The Great Ganesha

Mount Rushmore

The day started with a trip to Mt. Rushmore from Rapid City. One word summarizes it: Overrated. I guess seeing it around a hundred times in pictures and movies takes away from the awe that one would expect seeing it face to face (pun intended) for the first time. Also, the fact that it was pretty touristy didn’t exactly help things. Not to diminish Mr. Borglum’s achievement – it is, by any standards impressive – but I guess I’m from that generation which grew up on video games and MTV and that has no appreciation for the finer things in life. What can I tell you? It was, at best, ok.

The leather-clad bikers were here as well. Not quite as friendly as the Badlands guy, but thought I’d get them in anyway.

The Dreaded Air Conditioner
We started the trip to Yellowstone early for a change, and everything was going fine until I tried to turn on the air-conditioner. And the damn thing doesn’t come on. Let me tell you folks, I spent a fortune having the thing serviced. Some more cash went in to putting in a new compressor just yesterday. And today it doesn’t come on! To illustrate the gravity of the situation, let me just say that the only reason for my getting in to that goddamned car in the morning, the one thing that keeps me going through all the driving is the peace of mind I get from knowing that my air-conditioner rocks. Correction: Used to rock. The wonderful feeling of feeling cool, calm and comfortable whilst the world outside burns. It’s Nero-esque, I admit. But it’s all I’ve got, ok? So get off my back. I just had to drive approximately 500 miles in the dry South Dakota – Wyoming – Montana sun at 85 miles per hour with my goddamned window open and sweat pouring down my face. Damn, that’s torture! Where’s the Geneva convention when you need it most? All I can say is that this only goes to reinforce my total lack of faith in the existence any supernatural being(s).

Sheridan
Despite that setback, we did stop off at a nice place in Wyoming for lunch. It’s called Sheridan and it’s allegedly the “#1 Western Town”. Hyperbole notwithstanding, it was also the home of Buffalo Bill for a time. He stayed at the now famous (?) Sheridan Inn.

Walking along main street, we asked the postman for a good place to eat, and he suggested Mexican. Hmmm, I wonder why? But on telling him that we didn’t want any, he suggested the local place-to-be, which turned out to be a cafe called Java Moon. This time I did remember the name. It was hustling and bustling with all ten of Sheridan’s residents waiting in line for lunch. Ok, I’m kidding, but it was pretty crowded. Oh, and did I mention it was air conditioned?

After lunch, we walked along main street and it was the day for the local market I guess, because everyone was selling their stuff on the street. We ran into this nice young lady selling books. We didn’t buy any, but I took her picture nonetheless.

On To Yellowstone
We finally got back on the road to Gardiner, MT, which is the town closest to the part of Yellowstone in Montana. Incidentally, Yellowstone is mostly in Wyoming, but we drove across Wyoming, into Montana, and then back into Yellowstone in Wyoming since we wanted to stick on freeways and get in and out of there fast.

We stopped for gas at this gas station in Middle-of-Nowhere, WY, just before we crossed over in to Montana. They had the old-style gas pumps with the rolling ceramic numbers.

What I liked most about it, was that unlike big city gas stations, this one catered to the refueling of alternative modes of transportation as well. Take a look a little to the left of the blue truck in the middle on the right-hand side above. Well, let me close up a bit, that should make it easier.

Montana
Equine transportation notwithstanding, my car was still hot as ever. Driving at 85 mph with the windows open under the dry Montana sun was, needless to say, quite unpleasant. We decided to stop off at Billings, MT for a break from the relentless sun, and to get hotel names to call and make reservations so we wouldn’t end up without a hotel room, like we almost did in Rapid City.

Billings is not so bad a town. In fact, it’s supposed to be ‘The Magic City‘. No magic for us, though the air-conditioner in the information center felt magical. We even drove by the post office and it had yellow stones in the background. Get it? Yellow stones on our way to Yellowstone? Sorry, that was bad. It must be the heat.

Yellowstone, At Last
I just have to say, even before we got there it was fantastic. Mountain air, cooler temperatures and we even spotted a rainbow. No pot of gold, though. Hope you can see it down there, since it’s pretty faint. Even if you can’t, the mountains are still pretty nice.

Tomorrow: Heading off to Mammoth Springs and perhaps Old Faithful, although I have no clue where it is. We have limitations on time, so we’re just going to skim the surface of the park. No worries, it’s an excuse to come back later on. Will keep you all posted…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!