The morning brought some clouds and the prediction of rain. So I hastily made my way to Mount Rushmore which was about 10 miles away. One of the best things about traveling while most people are social distancing is that I have got to go to many places where there would normally be crowds and been only one of just a few people. I was pleasantly surprised again for free access and parking and got my pictures without much ado.
Next, I drove on down to Hill City and Crazy Horse Memorial. While the memorial museum was closed and I didn’t have much of a view without the hike up, I did scout a launch site that might enable me to fly and get some unique pictures.
From Crazy Horse, I drove down through Custer, had a fresh burrito from a food stand, and then made my way to The Needles Highway through Custer State Park. This truly was an exceptional landscape and took many pictures.
Thursday morning I caught up on cataloging and color-correcting photos before heading out to The Mammoth Site, which was unfortunately closed. I headed on to the Hot Springs Airport for the FBO and some WiFi and met the airport manager as part of scouting for some launch sites. I’ll definitely be launching there for access to some cool flying areas.
From there I drove the 50 miles back up to Rapid City which I came to learn is called the City of Statues which are found on street corners. I was fortunate enough to find Kennedy holding and aircraft which I felt was fitting given my trip.
After some lunch, I went to Walmart in search of DEF and wiper fluid for the truck and the hope of a good Selfie Stick.
$200 later I had the fluids for the truck and enough groceries for another few weeks, but no go on a good Selfie Stick.
While the evening appeared to shape up for flying I was pretty worn out and wanted to finish editing and publishing from Nebraska.
Friday morning brought rain and my hopes to fly were quickly dashed. While I am eager to get flying and check off South Dakota, it gave me much needed time to finish up publishing videos, blogs, and catch up on some other minor tasks and even a movie.
