South Dakota.

 

When I was a kid. I always dreamed of seeing Mount Rushmore. I love Rocks, and several people dangerously and tirelessly carved faces into the Rocks. Not just any faces,either. Four of the most influential faces of our Country.The Presidents of the United States

  As we entered South Dakota and Tony stubbed his toe grabbing my most beautiful rock from the side of the road, I couldn't help but admire the sparkle of it. The rock is  what I believe to be a formica. The sparkle it has makes it one of the most favorite rocks that  i have ever owned.

   The majority of the trip I slept because when I wasn't that was when I felt the  pain from the “cliff dive” I had the night before. We didn’t have any hotel reservations because the plan had been to be hiking in Nebraska and you kind of can’t do that when on crutches and barely able to eat anything not soft from the hole you put in your face.

   I didn’t really see anything until we got to Rushmore. We stopped  at a hotel that still had a view of Rushmore and decided that food was rather important so instead of trying to go in  we went to find food. We could always see the memorial the next day. Did you know it is considered a memorial? I learned this recently. So into town we went in search of dinner.

  We stayed in Keystone which is the closest town and  is very small. I was surprised when we went on the search for food how small it is for having such a historical piece of American History so close by. It happened to be quite hard to find a place to eat that late, and it really wasn’t that late either, maybe 8 or 9 pm. We ended up with  pizza and took it back to the hotel, ate, then fell asleep.

 

  A ton of cute little shops  surrounded downtown.All were geared towards tourists. We found a few bars and a lot of western photo shops. We also found the 1880 train.That was our adventure for that day as we decided riding in a train my leg could handle.  Having to miss out on the most gorgeous rock formations of Nebraska had really depressed me but the view from the 1880 train Tony decided we should ride and the unexpected adventure Tony had taken us on proved to lift my spirits in ways I couldn’t describe.



 Somehow he ended up getting migraines through South Dakota, while we were looking for hotsprings .That led us to wrong turns and us ending up in Wyoming. The only thing I saw in Wyoming was an oven though, and at the gas station. I saw that same oven on a wyoming post card. We decided to stay overnight in Valentine Wyoming that night at a beautiful hotel that allowed dogs and even accomodated them with shower stalls and plenty of floor room for puppy pads and a dog bed. It made me want to take Rj...if i can ever get him to not terrorizing people. One day he'll go on a trip with us and just like with Dresdyn..I'll be worrying the entire time. It will be worth it though.

When we woke, we went on with our trip to find a hotspring on our way back to Nebraska and Ash's house. We finally found one and Tony had been right. It was perfect for my broken body, and such a beautiful location. When life gives you a wrench in your plans, sometimes, it can be the best. This was not the best, it felt like it at that moment though. not too crowded, perfect to just relax and not worry. The cooler water right behind the hottest spring, also was completely empty, i guess because it was so cold but it helped wake me after a bit and still swim.
 
  Afterwards we went on with closing our journey with one more night at Ash's before the airport. On the way home, as I was looking at the side of the road, I spotted a pile of bicycles in a town called Pringle, Tx..another small town at the side of the road with a random bicycle sculpture. Of course, being an oddball myself, i found that I just had to make a stop so that I could have a picture. That and the stove on the side of the highway in Wyoming, kind of made me giddy. Seeing that in the middle of nowhere, people make life better for themselves by creating such random happiness for others. Some people may find those type of things a little bizzare and I swear that at the time, I also felt that way. Not understanding why an oven on the side makes a tourist destination, but as i found the postcard at the gas station we finally stopped at to ask for directions. I knew it was perfect. Tony actually grabbed a postcard that he still hasn't written in to give me. He's slacking on his own old man gift.


 
 The rest of the trip went as smooth as it could. The ride home as expected was not so much fun with crutches and wheelchair, however, after the flight being able to sleep the next day away was amazing help. One day I hope to see the nature that Wyoming offers. So many parks that we passed by called my name. The Nebraska parks still call out to me as well, also plans to measure Jumbo lake and see how far I actually fell. Life is full of surprises. Sometimes all you can do is ride with them though. This concludes our trip through the Midwest in 2021. Who knows where the next places will lead us to. Hopefully, somewhere just as epic.