Mt Rushmore and Jewel Cave

Continued from the post Mt Rushmore: "Lofty Idea, Colossal Endeavor", this is the story of my flight from KLMO to KCUT and back.

When I last wrote, I was turning in for the night. Fabulous Custer County Airport allowed camping.  The air was calm and the moon full.  It was a beautiful night, despite the 30 degree temperature.

Fast forward (although, let me tell you it didn't feel fast) 3 hours.  I had tossed and turned on a blow-up mattress trying to find a warm spot and was growing fairly tired of it.   The air mattress was cold... It was giving up all my precious body heat to the wintry ground.

Fifty feet away, the cozy FBO beckoned and shortly after 3am, I relented.  With my sleeping bag in hand, I unzipped the tent and clumsily stepped outside. Mark probably heard the sound of hiking boots running across the ramp and the closing of the door behind me!

That dark brown leather sofa had my name all over it and there I spent the next 4 hours, dead to the world.  :-)

Sunday was a much warmer day than Saturday.  Like Colorado, it appeared that South Dakota's weather could jump or plummet 30 degrees in a single day.  Gone was the icy cold wind and instead a calm, sunny day welcomed us.  Easter Bunny had visited me (I knew I had been good!) and first things first...we had a little pre-breakfast (chocolate) snack.

We found on of the only restaurants open in Custer and sat down to eat.  The food was good and hot and fast.  The cinnamon roll was to die for and big enough to share!

Jewel Cave, our next stop, was not too far away.  By 10am we had ourselves booked on a tour of the cave and were wandering around, exploring the hills and taking in the geology info that covered the walls of the visitors center.

I wished I had tucked another cinnamon roll into my backpack!

Jewel Cave:
This cave is the second longest in the world and to date, over 150 miles of cave have been explored and surveyed.  It is estimated that about 95% of the cave is yet to be found!
Luckily there are some thin, smart people willingly crawling around on their bellies, dragging their own water in (and out) of Jewel Cave, mapping more of it.

Our cave tour lasted about 90 mins.  Ranger Lydia did a wonderful job of teaching us the history of the cave as well as pointing out its unique features.  Mark and I took more pictures than the rest of the tour group put together.

Fun times!  But alas, they couldn't last all day... we had to go home.

But return from Custer without doing a fly-by of Mt Rushmore?  Not likely!
I flew and Mark communicated with Ellsworth Airforce Base.  Wonderful Shannon at the FBO had given us these no-brainer directions:

Once within the limits of Mt Rushmore, Mark flew and I pointed my camera right out the little left seat window.

Awesome.  Now, I was ready to go home.

As we left the Black Hills and flew over the roads leading southwest toward Cheyenne, we couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for the two Coloradoan girls we had met earlier in the day.

They were down there somewhere... driving home to Loveland.

Mt Rushmore: Lofty Idea and Colossal Endeavour!

Sometimes people ask me why I learned to fly.

... Because it's wonderful, is the short answer.
But I know they want a different answer.  One that explains how exactly how I plan on using my new skills and freedom.

I want to go places and see things.  I want to go quicker and further and see things from the air as well as the ground!

Mt Rushmore has been on my bucket list for a LONG time.
It's iconic.   History and art, blended.

Last weekend, I crossed Mt Rushmore off my bucket list.  I also completed my longest flight as Pilot in Command and added almost 4 hours to my time logged in N303B.

We left Longmont (KLMO) around 9am and arrived at Custer, South Dakota just about 1.8 hours later.  The air was definitely not smooth.  I was pleased to have a co-pilot with infinitely better skills than I, when the time came for an approach over trees and a gusty touch-down!

Landing at Custer County Airport, we were welcomed by Shannon Stites, FBO manager.  She and her husband Mark, had been instrumental in the organization of this trip.  The FBO was now base-camp.  We had a rental car, campsite, showers, TV (and movies!), microwave, computer and printer.

The temperature was dropping and expected to be at 30 degrees overnight.  The FBO was a tropical 65... My kind of warm.

We set off sightseeing.  First stop, the Crazy Horse Memorial.
"A work in progress" is the understatement of the year!  One day, this will be the world largest sculpture, until then, it will employ generations of people who are enthusiastic about blowing stuff up.
See the hole in middle?  It is 10 stories tall.

Crazy Horse today

Historical photo of Crazy Horse sculpture

There is a lot of history here, for sure. The original sculptor was the apprentice to the artist that created Mt Rushmore.  He toiled at the face of Crazy Horse for years, while raising 10 children with his wife.  Today, long after his death, 7 of those kids and his (much younger) wife, continue work on the monument.

Mt Rushmore was everything it promised to be and once again Mark and I enjoyed a short presentation about its "construction" and artist.  We then walked the Presidential Trail and sampled the delights of the cafe.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Mt Rushmore

Mark under Mt Rushmore, on the Presidential Trail

Wild turkey

Finally on the list of Saturday activities... A scenic drive along The Needles Highway.  This curly 1-2 lane road ran through Custer State Park.

With abundant wildlife and countless view points, the land seemed to really come alive as the sun got lower.

The Mitsubishi Endeavor... nice vehicle!

Believe it or not, this tunnel wasn't one of the smaller ones.  I saw one sign that said the tunnel was just over 10 feet wide and only 8 feet tall!

The Needles Eye

Later that evening we took advantage of the really nice FBO, getting hot showers, heating up quiche and watching a movie, while awaiting the full moon to rise.
Yes, full moons are among my favorite things too, so a walk to the end of the runway and back just before turning in, was in order.

It had been a really great day but I was exhausted.
Easter Sunday was just around the corner and we had a plan to explore a cave tomorrow, before flying home.