Aug 13th-Crazy Horse Monument

We got up today all wide eyed and perky with a new day ahead of us. Yesterday there were no incidents to discuss and we are going to ride around Mt. Rushmore and take in all there is to see here. Our first stop is the Crazy Horse Monument.

The monumnet is being built to honor the Lakota leader, Crazy Horse who was killed under a flag of truce. He was stabbed in the back by a soldier. 

This is what the memorial will look like when it is finished. 

The sculptor  Korczak Ziółkowski, pictured here, was asked to build the memorial. He officially started in 1948. He lived in a tent for the first 9 years by himself. He eventually married and had 10 children. 7 of the 10 children have committed their lives, like their father did to completing the massive monument that will be the largest in the world. 

 This is the monument as of today. To give you an idea of how big it is, the four presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore will fit behind the completed face.

A sign in the museum. I'll decode it tomorrow

These were the original machines used to build the monument. Korczak would climb the 732 stairs he made himself and just as he got to the top he would hear kaput, kaput, kaput...and have to go back down, restart the machine, and just as he climbed the stairs again, he would hear kaput, kaput, kaput and do it all over again. He said one day he did this 9 times. 

OH YEAH!!! HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!

We walk out of the monument to a puddle under the scooter that clearly wasn't there when we went in.

We had such a nice time here at the crazy horse monument. We just had a nice snack. We were going to leave and make our way along the 50 miles of twisty turny roads, through the needles highway leading to the wildlife loop where we were hoping to see all types of animals including goats and buffalo to the presidents wax museum and finally to Mount Rushmore!

After a short diagnosis, I figured out what the problem was. 

It's hard to see but, can you see the hose that's nice and round?

Well now, look at the far right corner of the picture. That's the same radiator tube that is being severed by the metal plate that was somehow bent. The puddle is antifreeze. 

Fred tried to ride the scooter back to the campground, but we both knew that wasn't going to work. We did get 2 1/2 miles before it started to overheat. Fred pulled over. I rode back to the campground, unhooked the camper (electric, water, etc), drove back with the camper where we loaded the scooter and brought it back to the campground. 

As I started taking the scooter apart 

(I'm becoming quite the mechanic on this trip LOL! 

Thank you Tim, Larry and Warren for educating me)

Fred went to the desk to inquire about auto parts stores.

When he came back, I had a good idea of what I needed. I called two stores before I found one that had what we needed. You're thinking GREAT! 

NOT SO FAST

It was 4:10, this store, the closest to have the parts was 40 minutes away!

I rode like a maniac. I stopped at one point to make sure I was still on the right path. I was! BUT is was 4:55 and I was still at least 8 minutes away. I called up the store and begged for them to stay open. That's when I was assured I wasn't in NY anymore. The very helpful girl, Jessica said no problem. When I got there I obtained the heater hose, and all the metric tools I'll ever need again. Sockets, ratchets, extenders and of course anti freeze.

Jessica asked "Do you need new clamps?" I wasn't trying to be cheap, I just bought $100 in tools, I honestly didn't think we needed them. The hose was severed in the middle, nothing happened at the clamps. As I left, Fred called, my first thought was WOW how did he get service at the campground? Then he says (yes you guessed it) "Did you get clamps? The ones on there are bad" I say "F@@K"

The store was already closed, as a matter of fact, I was helped in the dark and one of the employees had left the parking lot before I did. I stopped for gas and asked if there were any other auto parts stores around. And THERE WERE!

I ended up at O'Malley's Auto Parts where Steve was very helpful and I was able to obtain the clamps as well as Sea Foam to help with the crappy gas they have here filled with ethanol! That's a whole different problems. Anyway, back to the campground to rectify the problem.

Severed heater hose

We have to get that hose on that attachment with that black piece in the way. 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 

It was almost 10pm when that occurred but what matters is that we didn't even have to discuss it, we were staying an extra day to see the sights here.