Lee and Elaine's RV Adventures: South Dakota

Medora, North Dakota, was founded in 1883 by a French Nobleman, Marquis De Mores. He named the town after his wife. He built a 26-room house the neighbors called "the Chateau". His plans for a prosperous meat packing business never really came to fruition and finally collapsed after only three years. The Chateau was given to the State of North Dakota in 1936 by the last descendants of the De Mores family.

The Catholic Church which his wife had built in 1883 still stands.

Chateau De Mores, built in 1883

View from front of the house

On our last night in Medora we decided to attend the Medora Musical, which has been performed, in one form or another, since the late 1950's. The Burning Hills Amphitheater was built in 1958 and can accommodate 2800+ people. That amazed us considering the town only has about 100 permanent residents. The night we attended was very close to being sold out!!

One final bison in the campground before we head south to South Dakota

SOUTH DAKOTA

Heartland RV Park, Hwy. 79, Hermosa, South Dakota

In the above picture, the sky on the right side may look blue but is actually a very ominous looking gray cloud. Thunderstorms were predicted for our entire stay (4 nights) but they never materialized. We only had a few showers and maybe two bolts of lightning! Hermosa is located south of Rapid City so it was a good base camp for sightseeing. Every place we visited would be a good destination, there is so much to see and enjoy, we only touched the tip of the iceberg!

The Black Hills National Forest covers an area of 126 miles by 65 miles in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. The scenery was beautiful, just as in any mountainous area in any other state. What we know as Mt. Rushmore was known to the Lakota Indians as Six Grandfathers. However, in 1885, a New York lawyer, Charles E. Rushmore, visited the area to check land claims. When he asked his guide the name of the mountain, the guide said it didn't have a name but from then on it would be known as Rushmore.

The carving of Mt. Rushmore took place between 1927 and 1941 and cost $989,992. Initially, Doane Robinson, the superintendent of the South Dakota State Historical Society envisioned a carving of Western figures such as Chief Red Cloud, Buffalo Bill Cody, Lewis and Clark and Sioux warriors. He approached Senator Peter Norbeck from South Dakota about his idea. It grew from there and when sculptor Gutzon Borglum, one of America's most prolific artists, received a letter from Robinson proposing the project, Borglum accepted. Borglum insisted the work be national in scope and so it was decided to carve the four presidents - George Washington because he was the "father of our country"and first president; Thomas Jefferson represented expansion; Theodore Roosevelt represented development and Abraham Lincoln represented preservation of the union.

Our first view of Mt. Rushmore from about 9 miles away

1st of three tunnels on Hwy. 16A, a little too low and narrow for a motorhome!

Tunnel #2

View from tunnel #2

Tunnel #3

Pigtail bridge

The one-lane tunnels on Hwy. 16A were designed to frame the faces on Mt. Rushmore. It was quite impressive driving through them in our toad, as big rigs wouldn't fit! The pigtail bridge, also known as a spiral bridge, is designed so that the road loops over itself. Quite an amazing design.