Day Six: North By Northwest Close Encounters

We packed up the Cube, left the Badlands and headed west. Our first stop today was the site of the finale of North By Northwest –  Mount Rushmore. In fact, in the town of Keystone, we passed an area where the movie was filmed. Unfortunately,we weren’t allowed to escape from spies and climb down George Washington’s face, but we did get lots of pictures including the obligatory picture:

After leaving Mt. Rushmore, we travelled down the road to the Crazy Horse Memorial:

And after a bit of traveling in circles, we finally got back on the way to Devil’s Tower. I’ve been dying to see this ever since I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I am, however, very disappointed to point out that I didn’t find the hidden military base behind the mountain or UFO’s flying around:

From there we travelled on to our eventual destination of Gillette, Wyoming. Here’s some random scenery on the way:

The thing that struck me today was the scale of the dreams of Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument. Both of these projects are measured not in days, but decades and both projects outlived their originators. That kind of long term vision and thinking is something we don’t see in the age of internet time, where unless it happens instantly, it’s too long. Seeing these demonstrations of persistence of vision makes me wonder if we as a society are capable of attempting projects like these that require perseverance measured in decades, and not days. It’s inspiring and reconfirms my commitment to my novel.

Tomorrow it’s a long travel day as we traverse the state of Wyoming to arrive in Yellowstone National Park.

Happy journeys!

Mike