Hmmm, In a weird mood yesterday. I was thinking about how we eliminated millions of buffalo on a whim and replaced them with a far inferior, man-made substitute...beeves. A very strange people, we.
Then I went to both the Chief Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore to find they are both commercial enterprises and run by companies...the good Chief is under construction and it is done with private funds or donations and Mount Rushmore, being one of the NPS' man-made parks has given parking rights to a concessioner...ten bucks to park before you are even in and that is after driving through a traffic jammed couple of miles of tourist trap crap. Wowser...I turned tail and drove right away...
I have big issues with the NPS selling rights to commercialize the National Parks to start with and this really adds to it.
I think it will get worse as those who hold the purse strings of the government budget knock off more of the public lands budget...Damn we won't be happy til it is all gone will we...
I should not be surprised....that is just how capitalism works and it is doing it's job I guess...
Anyway, met a sweet couple last night in camp in Wall, SD and stayed up late chatting.
I walked through Wall Drug yesterday, a totally unremitting blight of commercialism taken to the level of absurdity and in that light, a wonderful parody of what makes us tick. It really was like an art film.
Onward today on a two lane blue highway and hopefully another restaurant like Donna's Downtown Diner in Newcastle, Wyoming...umm good biscuits and gravy and over easy eggs fried with a light brown lace of egg whites....I met Donna and gave her the Kemsley thumb's up on a very good little chow hall.
Until then,
ManyWheels
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Baja mellow
Baja Bri
Me and my buddy
Bri and "Dina Whitesocks the Dancing Dervish Dog"
B.O.B. and Dina
About Me
- Brian Many Wheels
- well, I am a 70 year old married man with a couple of sons and 4 grand kids and am currently wending my way around the planet in any way that I find interests me. I am a retired mechanic, certified motorcycle nut, ride a sidecar rig and practice living in the moment. I am a 31 year friend of Bill and Bob and have lived a life beyond my wildest dreams.
Yea, its commercialized, yea, there are too many people at all these national monuments, but it's still neat stuff I've never seen before. In and out again...quickly. Pay my dues and move on. Grab my 20-30 pics and run like hell! Still like sitting still in SE Utah for weeks on end a mile from anybody and 10 miles from anything! I, like you, always looked for the small out of the way diners to get some local color and something akin to what normal used to be like in the days of old.
ReplyDeleteDrive safe!
I hear you Bill. Just not for me. Too many years working for public lands and seeing the decline...
ReplyDeleteI am having breakfast in an old Cafe in Paynesville, MN that has been here since 1921...4 old men are hooting and hollering in the booth behind me playing dice and the special was good and cheap...