Thursday, August 28, 2003. 535 miles in 12 hours
See the Photo gallery for a lot more photos of this trip.
What a waste of 400 highway billboards!
The great Wall of South Dakota, which is not that great, and to be honest, not very many walls. But here we are, and Bob seems unimpressed. We look down the long, covered sidewalk and wait for something to happen – anything.
Nothing does.
A few hours later , the 3 of us had a little taste of Freedom in the shadow of the 4-Fathers, and a lot of clouds at Mt. Rushmore. We paid our National Park fee and parked in the gigantic parking ramp, but were told that all pets were restricted to the grassy area at the far end. It was about 20 by 40 feet, and not very grassy. Bob did not feel, shall we say, inspired.
It was hard to get Sam to learn how to use a camera. Cats just don't care.
Bob is convinced that he, too, could be president one day. You don’t want to discourage them and spoil their dreams, but you don’t want them chasing impossible ones either. And who can say? I mean, – and the current OOPS (Current Oval Office Pretender Succubus).
On the road again for the first time, Muddy Gap behind his left ear.
But for now, Bob is content to be a wanderer, and a vagabond, singing his way across the Great American West, in the footsteps of a Guthrie (a Woodie), a Seeger (no, not Bob), a Dylan (yes, Bob, another Bob, the first of many).
One of the highlights of this route is called Muddy Gap, and there it is, just to the right of Bob’s ear. It’s an odd little feature, but comforting – going west, you know you are almost halfway there; going east, over half. We’ve called ahead for reservations in Rock Springs. ‘Night!
Continue on to Day 3 …
