Overlooking the Badlands in Bandlands National Park, South Dakota. September 1, 2016.

State sign #2 || Minnesota Welcomes You (both). It’s thumbs up at the Minnesota/North Dakota state line in Grand Forks, South Dakota. August 31, 2016.

Move along. There’s nothing to see here. I guess US-2 may give you a more intimate view of nothing, but nothing is still nothing. Agriculture & grain fields, big rigs, looooong stretches of road, and far-off horizons. That’s North Dakota. Heading west on US-2 in Lakota, North Dakota. August 31, 2016.

The 21-foot-tall obelisk off US-2 in Rugby, which a nearby sign boldly claims, in block capitals no less, is the ‘CENTER OF IT ALL!, marks the spot the town claims is the geographic centre of the North American continent. The town built the obelisk in 1932 and has even trademarked the title. But, and lest I be branded a killjoy, Rugby’s claim is a little off target; the town’s decades-long claim as the continental bull’s eye misses the mark by some miles, the correct spot a forlorn slough some 16 miles southwest of the town smack dab in the middle of nowhere; it’s in the middle of nowhere in the middle of nowhere, if you follow? The location celebrated today was calculated by an Edward M. Douglas in 1928 during much simpler times. Present-day technology has exposed his inaccuracies, not that the good folk of Rugby take much heed of that (and who can blame them if it works in attracting the likes of us?). Yep, close has been good enough for Rugby for the past 80 years just as it was for us today. It was bang on, actually. Rugby, North Dakota. August 31, 2016.

Heading south (having slowed down) off US-6 in Morton County, North Dakota, a very small section of the 459 miles of road we drove on road trip day 5. September 1, 2016.

We’ve seen a lot of this over the last few days. Irrigation rigs spanning vast swaths of agriculture. This was one of the few actually in operation, meaning it was picture worthy. Located outside a forlorn settlement called Cannon Ball (population less than 1,000), somewhere we limped into in search of fuel, the abandoned-looking Cannon Ball Pit Stop coming to the rescue. Sioux County, North Dakota. September 1, 2016.

Sitting Bull was an important political & spiritual leader who was elected chief of the Teton Lakota people, an honour never before bestowed upon anyone. As warrior, statesman & leader, he held to the Lakota virtues of honesty, fortitude, bravery, generosity and wisdom throughout his life and fought tirelessly to keep alive the traditional way of his people by unifying the Lakota & Cheyenne against white expansion into their homeland. He led several bands of warriors in defiance of the US Government’s attempts, as part of their failed Peace Policy of 1869, to ‘Christianise & civilise’ the nomadic, roaming Indians, most notably at the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, a victory he famously foresaw in a vision. Untrusting of the white man and opposing the reservation system made him deeply unpopular with the US Army, ultimately leading to his death at the hands of tribal police in December 1890. He was laid to rest here by the banks of the Missouri River in Fort Yates but may have been disinterred in 1953 at the request of his grandchildren and reburied near his birthplace 50 miles south in Mobridge, South Dakota, somewhere that also, like here, claims to be his final resting spot (so which is it?). Fort Yates, North Dakota. September 1, 2016.

State sign #3 || Hello North Dakota. Actually, goodbye North Dakota. On the North Dakota/South Dakota state line in Corson County, North Dakota. September 1, 2016.

State sign #4 || On the opposite side of the road and it was hello to South Dakota, just like that. On the South Dakota/North Dakota state line in Corson County, South Dakota. September 1, 2016.

Driving a portion of the Badlands Loop in Badlands National Park, South Dakota. September 1, 2016.

A road loved by motorcyclists, of which there are many in this part of the world, and immortalised in many a video game, the unique formations encountered along the Badlands Loop Road vividly illustrate how this land was formed, the result of two basic geological process: deposition and erosion. Deposition of rock layers stretches back some 75 million years when soft, sedimentary rocks cemented into solid layer form, the evidence of which can clearly be seen in this picture. Erosion, which only started some 500,000 years ago, saw water cutting through the rock layers, carving fantastic shapes into what was once a flat floodplain. Erosion is ongoing; each time it rains more sediment is lost from Badland buttes, so much so that it is estimated the buttes erode almost 8 mm (one-third of an inch) a year. All this means that the present-day rock formations of the Badlands will be gone in another 500,000 years or so, the park no more. Glad we got here when we did. Driving a portion of the Badlands Loop in Badlands National Park, South Dakota. September 1, 2016.

Among the towering & eroding rock formations of Badlands National Park, South Dakota. September 1, 2016.

Deadwood in The Black Hills of South Dakota.

Present-day Deadwood is centred on its largely fabricated but still captivating Main Street, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. While shamelessly Disneyesque (casinos, happy hour saloons, & an abundance of tacky tourist tat give it something of a superficial Las Vegas feel), the combination of the town’s location and the sense of the pioneering Wild West that the street both preserves & plays upon is addictive, the history it milks both undeniable & fascinating. Nothing remains of 1876 Deadwood, the complete & original business district of main street having being destroyed in a fire in 1879. Much of the original business owners rebuilt, as they did after another fire in 1884, some also relocating. Floods also blighted the early settlement; present-day main street is higher than the original main street would have been. This was my first shot of Deadwood having just arrived in town. The town’s gulch location means dusk isn’t the best time for Historic Main Street Deadwood photography (the sun vacates the street early in the day but lingers long in the surrounding pine-covered hills) but I couldn’t resist, and no doubt I’ll see the historic Main Street in better light over the coming days. Historic main street Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota. September 1, 2016.

Visiting Deadwood sees you walking in the footsteps of historic Old West legends like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Al Swearengen, and Seth Bullock: it sees you downing beers while watching a reenactment of Wild Bill’s assassination in Old Style Saloon Number 10; it sees you laying your head in the Bullock Hotel; and it sees you having a ham-heavy Mr. Woo’s Eyeopener breakfast in the parlor of the present-day Gem Saloon. The Historic Main Street boasts two Saloon Number 10 establishments. One is the aforementioned Old Style Saloon Number 10, a wagon wheel-heavy Wild West theme bar with sawdust floors, cheap beer, & guaranteed next-day hangovers. The other Saloon Number 10, seen here, is the location for the original Nuttall and Mann’s Saloon, nicknamed the Number 10 saloon as it was the 10th claim to be registered in upstart Deadwood. Rebuilt twice after the fires of 1879 and 1884, today the site of the original Saloon Number 10 is less bar more gift shop cum tourist attraction, one offering tours to a roped off section at the rear where Wild Bill famously played his last poker hand of a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights, forever since known as the Dead man’s hand. On Historic Main Street Deadwood, Black Hills, South Dakota. September 1, 2016.

Great Faces. Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. September 2, 2016.

Carved between 1927 and 1941 into Black Hills granite by a 400+ strong team led by Danish-American sculptor Gutzon Borglum, the centrepiece of the 5.2 km² Mount Rushmore National Memorial famously features the 18-metre-high (60 ft) faces of four great American presidents who, it is said, represent the birth, growth, development and preservation of the country: (L-R) George Washington (1732–1799, 1st President (1789–97)); Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826, 3rd President (1801–09)); Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919, 26th President (1901-09)); & Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865, 16th President (1861-65)). Viewed from the Grand View Terrace, accessed via the Avenue of Flags, a walkway of 56 waving flags representing all U.S. states and territories, the stony-faced foursome really is quite the sight, even if it is unfinished – the original design, scaled down due to lack of funding as a result of World War II, called for each president to be depicted from head to waist (work had clearly started on the carving of Washington’s upper torso by the time the project was shelved in October of 1941). At the Grand View Terrace of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Black Hills, South Dakota. September 2, 2016.

Cited, not surprisingly, to be the world’s largest monument when/if completed, the 172-metre-high (563 feet) work-in-progress that is the Crazy Horse Memorial was conceived by Chief Henry Standing Bear (1874-1953) of the Brule Lakota Indians as a direct competitor to nearby Mount Rushmore. It depicts, or will eventually depict, the forgotten Sioux leader Crazy Horse sitting astride his horse, pointing to the horizon saying “My lands are where my dead lie buried’ (in reply, it is said, to the derisive question asked by the white man, “Where are your lands now?” Ouch). Never photographed, the finished sculpture will depict a lineal likeness of Crazy Horse rather than an accurate resemblance. Standing Bear learned of Boston-born sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski when he worked on Mount Rushmore assisting Gutzon Borglum for a short time during the summer of 1939. Propositioned with the task that very same year, Ziolkowski accepted and, armed with dynamite, $174, and impressive levels of patience, began carving in 1948. Ziolkowski died in 1982 but his family continue today leading a team of 8 who slowly chip & blast away; by all accounts recruiting the right person for the job is both an on-going headache and an obvious impediment to project deadlines. To date only a small portion of the ambitious sculpture is complete – that is, or will be, Crazy Horse’s outstretched arm presently supporting the heavy-lifting machinery, and that is to be his pointed finger at the platform’s edge to the right of frame. No one is brave enough to predict when exactly the undertaking will be finished, although one staff member estimate says 50-60 more years will see the job done. Crazy Horse Memorial, Black Hills, South Dakota. September 2, 2016.

The first part of the Crazy Horse Memorial to be completed was the face, giving early & present-day visitors at least something to view. But it’s a case of lots done lots more to do, and not just with the carving. It – the carving – is only one feature, albeit the obvious centrepiece, of a much wider memorial complex by the shoot-for-the-stars Indians. The surrounding landscape, and in a bid by the self-funded Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation to protect and preserve the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians, will eventually house the Indian University of North America, a Native American Educational & Cultural Centre, an Indian medical centre, the Indian Museum of North America (already in situ and nicely presented), and even an airport. It’s an ambitious plan all round. I wish them luck. They’re gonna need it. Crazy Horse Memorial, Black Hills, South Dakota. September 2, 2016.

Closed in winter, the Needles Highway traverses a section of Custer State Park and is almost exclusively used by sightseers; this is a road built with tourists in mind. The road is narrow with many sharp turns, blind corners and two low tunnels blasted through sheer granite walls, the Needles Eye Tunnel seen here the most photographed of the two. Best not be in a hurry trying to get through here. Oh, and watch your wing mirrors. Tackling the Needles Eye Tunnel of the Needles Highway of Custer State Park, Black Hills, South Dakota. September 2, 2016.

The granite Cathedral Spires of the Needles Highway, a region of eroded granite pillars which appear like organ pipes, are perhaps the most famous (natural) rock formation in the Black Hills. Popular with rock climbers, they were originally proposed as the site for the Mount Rushmore carvings, the location ultimately rejected due to the poor quality of the granite, the slenderness of the rock formations & objections from Indian groups. We ogled at this scene from the Needles Highway as the late afternoon sun was casting gorgeous shadows. The serenity & ever-present scent of ponderosa pine simply complemented the wonderful vistas. The Cathedral Spires of the Needles Highway in Custer State Park, Black Hills, South Dakota. September 2, 2016.

Mount Rushmore National Monument as seen through the Doane Robinson Tunnel of the Iron Mountain Highway, named after the South Dakota historian credited with conceiving the idea of carving the likenesses of famous people into the Black Hills in order to promote tourism in the region. Good foresight & a smart move. On The Iron Mountain Highway of the Black Hills in South Dakota. September 2, 2016.