Day 3 - Arrived in Bozeman, Montana

Today, I finished Day 3 of the trip across America. So far I have logged 2,039 miles on this journey. Along the way, I made stops in Kansas City; Rapid City & Bozeman, MT. Tomorrow, I will journey into the northern part of Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, due to the heavy snows lately, most of the park is closed, so the only way in and out is through the northern entrance to Mammoth Hot Springs. I also tried reaching the Grand Tetons National Park and it was also closed. Bummer!!

I had great weather out of Rapid City and made stops at Badlands N.P., Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument. The Crazy Horse Memorial mountain crew uses precision explosive engineering to carefully and safely remove and shape the rock of the mountain. Since the dedication of the face of Crazy Horse in 1998, the work has been focused on blocking out the horse's head. A network of about a dozen benches will be cut out around the horse's head. The benches serve to block out the head to within 20 feet of the final surface of the horse's head, while providing access roads for the heavy equipment used to drill holes for loading explosives and to remove loose rock after each blast. This project has been going on here for over 60 years now. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear officially started Crazy Horse Memorial June 3, 1948. The Memorial's mission is to honor the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians.

Crazy Horse National Memorial

Mount Rushmore

Another stop on this journey was at Mt. Rushmore. The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota. Mount Rushmore features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of former US Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Badlands National Park 

Another of my stops was  Badlands National Park. People are drawn to the rugged beauty of the Badlands. These striking geologic deposits contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Ancient mammals such as the rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed here. The park’s 244,000 acres protect an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live today. The photo below is a combination of 36 individual photographs stitched together to make this image.