6/21 - Mount Rushmore, SD

The latest installment on the truck is that we spent several hours in two trips to the diesel shop and several more trying to download and update the necessary software to change the tuner. There’s nothing wrong with the truck (much to our relief)…..it’s all in the tuner and its software.  Since I couldn’t get the software downloaded/updated properly (one of the “click here” links leads to “your page cannot be found”) we will undoubtedly be back at the diesel shop tomorrow morning for more help.  One of the shop’s co-owners has been patiently working with us and refusing payment.  He is a very welcome bright spot in this continuing infuriating saga.  (He loved the picture of Jason wrecking in a dirt bike race. :-D) 

A bonus is that the shop is on the way to several of our sightseeing areas (Custer State Park and Crazy Horse, for those who know the area) so we can hopefully get the new tuning installed and then test it on our way to and from our day’s destination.  This will be a process of trial and error until it’s right, so it may be a daily occurrence.  Not the way we wanted to spend our time but at least we’re here for a week and can work on it.

The shop was on the way to Mount Rushmore so we decided to go there to get one of our major sightseeing projects accomplished.  This was forecast to be the hottest day of the week but at least we got there early in the day so it was probably better than the afternoon.  By the time we got back to the campground it was 95.  Mount Rushmore was also a lot more crowded than we anticipated.  Last summer’s trip didn’t include many major tourist attractions so we definitely aren’t used to the crowds.

The entry to the viewing area.  The names of all the states are on the columns with their date of statehood.  NC was 12^th in 1789.

The obligatory “we were there” picture.

This is the real close-up.  The Presidential Trail goes right up to the bottom of the rock pile (everything that was dynamited off the mountain) so you can look straight up at the carvings…..right up their noses. 

The history of the place is very interesting.  It started as a project to boost tourism (which it certainly did).  The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, was hired to do the job after he carved Stone Mountain, Georgia.  An American born in Idaho to Danish Mormons, he was 57 when he started the project (1927) and 74 when he died (1941) with it not yet completed.  His son Lincoln Borglum oversaw completion.  Gutzon chose the subjects for the carvings, making it a truly national memorial rather than the regional one envisioned originally by the backers of the project. 

The information in the museum is fascinating……how the presidents’ heads were placed, how they had to be adjusted because of stone which wouldn’t support the carvings, adjusting Washington’s left shoulder to make the carving more dynamic, and many more bits of information.  98% of the work was done by dynamite with 400 miners being employed to help with the work.  By the end of the project they were so adept at their work they were able to dynamite down to the last 4 inches which were then finished off with jackhammers and finishing bits.  Each day the dynamite placed in the morning was blasted at lunch break with the afternoon’s placement being blasted at day’s end. 

Another display covered the never-ending maintenance of the carvings with cracks having to be dealt with in an on-going basis.  There has been much experimentation with various materials and processes for filling cracks, mostly with silicone, to stop them from expanding.  We had never thought about the problems of water getting into minute cracks and expanding them in freezing weather.  Sensors are placed all over the carvings to measure minute expansions in the rock.  If this wasn’t being done constantly the carvings would eventually be destroyed by water.

Inside the sculptor’s studio with his working models of the carvings (down to their waists to get proportions correct).  One inch on the models equals 12 inches on the mountain.  Borglum devised a way to transpose measurements from the models to the mountain with complete accuracy.  He then fine-tuned the mountain carvings into true works of art.  The head of Washington is the height of a 6-story building (60 feet).  If his body was carved from head to toe, the height of the full figure would be 465 feet. 

Tomorrow, again depending on the truck, we hope to get to Custer State Park and the Crazy Horse Memorial mountain carving.