David here, catching up on days 9 and 10. Once we left the awesomitude of the Badlands, which was a mix between driving across the surface of Mars and through the foothills of Mordor, I recall very little. This is because I slept through most of South Dakota, so my experience of that day largely consisted of drifting in and out of Dick Cavett's audio book of Jean Shepherd short stories (the Bumpus' dogs stole an Easter ham, and not a Christmas turkey, well that's odd....(snore)). Thanks to Kate for covering that part (I love yooooooo... bye! ).
Day 9: Last full day in Montana
Our stay in Montana had been wonderful, and even though we had been there the longest out of all our stops it still felt all to short. It was so wonderful to catch up with so many Hollands, to share and even grow in our excitement with Uncle Jimmy about the wedding ceremony, and share Montana's wonders. Today was actually full of things that I'd never done in my trips here growing up. We started by going to the Northwest Montana Fair- shades of our Avoid the Stork trips all over the Iowa's county fair circuit over the past year and a half (www.avoidthestork.com). Our first fair event was swine showmanship- junior classes. About a dozen kids were showing their pigs by trying to keep them from fighting each other and rooting at the fence. This was all done with a little brush, a riding crop, their Sunday best, and of course, big bright smiles. They had to endure this for what felt like 15 minutes to me, and what surely felt like an eternity for them. It was strange. It was fun to watch. There was a dog agility show just outside. We met an Englishwoman who is training her Corgy for such events, and is out in Montana for some reason. The Corgy did well, except for the moment when he fled the course in pursuit of a BBQ chicken hut. Who wants to run through a huge insulation tube when there's chicken about, after all? There was a sheep who sounded like an irritated old man. We loved him. It was here that we also saw a stag beetle the size of my hand. No joke. Ironically, it was next to an insect jewelry booth, and we mused over the big guy with the booth's owner ("Maybe I can make a bracelet out of it..." "Or a broach!"). Overall, it was an impresive fair with lots of other fun animals to see, and something we'll hit up if we're able to again.
We went back to the house and had a "Hap rap," catching up with Grandpa on movies, theatre, all things cultural, making use of my ridiculous film history-addled brain. We were also all joined by my cousin Will, who is about to start studying songwriting at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and who I haven't seen since he was little tiny person, so it fantastic to catch up with him and re-meet each other as adult-types. When Matt got off work he pulled up to the house with an impressive looking speedboat, and we all said, "Well, let's put that in water and find out what happens." We took it down to Flathead Lake and tore around for a little bit, taking turns driving and basically playing Miami Vice: The Montana Years for a while. It rocked.
We closed out the night by chilling with Matt and Will in the basement while the (other?) grown ups went out. Overall, a wildly successful Montana trip- many, many memories made and some seeds for future trips planted (maybe an anniversary someday...).
Day 10: We drive across Montana and then experience a vision.
Montana is huge. Enormous. So when I say that we took a day to drive across Montana to get to our next stop, I hope you can begin to appreciate our insanity. This is the part of the drive that keeps most of you layabouts and hooligans from attempting such a thing. Well, we rocked it, so now you must bask in our bodacity (spf 35 recommended).
I'm trying to think if anything actually happened in Montana that day... we saw a bit Billings. There were some beautiful rock formations in the reservation we drove through... Oh, we drove past the battlefield at Little Big Horn! That happened... Um. Yeah. It's a long, long road, and it DID get progressively and surprisingly interesting as we approached the Black Hills of South Dakota. They're quite spooky.
We arrived at our campsite in Keystone, SD, near Rapid City, around 6:45 PM, quickly pitched our tent and went exploring in the Black Hills, evidently the sacred land of the Lakota tribe. However, as we explored we were greeted with a sight that chilled our very spines. Apparently, long, long ago, the movement of glaciers against the earth's crust carved into the living rock of these mountains four faces- four faces which must have been a mystery to those who first saw them- a strange vision that no doubt haunted the people who first inhabited this land in primitive, ancient times. It would not be until the mountain was discovered by modern Americans that the true meaning of this vision would be understood. Imagine the awe of the first settlers who saw the faces of four U.S. Presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, towering over their new-claimed land, hewn by forces beyond human understanding into the mountainside. There could be no clearer symbol that this land was destined, manifestly even, to be settled by white people, and littered with tourist traps as far as the eye could see. We were moved by a newfound sense of national pride, and our post-modern, Seth-McFarlane-Era cynical snarkery was momentarily laid to waste. There was weeping. And gnashing of teeth.
However, this awe was short lived when we found out that the faces were not an ancient sign of divine providence but were, in fact, left over from the set of the 1959 film North by Northwest, starring Hugh Grant and Eva Green or some such people. The weeping and gnashing of teeth continued, but only through the many small children who had been dragged here by their families. Unless they had ice cream. Those youths seemed strangely unperturbed by the lies and hypocrisy that were being sneaked into their drinking water like so much fluoride. As the stone faces lit up from the glow of a hundred artificial lights, no doubt also left over from the 1959 film North by Northwest, we drove away in a stunned silence, a silence only broken by my one, pitiful attempt to regain some normalcy in the wake of our shattered faith in our forefather's divine right to settle and reforge this land in any way they saw fit-
"So...how about those Reds?" **
We returned to our camp, and found a therapeutic solace in our first completely successful attempt in building a fire. We each contributed in meaningful ways. Kate helped fix my kindling and tinder building, and I found a way to build on her success by insisting that we light larger logs as fuel, so the fire would last long enough to cook over. Our fire burned for a few hours, our franks and beans were tasty and delicious, our s'mores were smooth, and our lives were bright again. We went to bed, unsure if the world we woke up to would ever be quite the same.... after our harrowing encounter.... with History.
** Seriously, the Cincinnati Reds are in first place in their division? Now THAT shakes my faith in the established order of things. In a totally awesome way.
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