We left Gillette on Sunday afternoon and continued east to Rapid City. The 3rd and final rally didn't start until Monday, so we parked Sunday night at the Cabela's in Rapid City. Three other TREK friends joined us there, so we had our own mini-caravan working. The RV lot at this Cabela's was not nearly as big and open as the one we had stayed at in Mitchell SD, but it was fine and hospitable. We spent a little time in the store and then walked to the Quaker Steak and Lube and had dinner. We tried to order a pitcher of beer, but they didn't serve pitchers. Instead we had a Lube Tube, which was 100 oz. of beer served in a 36” tall acrylic cylinder.
The next morning we moved a few miles to the Central States Fairground for the 25th Anniversary Rally of Safari International (SI). SI is the parent organization for the South East TREK Fun Club, the club associated with our previous motor home. We still hang with the TREKers and are active in their club. Here we had 50A electric and water, a big improvement over the 7 days of dry camping in Gillette. We managed to get parked with a number of our friends, and actually had a very nice site on the asphalt. We checked in with the rally folks to get the schedule of events, then checked in with the Carefree awning folks to schedule our new awnings installation. We are parked very close to the banks of Rapid Creek where over 250 people were killed in a flood in 1972.
We have driven through Rapid City a number of times, but never really stopped to do any sight seeing. It turns out it has a very attractive downtown area. They have life-size statues of all the US presidents on street corners throughout the central business district. They also have a whitewater shop downtown, although it is hidden in the back of a new age sorta hippie shop. We asked about paddling Rapid Creek, but they suggested the level was too low, particularly for a kevlar boat. We had a very nice lunch and beer at the Firehouse Brewing Company, a brew pub located in an historic fire house. Harry and I both brought home growlers.
The rally itself was pretty laid back. There were some folks from Paul Everts RV who had about a dozen motor homes on display. They sponsored a happy hour one night and had a golf cart with a cooler of beer, driving around the rally grounds all day long passing out brews. I hope somebody bought a coach from them, so they'll come back next time!
The Rapid City PD brought their K-9 unit over and presented a live demonstration with their police dogs. It was amazing what the dogs could do, and how they bonded with their handlers. They wouldn't let Matilda play with the police dogs.
The awning guys came and installed our new driver's side slide toppers and window awnings. They look great and are more functional than the awnings they replaced. I kinda now wish we had been more bold and gone with the burgundy fabric. Oh well, they look fine, and match the coach nicely.
One night the majority of the attendees went on a bus trip to Mt. Rushmore. We didn't go since we have been there several times, the last time only 2 years ago. Instead we drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial which is a similar mountain carving, although it is unfinished and will be much larger than Mt. Rushmore. The memorial honors the western Indians and has a large museum and a number of exhibits. The sculpture was begun in 1948, but the original sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski died in 1982. The work has been continued by his daughter and 7 of his 10 children. Crazy Horse is not a federal or state project. It is funded by admissions and contributions. They blast stone about once per month, but tonight they were doing a night blast to honor the sculptor's widow, Ruth Ziolkowski's birthday. We toured the exhibits and then, after dark, they had a laser light show on the face of the memorial and then the blast. The light show told the story of the Indians and the coming of the white settlers and then the building of the Crazy Horse Monument. Finally the blast, and what a blast it was! It lasted about 2 minutes as a series of explosions went off in sequence up and down the mountain. I took a really neat video of the whole blast, but have no easy way to post it with our limited internet connection. In the meantime here is a link to a video of the same blast someone posted on You Tube.
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