Continuing east across Wyoming, more great scenery. We were half expecting to see smoke signals and Sioux Indians on the skyline tracking us - watched too many westerns! The small town of Shell was followed by Shell canyon. This narrow twisting passage through towering rocks would have been an ideal place to ambush the white invaders back in the 1800's. Then the road just kept on climbing from 4000 to 9000 feet and into a snow storm. On our way to Grand Teton we saw dozens of classic American cars from the '50's and '60's going into Yellowstone today we saw a procession of Vintage European cars coming towards us including Bugatti's! The interesting scenery fizzled out to be replaced with dull rolling countryside littered with nodding donkey pumps extracting oil. We filled up the gas tank in Upton - the sign said 'Upton - The best town on earth'. We couldn't see anything that supported this - just a dull as ditch water, nothing happening place. As we crossed into South Dakota we were expecting to be awe inspired by the Black Hills based upon what we had been told but we were still uninspired. Not far after four-mile town which is an 'Old Wild West' town / museum we entered 'Custer'. Named after General Custer who camped near here on his 1874 expedition with the 7th US Cavalry. Lots of people wear cowboy hats here and Howdy replaces hello. This is cowboy country. North of here is the site of 'The Battle of the little Big Horn' aka 'Custer's last stand' and then there is Deadwood where Wild Bill Hickock and Annie Oakley are buried. Wild West history and legends are plentiful in these parts and the names live on as they adorn motels, saloons and street signs. There is an abundance of RV parks, we found a small family run one - 'The Last Resort' Donna called it but it's actually the 'Roosts Resort'. Extremely quiet and peaceful with deer and Turkeys roaming the grounds. Donna couldn't get to the toilet block one morning because of too many deer blocking her path! Mount Rushmore - four US Presidents heads carved into a mountain. Donna knew what to expect as she told me she had already seen it in Superman 2, whereas I always think of that Cary Grant film 'North by North West'! Yes, it is impressive. Work started on it in 1927 and finished in 1941. The sculptor Gutzon Borglum dedicated 14 years of his life to what is now a National monument. On an even bigger scale than the granite faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln is the Crazy horse memorial. This we visited first before Mount Rushmore. Korczak Ziolkowski starting carving Crazy Horse, the famed Indian warrior back in 1948 and dedicated the rest of his life to it (up to 1982). Since then the work has been carried on by his children and it may take another 50 years before it's complete. The crazy horse memorial is just one man unlike Rushmore which is four, the difference though is Crazy horse when finished will not be a head but an Indian warrior mounted on his horse. The scale of it is colossal. Even though it is far from completion it is more breath taking than Rushmore, especially when you learn the story of it (so far). Mount Rushmore was state funded but Ziolkowski refused government handouts for Crazy Horse. The funding of this mammoth project that has already spanned 71 years is from donations and admission charges to the memorial and visitor centre. As well as the carving the Ziolkowski family and the Dakota Lakota native Americans have established the 'Indian Museum of North America' and the 'Native American University'. The original goals have always been to preserve this part of American history, something Ziolkowski thought state funding would fall short of. Whilst Mount Rushmore seems to stir patriotism in US citizens, the Crazy Horse memorial and museum remind us of the people who lived here in harmony with this vast land long before the white folk arrived. If the visit in daylight hours isn't moving enough we then came back a day later for a sound and light show projected onto the mountain that is slowly being transformed into one of the greatest warriors of the American Indians. We ordered a pizza takeout and high tailed it up to the Cray horse memorial where we parked up such that we could fill our bellies in the comfort our 'Tilly' whilst waiting for the show to start. The light faded, the music that would accompany native American dances and celebrations started. The carpark filled up around us, with many others deciding to shelter in their vehicles and the story of Cray horse and the Sioux Indians started in sound and light. After a spectacular show we drove back in the pitch back to Custer looking carefully for wildlife in the road - there are deer everywhere here!