Massive and Monumental from Mt. Rushmore to Devil's Tower to Short Ribs

Rapid City to Billings

(By Tom)

On Thursday we left Rapid City, SD heading for Billings, MT, a distance of 374 miles. Despite an early start, we did not arrive until midnight thanks to distractions along the way. I suppose classifying Mount Rushmore as a distraction dishonors the memory of its sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, but a fact’s a fact. We got up close, but the most impressive view (shown here) was from a trail in the Custer National Forest several miles away.

We were so impressed that we neglected to pay attention to our gas gauge and found ourselves deep in the forest with the “Mileage Remaining” gauge falling from 30 to 24 to 18. But after much agonizing and self-recrimination, we arrived at a general store with a single gas pump, filled up and were on our way to Devil’s Tower with lighter hearts. We were acutely aware, of course, that our appreciation for both of these imposing landmarks was shaped in no small part by Hollywood. Who can look at Lincoln’s noble profile on Mount Rushmore without inserting Cary Grant dangling from his eyebrow? 

Anyone who can see the Devil’s Tower without expecting a Close Encounter qualifies as a true intellectual. Bliss was arriving at the Tower in October. We didn't have it to ourselves, but we could hear the aspen leaves rustling in the breeze and hear the distant cries of the birds that circled the top of the tower.

As the sun set, we turned towards Billings, via Gillette, WY, a busy town living off oil, coal, power generation, and endless trains carrying coal and petroleum to the population centers of the two coasts. At night, the scene was straight out of Fellini. Coal is so plentiful here that at least one power plant we passed was located next to a coal pit – with the fuel  fed directly to the generators as it came out of the ground.

By the time we reached downtown Gillette, night had fallen and we still had 245 miles to cover. Undaunted we stopped for dinner, snubbing  the generic franchises clustered next to the Interstate and heading downtown, where a single glance at the warm lights and happy diners at The Chop House suggested it was the best restaurant in town. Here Kate ordered borscht, which will astonish anyone who knows her horror of beets, and loved it so much, she requested the recipe. My braised beef ribs would have sufficed at dinner for six people at our dinner table in Pennington – here it was all for me.

Dinner ended about 8:30 and we still had all that distance to cover before arriving in Billings. But Stephen King came to the rescue. I don’t know what it is like to read, but 11/23/63, his newly published tale of a time traveler’s attempt to foil the Kennedy assassination, is gripping as a recorded book. It kept me awake and alert enough to skirt the deer dashing across I-90 as midnight approached. We made it! You’ll hear about our climb into the high peaks of the Bear Tooth Range in tomorrow’s installment.