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Crazy Horse Mountain
Believe it or not, J and D came to South Dakota to see this more than Mount Rushmore. For one thing, it's lots bigger - massively bigger. For another thing, the American Indians don't have that many monuments. This sculpture was commissioned by the Lakotas, and Kiolkowski devoted his life to it. Many of his children have dedicated theirs, and it's a safe bet that Kiolkowski's grandchildren will be working on it long after most of us have died.
The head is complete, and the features are guessed at. No documented picture of Crazy Horse exists - despite one or two that MIGHT be him. The warrior refused to allow one to be taken. That head is 87 1/2 feet, forehead to chin, and most of the Mt. Rushmore faces would fit inside it. The outstretched arm, which has begun to take shape, is well over 200 feet long, almost as long as Mt. Rushmore is high, top to base.
Crazy Horse Model in Front of Mountain
Korczak's (people usually refer to the Sculptor by his first name) widow controls the project today. Ruth Kiolkowski lives on the site. His children live in the area and run various aspects of the enormous project.
A young man from Ohio remarked how he had read that Crazy Horse had been named one of the marvels of the modern world. Johnnie replied that that made sense, because most of the marvles of the ancient world could be stacked one on top of the other (including the Great Pyramid of Giza) and they would still be dwarfed by the mountain.
Johnnie was struck constantly by the audacity and humility of the thing - both at the same time. Audacious of Korczak to attempt it, to place himself higher than the mountain and higher than all sculptors before him; humble beyond belief to keep working on it day after day, year after year, when he knew for certain he could never finish it. Humble, to abandon glory in favor of the task, to hand over his life's work to others in the hope of presenting a gift to the Lakotas, the Souix and the world. Humble in the extreme to tolerate the ridiculous criticisms of local people that he was a scam artist, about to abscond with the solicited funds; that his sculpture was not as beautiful as the mountain; that he was polluting the area with tourism; and on and on and on.
Fight Stallions by Korczak
Most of all, Johnnie was humbled by the devotion. He had always jumped from one project to another, pulled continuously between economics and laziness - things that hardly affected Korczac. He just had to respect that kind of dedication.
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Mt. Rushmore
J and D decided to go to Mt. Rushmore on the same day, after Crazy Horse. It was pleasant enough, and would have been spectacular, except for its proximity to Crazy Horse.
Johnnie and Delphine walked the very short trail under the faces. They took sanps under the left side, then up from under the right side.
Eventually, the subject came up of the movie, North by Northwest. Delphine had hoped there would be a way to go up on top of the heads, but there wasn't. Just as well. Two years ago, on Johnnie's business trip to northern California, they had visited the old school house in Bodega Bay featured in The Birds. It could become a whole Hitchcock thing.
Around Rapid City
One of the good things J and D got to do, after having the RV worked on and Johnnie's hours on the computer (to which other RVers began to make fun,) was riding through Bear Country, a natural zoo near their campground.
Johnnie just picked up the digital camera as an afterthought. (He had to drive the RV through this zoo.) And the pictures here don't begin to do justice to the park. There were animals everywhere, and lots of bears. Bears all over the place. There was a blond bear that looked like Pumpi.
After driving around the zoo park, there was an area with baby animals. Only the bear cubs were out, and an employee of the park talked to guests in that area.
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