Ruth and I are in route to Mount Rushmore. We’ve never been and decided to take advantage of the $12.50 one-way fare on Frontier Airlines. We had originally planned to attend Brady’s football game in northern Michigan this week-end and then make the drive west, but the cancellation of high school football in Michigan changed that.
I get notice of “deals” from several airlines each week. The idea of spending $12.50 to fly anywhere intrigued me, so I investigated. We could fly to Denver for that price so I googled the drive from Denver to Mount Rushmore and booked the trip. By the time I paid for a place to sit down on the plane, $18.00 a seat each way, and take some clothes in a suitcase, $34.00 for a checked bag each way, the final total on the round trip flight for the two of us was $272.40. That’s still a pretty good deal.
We’d like to see Mount Rushmore before somebody decides that it should be torn down like several other monuments around the country. I’m not a supporter of such actions.
When I was about seven I had a run-in with my own version of destroying a monument, and I haven’t forgotten it. My parents took us on one of our many visits to see Old Granny Barner in Bowling Green, Kentucky. While we were there we went for a southern style picnic at the home of one of our “cousins”, Hershel Walker. Cousin Hershel had beautiful gardens that must have been manicured by a professional gardener. There was a bright shiny gazing ball perched on a pedestal in the center of the garden. The stepping stones leading to the pedestal was an open invitation to take a closer look, so I did.
I could see my reflection in the beautiful ball, so I stepped forward to improve my view. To this day I have no explanation for why the ball fell off the pedestal, but it did. It hit the ground and broke into a dozen jagged pieces. I heard my mom yell “Robbie!”, and I fired back, “I didn’t touch it. It just fell.” No one really bought my explanation, but it’s true. Cross my heart. In the end all was forgiven, but the experience is still stuck in my brain. I’ve avoided gazing balls ever since.
WEATHER BULLETIN
I just took a look at the weather for Deadwood, South Dakota where we plan to stay. We wanted an idea of what clothes we should pack for the trip. There is a WILDFIRE ALERT for the area. The high on Sunday (departure day) is forecasted to be 81 degrees. The high on Monday will be 45 with freezing temperatures and possible snow during the evening. On Mount Rushmore visiting day, Monday’s high will 39 degrees, so I’m canceling the trip. We’re not up to fighting fire and snow.
AIRFARE BULLETIN
The fee to cancel our $272.40 airfare deal was $119.00 each for a total of $238.00. It was the same price to reschedule and we’re not ready to make that commitment. We were able to cancel our hotel and car rental without incurring a fee. In the end the total charge for not visiting the national monument is $238.00. I’ll probably be more careful when I opt for a $12.50 one-way fare on future trips.
My gazing ball experience doesn’t seem so daunting now. Live and learn.