This morning I am having another Ralph Phillips (Looney Tunes) moment, minus the pencil line, curling smile. I find myself looking out of the window in my office a lot lately as the many trains whiz past, daydreaming of my next big adventure with a horse and lasso. These last few weeks I have continued to work on planning the details of the next trip out to Mount Rushmore. At first it seems like a simple task. You have a certain amount of days and a certain distance that needs to be traveled in said days. It is basically an algebra formula when you remove the extraneous factors. Even with that being said, there are still some other variables that I need to include making it not quite that easy. Our first trip in 2014 was a learning lesson on how to realistically plan for filming as well as personal interest. Many of the memorable experiences from that trip were on the fly and not planned or penciled down on my itinerary; time has to be allowed for that. Time also has to be allowed for the driving and the acclimating to the new location, almost requiring 1 ½ - 2 days per filming location. I won’t bore you to tears with my administrative planning procedures but you can probably understand if you ever planned a road trip.
South Dakota From Above by Toby Brusseau
While I was researching state parks in South Dakota, I determined that Custer State Park would be the ideal base-camp. It is the closest to Mount Rushmore and as a bonus it looks OFF the charts with its granite peaks, roaming bison and scenic drives. Prior to picking a particular park, my intention was to stay in this area for at least a few days because of the filming, without really knowing what was in South Dakota besides Mount Rushmore. I was pretty clueless until I saw this video posted on the park website South Dakota From Above from Toby Brusseau that features the park. I have not been this stoked in a while. Forget Mount Rushmore. Did you see the hot air balloon ride? I know what I am going to treat myself to for my BIG birthday!!!! This is what traveling is all about – finding the extraordinary in the unexpected. South Dakota…here we come!!! YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS VIDEO.