history of this great nation.  Then, everyone stood for the National Anthem, and the lighting of Mount Rushmore.  Veterans in the audience were recognized and some of them volunteered to retire the flag.  Quite a moving and impressive ceremony.  I'm glad that we got to attend!!

The grand walkway up to Mount Rushmore

Beautiful Mount Rushmore

All the state flags were displayed, we just had to find TN.

Everyone is probably down for the night, and dreaming of what we can get into tomorrow!  The wind is really blowing tonight, as it pretty much has been doing all day since we arrived.  It's a cool 66 degrees with clear skies and a low tonight predicted at around 51 degrees, so tomorrow will probably be another beautiful day as well.

We have now been on the road for 7 days, stayed in 6 different campgrounds and traveled a total of 1539.2 miles...   yep...   On The Road Again!!!