Looks quiet and peaceful, doesn't it? Under the ground here in this area, we had 150 Minuteman II missiles armed with nuclear warheads, and aimed at Russia. The Minuteman silos were located here because, even if the Russians launched an attack from submarines right off our own coasts, we'd still have time to get our missiles in the air. If launched, they'd fly over the North Pole and strike Russia within 30 minutes.
In the middle 1700's, the French fur traders called this area "bad land to travel across". Well, that's the English translation of what they called it, and the name stuck.
These formations are relatively young - less than 500,000 years old.
Neat colors.
Ellsworth Air Force Base is just outside Rapid City, SD. They have a lot of neat planes on display, including this B-1B bomber. I had thought that these were decommissioned, but I saw one take off while I was there. They were designed to drop nukes, but are now only configured for conventional weapons. This piece of "artwork" here, cost us about $300 million.
The rocket to the left is one of the old Minuteman II missiles. They used a solid propellant, which was very stable and could be stored indefinitely. Built around 1965, they had a 7,000 mile range, could travel at 15,000 mph, and deliver a 2 mega-ton warhead. All of the missiles and silos at Ellsworth were decommissioned as part of the 1991 START treaty, but don't worry, the US still has 500 operational Minuteman III missiles.
There is no fee to enter the grounds at Mt. Rushmore, but you have to pay $11 to a private company to park your car. So I took these pictures from the side of the road. Been here before, anyway.
Profile of George.
The Black Hills are full of beautiful scenery like this.
Here's my little campsite at the KOA near Deadwood.
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