August 7 - Badlands to Mt. Rushmore

Today was perhaps one of the most interesting days for me personally. We got the chance to view a control center that controlled 10 of the 1000 minuteman II nuclear warheads that were deployed in the great plains. The door on the control center was approximately 3 feet thick. Prior to today, I didn't really know just how many of these warheads we had ready to launch from 1963 to 1991. Even today we have 500 active warheads that can be deployed on short notice. With the nuclear warheads on our soil and Russia's soil in the 70s and 80s, we could have easily wiped both nations out in a short time period. After touring the control center, the boys got another junior ranger badge at the missle visitor center. We then drove about 2 hours to Mt. Rushmore. Once again, God blessed us with a great weather day. Despite the looming clouds, the rain never fell on us. Mt. Rushmore was impressive, but it was us and about 1000 bikers. Not really a problem except for a few choice t-shirts. I asked one biker just how big this Sturgis rally is. He told me that there will be about 1/2 to 3/4 million bikes there. I got a small feel for that today as I was surrounded by bikes on the way to Mt. Rushmore. Everyone is still holding up well. The two hardest parts of our day are bedtime and wakeup time. At bedtime, we've crammed all four kids in a row, and they sometimes struggle with having their personal space and sharing covers. In the morning, Brandon seems to wake up first and has a hard time not waking others up. Unfortunately, being woken up usually results in grumpiness for some of his siblings. During the day, Brandon and Bailey often get run down, but so far we've all coped quite well. Couple of milestones: Yesterday we crossed 5000 miles and the day before that we entered South Dakota at mile 4828. We are thinking about spending tomorrow chilling out at the campground and taking a short trip to Crazy Horse in the evening. We'll be at the same place tomorrow night and then on to Buffalo, Wyoming. We'll be in Yellowstone by Saturday, where we will spend 5 nights.