Head West young man — COVID-19 style

Friends, in Part 1 of my story, I took you out to the state of South Dakota and then left you in the town of Wall, in the far southwest corner of the state, where my good friend from Toledo (Cathy) and I stopped for dinner at the very famous and historic Wall Drug Store on Sunday, June 21, and where I had just eaten my very first bison burger, which I mentioned was much leaner and better tasting than a traditional hamburger (in my opinion, of course). So let's now pick up where we left off in Wall and continue our journey together to beautiful South Dakota, Wy., and to the other states we visited and made stops in on our drive back to Ohio. On Monday morning, June 22, we left Wall and continued driving west again until we reached the iconic and magnificent Mount Rushmore, with its famous head sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. It was great seeing Mount Rushmore for the second time in my life, even though this time we could not get half as close to the monument as we did in 1998 due to construction issues. Mount Rushmore was by far the most crowded place we visited on our trip with physical distancing measures in place in the gift shop and its adjacent food stalls. We were disappointed that the Visitor Center was closed, but accepted this as the new normal during the COVID-19 crisis. In my opinion, every American should make it a priority to see this magnificent monument in their lifetime if at all possible. From Mount Rushmore, we drove through the gorgeous Black Hills to nearby Crazy Horse Memorial, which was one of the highlights of our trip. When I first saw the memorial in July of 1998, the 87-foot head of Crazy Horse had just been completed and unveiled to the public only a month before. Now, we were able to take a school bus to the very base of the monument to get a closeup view of Crazy Horse's 200-foot long extended arm with its 20-foot index finger pointing in the direction of his native homeland. Our tour guide told us that the memorial should be completed in about 50 to 70 years, so only future generations will get to see Crazy Horse riding atop his horse with a couple of 40-foot feathers protruding from his head. From there, we finished our very exciting day by driving even further west into Wyoming for a visit to the huge and monolithic Devil's Tower, which I had wanted to see for years. Devil's Tower is actually the remains of a volcano that existed millions of years ago. It is also America's first officially designated national monument, but not a national park like Yellowstone, which is located on the complete opposite side of the state. Rising nearly 900 feet into the sky from its base, almost as tall as the Empire State Building, it was used as a landmark by the gold rushers and early settlers heading to California and Oregon in the mid-1800s because it can/could be seen for miles away. Considered by native Indians to be a holy site to this very day, tourists are asked to be respectful of the monument when they are hiking the 1.3-mile paved trail around the base of the tower, when climbing the tower (as in rock climbing up the sides of the tower) or if they are camping at the site. Devil's Tower is simply amazing to see up close in person and is another one of the highlights of my trip. From Wyoming, we reversed directions and headed east as we began our long three-day drive back to Ohio, crossing the entire state of South Dakota once again and then overnighting in Minnesota. The next day, Wednesday, June 24, we drove across the state of Wisconsin, making a 90-minute stop in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin's capital city. We drove around the beautiful capitol building and then explored the huge and very impressive University of Wisconsin campus. Being an OSU football fan, I just had to see our Big Ten rival's football stadium, which, in my opinion, was not half as impressive as OSU's Horseshoe or even Michigan's Big House. After overnighting in northern Illinois, we then drove back to Ohio on Thursday, June 25, making one last stop at the charming Amish community of Shipshewana in northeastern Indiana right off of the Indiana Turnpike where we enjoyed a delicious lunch at one of the charming restaurants there. After dropping Cathy off at her home in Toledo and then finally pulling into my driveway in Norwalk that evening, I noticed that I had driven 3,030 miles on our journey, which explained why I was tired. Though we had to deal with breakfast grab bags to go, wearing masks, concerns about physical distancing, even rattlesnakes, I am very glad that we took this exciting trip and headed in the direction of the Great Plains and the American West like we did. As the nineteenth century journalist Horace Greeley once said about opportunities on the western frontier, Go West Young Man. While I may no longer be a young man, I still recognize a perfect opportunity to travel West when I see one and this certainly was the perfect time and the ideal year to do so. Gary Richards is a teacher and traveler who likes to write about his trips. He is a Norwalk resident.