Today we made use of another rail trail. It was almost complete, and when it is it will go all the way through the black hills. Any time off the road away from cars is good. Especially in hilly terrain. These flat rail road pathways are ideal. On the trail we met a friendly couple, taking a break from their RV, to ride bicycles. We spent much of the day with them, talking and marvelling at Crazy Horse.

We did the full tour of the monument in progress. Right now only the head is finished. When complete it will be many times the size of Mt. Rushmore. The work was started fourty years ago by a young artist. Now his family continues the work. He was asked by Sioux Chiefs during the building of Rushmore to make a monument to show that the red man has heroes too. The completed vision will include an American Indian College and civic center. Unfortunately not all indians share in the view. Some think that carving up a mountain in the holy black hills is sacrilige. The visitor center was vandalized once in protest.

We left Crazy Horse and continued on to Mt. Rushmore. This site is equally amazing. I especially loved the first view of Washington. He pears out suddenly from these blobby, gravity defying towers of rock. We spent a good while here too, buying lots and lots of postcards.

I had to fix my bike in the parking lot. The trailer had begun to pull my rear wheel out of the dropouts. With a better bike this wouldn't be a problem. It would be a major headache for me from now on. I had to constantly check to make sure my tire wasn't rubbing against the frame. When it was I'ld have to unload everything, fix it and jam the wheel lock as tight as possible.

In the evening we headed downhill into Keystone to a campsite just outside of town. We panned for gold in the nearby stream. We got some really nice garnets anyways. My camp stove had been clogged for a few days so I sat down and cleaned it out today.