Today my mom and I drove from Utah to South Dakota. Another 10 plus hour drive, but this time we ended up at one of the most magnificent sights in America, Mount Rushmore. Neither my mother or I had ever been to South Dakota, so being able to see this monument up close was very exciting for both of us. Check out the gallery for more photos of our time at Mount Rushmore.
I was able to argue my way into driving a little more today, but once again I was under “mother's orders” to either get some work done, or get some rest. We split out time 70/30 yesterday, but today I was able to get those numbers to 60/40 with my mom driving a little over six hours to my four. I was able to get quite a bit of work done and took a two hour nap. After spending two months driving by myself it is a weird feeling to not be in control of the car. There is heavy rain on the radar in Minneapolis and I am getting nervous that I may experience my first rain out. I do have a buffer day built in to the schedule, but that would require me to go to a game the day after driving into Minnesota which is not ideal for my sanity.
Mount Rushmore is one of those places that both my mother and I have always wanted to go to. Had she not joined me for this leg of the tour I most likely would have driven right passed it in an effort to make it to Minneapolis sooner. I am very glad that we made it. We got there before the sunset so I was able to get some nice photos of the mountain in the daylight as well as lit up in the darkness. Before the lighting ceremony we walked the trail around the monument and saw a mountain goat casually eating some grass as if he was the only creature there. There was still a little time to kill before sunset so we ate some dinner at the only restaurant in the area.
What we listened to in the car:
Doug Loves Movies
By the Way, in Conversation with Jeff Garlin – Amy Poehler
Tigers/Phillies game
As the sun disappeared along the horizon we hurried to the amphitheater so that I could get a good spot to take some pictures. What followed was a 30 minute video giving the history of the mountain and the presidents carved in its face. I am a big fan of learning new things, but in the midst of our driving 30 hours this was the last thing either my mother or I were happy to sit through. The clock neared 10 PM when the video finally came to an end. After staring at a dark mountainside for the past hour, the presidents faces were suddenly beautifully lit with patriotic music blaring in the background. It was a nice ending to a long day. We left Mount Rushmore and pulled into Rapid City to turn in for the night.
Once again I must say how unbelievably grateful I am for my mother to be helping me drive. I may be complaining about not driving, but it is only because I do not want her to feel like she has to do it all herself. I know that we all think that our mom is the best, but I really do think that mine deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, or maybe even appropriately enough, the Mount Rushmore of mothers. If I knew how to photoshop, this is where I would insert a doctored photo that would feature my mother's face on a mountain. Since I have no idea how to do that you will just have to imagine it.
One more day to go...
Travel Stats
Miles Traveled: 664
Time in Car: 10 hours 15 minutes
Avg. Speed: 64.78 MPH
Gas Money: $28.45, 58.44
Gas Price: 3.889, 3.719
Gallons Filled: 7.316, 15.714
Exercise: None
Sleep Time: 5 Hours 40 minutes
Bottles of Water: 5
Bathroom Stops: 6
Traffic Jams: None
Food Eaten: Grapes, blueberries, taco salad from Taco Johns, berry bar, buffalo burger
Total Money spent today $237.69
Cumulative Miles through today 12,383
Cumulative Time in car through today 226 hours 15 minutes