south dakota and beyond

We took off Sunday morning for a road trip to Mt. Rushmore..which is about 370 miles from Denver. The quickest route is through Wyoming and into South Dakota. I now know what is meant by big country. Wyoming is vast and flat, sparsely dotted with ginormous ranches, all with official names and gates, just like you see in movies. It is flat, brown, and littered with cattle. But no houses, people, or cars. We travelled 45 miles without seeing a town or another car on the road. Just as you get nto South Dakota, the terrain changes a bit..there is some green growth, a few mountains, and those infamous granite rock faces.
We stayed in Custer, SD, along with a few thousand Sturgis attendees. Now Sturgis is a solid hour and a half north, but it made no difference. There are apparently close to a half million harley enthusiasts in the area and they are scattered over 3 states. I appreciate the cycle riders, but they occupied entire parking lots, scenic locations, and quick stops. Manuvering was difficult. Custer is a charming town of about 3000, complete with saloons and T short stores. We headed to Crazy Horse first..5 miles up the road. It was quite impressive even tho it was only about 20 percent finished. Privately funded, it should take another 25 years to finish. What we liked about this site was the homage it pays to the native american. More touching and meaningful.
Then we head over to Mt. Rushmore. An American icon. It almost seems ironic that we have carved the founding fathers into a granite rock in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where we took the lands of the Native Americans. it is quite a sight, but we skipped the large pomp and circumstance of the lighting ceremony that evening. Instead, we went to Crazy horse for a lazer show. It told the story of Crazy Horse and the history of the Lakota tribe.
The following morning, we headed to Custer State Park...to visit some wildlife. And visit we did. We had some close encounters with water buffalo..crossing in front of the car. They house about 1500 of them in the summer months and reduce populations to 900 in the winter. They are auctioned off and I suppose eaten. We honored this tradition by having great buffalo burgers for lunch.
Took a different route back to Denver through Nebraska. Can't say its much different than Wyoming, only that there are farms, not ranches. What is the difference by the way?
So, 4 states in 24 hours. pretty impressive.