While the upstream sensor was easy to remove, the electrical cord was not. Chris cut the wires to keep the sensor from smacking him in the face while he worked to release it. The new one went on smoothly, that is until he went to plug it in. The connection did not fit. We then realized that our truck has California emissions, which is an entirely different part. They told us that they could order the part and have it by Wednesday.

I did a little research and found the part at another store, which was open late. Now we just had to splice the wiring back together to get there. Once we had the correct sensor, there was no trouble putting it on. Unfortunately, it did not fix the problem.

Defeated, we settled in for the night and did some more research on what our problem might be. With it not being the oxygen sensors, the next most likely culprit was the mass airflow sensor. Autozone had one in stock, so we planned to go back in the morning.

Unfortunately, they did not have a voltmeter to test the sensor. We decided to clean it before replacing it. Nate was kind enough to give us a hand. We noticed that a hose connecting the system had a crack in it. It is not a part that they stock, so he helped us with a temporary solution until we could get a new one.

Once again, we were on our way. The truck was running better, not quite right, but at least we had some power to make it up the hill.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Our next stop was the Crazy Horse Memorial. At $24 for the two of us, I thought it was a little pricey. It was icy cold, so we changed into our winter weight UFOs in the car. The museum was interesting, with beautiful artifacts from native culture, but not worth the high price, in my opinion. After getting a shot glass and sticker from the gift shop, we wandered outside to take pictures of the memorial. My opinion soon changed.

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a work in progress. You can still see the paint on the side of the mountain, marking where the horse’s head would be. It amazed me that the lines, handpainted in 1951, were still visible. After our pictures, we decided to get some food and go. I wanted to see the 1/32nd scale statue of the monument. After we found the scaled-down version, we went into another building next door with a wealth of information about the monument’s history and progress.

In 1939, Korczak Ziolkowski was commissioned by Chief Henry Standing Bear to create a tribute to the native people with a statue of Crazy Horse. Chief Standing Bear wanted the monument to be in the Black Hills. They found the perfect mountain, and the original plan for the sculpture changed to one that would use the whole mountain. Korczak moved from Connecticut to the Black Hills of South Dakota, living in a tent for the first two years, to spend the rest of his life working on the sculpture.

I was delighted to find that the foundation had built the building we were in around the original cabin built by Korczak in 1949, with original furniture from their family home. They expanded the house as their family grew. His wife, Ruth, lived in the cabin until she died.

We enjoyed the movie about the history of the memorial. The story about the early days was fascinating. The couple built a 741-step staircase to the top of the mountain. Korczak hand drilled the holes for the original blasting. Some days he walked up and down the stairs nine times because the air compressor kept shutting down.

I kept searching for a timeline for completion, finally realizing that there isn’t one. Donations support all work. Korczak was twice offered money from the government but refused for fear that the dream would be taken over and never realized.

Once again, I found myself relating to a story of a couple living their dream despite many hardships.

More Car Trouble

When we returned to the truck, we realized that we had inadvertently turned the headlights on in the process of changing clothes in the front seat. The truck was completely dead. We pulled out the Black & Decker Power Station only to realize that, after our long trip, it didn’t have enough power left to start the vehicle. With a car parked on each side of us and a staircase in front of us, we weren’t sure what to do next. Less than a minute after we got back into the truck, the woman parked next to us showed up and was more than happy to give us a jump. Sometimes, timing is everything.

Custer State Park

We continued to Custer State Park, our home for the next two nights. We were delighted to see mountain goats and bison on our way through the park, and even more so when we stopped for firewood. The herd of mountain goats was still behind the store. I enjoyed photographing them while Chris took care of the firewood. The goats fled across the road and up the side of the mountain. It was entertaining to watch them frolic and buck on the side of the rocks.

The wintry weather gave way to beautiful sunshine, then a quick rainstorm, followed by moments of incredible winds, which disappeared just as suddenly as they had arrived.

After an on-again, off-again windy night, we were up early and ready to continue our adventure. We planned to drive the three scenic roads in Custer State Park, with a stop at Mount Rushmore. As the night had been so windy, we decided to use the guylines for our rainfly, just in case. With the wind coming from predominantly one direction, we tied them down on that side of the tent and were on our way.

Iron Mountain Road

The Iron Mountain Road was nearby. The scenery was stunning as the road winds its way up, over, and around the Black Hills. Iron Mountain Road is not the route to take if you are in a hurry. With three narrow tunnels and three pigtail bridges, the narrow 17-mile road, full of twists and turns, is best driven 20-25 miles per hour. Founder, Peter Norbeck, intended it that way. He said, “This is not meant to be a superhighway. To do the scenery justice, you should drive no more than 20 mph, and to do it full justice, you should simply get out and walk.”

We stopped at every pullover to take in the spectacular view. I was taking photos at one of the overlooks when I noticed Mount Rushmore in the distance. Not expecting to see it so early in the ride, I was ecstatic. We had many more views of it as we worked our way slowly there. My favorite glimpses were through the tunnels, each placed to showcase the monument beautifully.

You would think that after having seen the monument so many times on the road, it would be lackluster when we finally arrived. It was not. Mount Rushmore itself is free, but there is a $10 fee for parking. The parking pass is good for one year, so not a bad deal if you want to visit more than once. At night the monument is lit up, so I can see it likely to want to go more than once in a day. As you approach the mountain, flags line both sides of the walkway, one for each state and territory, with markers with information about each. The crowd was a little more than we like right now, so our visit was brief.

Still More Car Trouble

We planned to return to camp by way of Needles Highway, but the truck was still not right. We decided instead to return to Rapid City to figure out what was still going on. We stopped for a voltmeter to test the MAF sensor, which was indeed not working correctly. After replacing it, the truck was still running poorly. We decided that changing spark plugs was too big a job to do in the AutoZone parking lot. We called a mechanic recommended by a friend in the area, but they wouldn’t be able to get us in for more than two weeks.

As we drove back towards Custer State Park, I found a mechanic who could schedule an appointment for the next morning. As we arrived at our campsite, the truck started making a loud rumbling noise. We realized that the bolts holding our exhaust system together had shaken loose with the rough-running engine. We thought we were going to have to have the truck towed. We had an extra bolt from replacing the O2 sensors, which Chris used to put it back together. It was good enough to get us back down the mountain.

When we pulled into the campground, we saw that our rainfly was gone and the tent had collapsed. It looked like some big gusts of wind had come through while we were gone for the day. We were happy that we had tied the rainfly down. We found it on the ground next to the tent, held in place by the three guylines and the tent lock. We quickly reassembled our home and made the best of a peaceful night.

In the morning, we made it safely to the auto shop, where the mechanic changed our spark plugs and wires and reattached the muffler. The plug wires had cracked, causing all of our problems. With the truck once again purring like a kitten, we continued our journey.