Planning for this trip started in May. I knew there were things I wanted to see and do but didn’t know exactly how it was going to all come together. Top of the list was Mt Rushmore – there is just something cool about Hitchcock’s movie that stuck with me enough to add it to my bucket list.
In researching the timing for everything, I was trying to figure out where I could be for the 4th. Then South Dakota announced it would be having the first fireworks display since 2009 when they stopped for fear of forest fires. I entered the lottery to be one of the 7500 to win access to the park. In the beginning, it wasn’t clear that the President was going to be there but soon learned that this was going to be a part of his ever-lasting campaign for reelection.
I didn’t receive lottery tickets but decided it would be interesting to attempt to see the fireworks someplace near it all. Well, as you can imagine with something like this all sorts of chaos is created, you have protesters against Trump as a president, you have Native American tribes protesting the event on sacred land, you have pro-Trump zealots, all mixed in with a dash of a global pandemic for good measure.
I will say this obvious point about Trump; he has activated a blindly loyal support base willing to overlook whatever opposing perspectives there are. You get this feeling in South Dakota (and I am sure other places) that the people are comparatively economically challenged, and they look to this administration as their found voice after years of being overlooked.
Well, enough of that… I found a group of people hanging out on the roadside, putting together their tailgates. So, I join them. Not sure that I fit in, as I was the only non-SUV/pick up truck around. But I waited, I talked to a couple of people, one guy with his family from Williamsburg who saw my VA tags and wanted to say hello. ”Hey, did you drive all the way here just for this?” was his opening line – call me paranoid, but I’m standing out like a sore thumb, and you can never tell what people are looking to do. Turns out to be a nice enough guy with two boys and his wife going on a similar 6500-mile tour.
Well, I waited for about three hours, the sun went down, and the flyovers started, you could faintly hear his speech, and then the show began. My vantage point turned out to have the fireworks explode just above the treeline. Not good enough to stay only to get snared in the traffic, at night, with inebriated locals, an hour from Deadwood – so I hit the road and watch the fireworks from my rearview mirror.
8230 Mile Furlough Inspired Road Trip 