We did it! We crossed the receptionless hills and plains and tumbleweeds of Washington, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, and Minnesota. I was forced me to look at the majesty of the Continental Divide and ponder my insignificance as my cell phone sat silent and still. Pretty impressive America! Speaking of which, I was also a good American the other day. We took a day off to visit Mt. Rushmore and accidentally found ourselves amidst tens of thousands of bikers who were in town for Sturgis, the 74th annual motorcycle rally. Once we waded through the mustaches and leather, we did find Mt. Rushmore to be quite impressive, and the process of how it came about even moreso.

Scurvy Prevention

I think my favorite tidbit that I learned was that there is a secret "Hall of Records" that is hidden in the back of the monument. Gutzon Borglum had the idea to build a home for important documents of the United States that would be sealed for thousands of years for future civilizations to discover. It's sort of dark when you think about it, and it's even somewhat 'unAmerican' to have that kind of apocalyptic forethought. However, it was very 'Murican of him to sculpt one of the biggest monuments in the world on par with the pyramids of Giza and other wonders of the world. Because of World War II, the monument was never actually completed due to lack of funding. Below is the original vision as Gutzon Borglum had envisioned. I would had added a cat, but this is ok too.

Thanks to Paul Kirby Art for posting this on my Facebook Page!