Day 29 – another big, mostly flat state but Hot and Sunny!

We started off our day with a visit to the very iconic Mount Rushmore. BUT on the way we almost ran into a Mountain Goat! – well kind of 🙂 It was right on the opposite side of the road and we were able to pull into an area across from it and only about 40 feet away. I had really given up hope of seeing one since we had left the mountains.

Mount Rushmore is quite something when you get right up to the base of the rock formation. The detail in their faces is very good considering it was done over 70 years ago and in granite! There are several exhibits and several movies you can watch – the whole exhibit is very well done.

After we finished we hit SD route 44 to the Badlands. It was very flat with lots of grasslands on the way there. But the Badlands themselves are an incredible geological and visual sight. It is hard to capture their essence in a photograph but I did shoot a little video with the helmet cam so once i get home and process it I’m hoping to post a little. After the badlands it was a day full of more flat fields of corn, grain, etc as far as our eyes could see. But it was HOT & SUNNY – 84 degrees for most of the afternoon and very little wind. And for the second time in two days we were “buzzed” by a biplane! Pretty cool really – yesterday it was a bright yellow one and today a bright red one. All in all it was a great 900 km day!