Day 80

More of the Badlands

Jul 25, 2013, 2:54 PM

Well on Sunday it was pretty darn hot to be playing on the rocks and sand at the Badlands so by the time we got half way through we were spent so we didn't give the second half our all. Today since we have a full day of driving tomorrow we didn't want to go far from home and we thought doing the Wall end of the Badlands again would be a good idea. It's only about 10 miles out of Wall so why not. It is such an unbelievably beautiful ride. Daniel Webster himself would find it difficult to come up with enough words to do justice to the vistas that will forever be imprinted in my mind. I'm really sad as I look out that I won't stand in this spot again, but there is another side to that coin. We are going to be on our way to Yellowstone and things out that way. Again I'm struck with how this is all just such an amazing dream come true. I never thought I'd be able to see these places and yet we are. I have a wonderful husband and a wonderful life and I am so thankful for both. 

Jul 25, 2013, 9:08 PM

In case you didn't notice, we have now been on the road 80 days. I can't get over it. In some respects it seems like it, but mostly it doesn't seem like it's been 30 days. So at this point we are pretty much ready to go tomorrow. Tonight I made more reservations. We are now set till the 11th of August. We will at that point be in Spokane, Washington. No plans further out than that. So I think that is it for today, I'm going to bed, we have an early day tomorrow. 

I forgot to include these photos of Spanky whooping it up at Wall Drug.

Day 79

Deadwood Today

Jul 24, 2013, 9:53 AM

We are on our way to Deadwood. We just so happen to be visiting while Deadwood is celebrating their 91st Annual Days of '76, a big deal on the rodeo circuit. So I'm sure a lot will be going on. When I was watching the news this morning they had a segment about the Days of '76 and they gave a web address to get more information. So I checked it out and I learned that aces and eights was called a Dead Man's Hand because that's what Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot dead. Neat little bit of trivia. Not being either a poker player or a cowboy aficionado, I had no idea there was such a thing as a "dead man's" hand and I had no earthly idea why, but now I do. The things you learn. Oh and this tidbit will sure piqué the guys interest. Prostitution was a huge industry in Deadwood. The working girls came with the gold rush and the gold dried up but the girls sure as heck didn't. They were an institution from 1876 up until 1950 when the brothels were closed for a few months, but then a legal loophole allowed them to reopen and they weren't closed for good until 1980. Well I bet that's more than you wanted to know isn't it?

Lunch at the Silverado Hotel & Casino

Jul 24, 2013, 3:36 PM

We got to Deadwood just in time to have a really good lunch at the Silverado. They boast they have the only Vegas style buffet in Deadwood and I'll tell you what it was good. My husband however, shocked the hell out of me at lunch. I got some bread pudding with a nice vanilla sauce and whipped cream for desert and he announced he not only didn't like bread pudding, but he's never even tried it. That is the first time I can remember him EVER being so unwilling to take a chance on a food item. I'm completely blown away. 

After lunch we, actually I, wanted to at least try a slot machine. Mind you, the only other time I have gambled was when we were in Vegas to get married, and no I wasn't gambling on the marriage, I actually played craps and a couple slot machines, but that was it. So I told Steve I wanted to at least put a dollar in a slot machine. So we both stand there really not knowing what to do at all. We saw a $5 slot machine and I didn't want to throw away that much money, then we saw a $1 slot machine, so that was the one. I had no idea if you put money in or a credit card or you had to get something from the cashier. So we walk up to the slot machine and we realize you had to have cash, it didn't take cards. Well Steve pulls out a $5, and hands that to me. I put it in and I thought I was playing a dollar, but I was playing three. That pissed me off, so the next time I played a dollar. First two times nothing, now I've got one dollar left. I pushed the button and won $15, so I cashed out. I'm no fool!!!!! Steve on the other hand put a $10 in a machine and lost the entire thing. 

After that we found a bus tour. That was pretty good. It was an hour and a quarter and there was a lot more talking than driving. The town is very small and it was smaller still in the 1800's. we did get cool facts. We rode up to the cemetery. Saw where Calamity Jane was buried, and Wild Bill Hickok. It was kind of cool to look between two buildings and see a mountain across the street, but other than that the majority of the store fronts were either gift shops, casinos, or saloons, or a combination of the three. So we are going to go to Bear Country. I'll let you know how that goes when we are done. 

Jul 24, 2013, 6:05 PM

Well Bear Country was pretty darn cool. There wasn't one area that we didn't see animals in. We saw Rocky Mt. Elk, Reindeer, Arctic Wolves, Timber Wolves, Big Horn Sheep, Rocky Mt. Goats, Buffalo, Mountain Lion, Black Bears, and then smaller animals and baby bears. It took about a half hour/forty five minutes to drive through. You drive your own car so you are able to go at your own pace which of course was just perfect for me. Then Spanky had to get in the act and have his picture taken. Oh and Spanky got a new pin for his ever growing collection. So now we are on our way home. We'll just have a lighter dinner, we had a big lunch and call it a night after some TV.  Have a good night everyone, I'll check in with you tomorrow. 

Day 78

Down Day

Jul 23, 2013, 8:53 PM

We took a day to do some odds and ends around the RV and set up a schedule for the next 20 days. Steve did some jobs outside, I did some wash, Steve made plans for tomorrow, we had a wonderful dinner, we mapped out our next stop and I'm going to bed. Have a great night everyone. I'll be checking in tomorrow. 

Day 77

Mt. Rushmore Tour

Jul 22, 2013, 8:58 AM

We started the day in a panic, well at least I did. Last night when I went to bed I set the alarm for 5:00 AM, we wanted to leave at 6:00 AM. At 5:17 AM I sprang out of bed realizing the alarm had never gone off. Oh shit, not a good way to start the day. I took the world's fastest shower, made Steve's cappuccino, made the bed and we were out the door in exactly 42 minutes. That is for sure a record for us. Now I probably should tell you that we were foolishly allowing about twenty extra minutes for traffic, not thinking about the fact that we really haven't had to deal with traffic since we left the middle of Lower Michigan. So to say that we were early is an understatement. We were told to be here about 7:30 AM and we were the second one's here. So we got our tickets and had our breakfast. It was served on tin plates, pancakes, sausage gravy and biscuits, sausage links, coffee, and orange juice. 

At 8:45 AM we got on the bus, that's when I realized I lost my Hoodman, it's a piece of camera equipment and I'm not happy about it, but hopefully before the end of the day it will be turned in. Steve and I were giggling cause this guy was walking around about ten minutes before we were supposed to get on the bus and he was dressed like a cowboy/gunslinger. He had on a black vest, white shirt, black cowboy hat, and cowboy boots. He has gray hair about shoulder length and gray mustache, he is slender and he really looks like Sam Elliot, that's where the similarity ends. Steve kept saying that's the bus driver, you wait and see. I thought for sure it couldn't be, but damn if it wasn't. He has got a continual gab going. God help me, I'm trapped. It is going to be a long day. 

Mt. Rushmore

Jul 22, 2013, 10:51 AM

Oh Mt. Rushmore was just beautiful. The scale is incredible. We did this just right too. The bus driver/guide told us on the way that the sculpture was intentionally carved so that it catches the morning sun and that causes it to almost glow. As we were coming into Keystone we got our first glimpse of the mountain and it looked white in the sun. It is a glorious site. You get such a lump of patriotic pride stuck in your throat when you see this carving. This is a sight I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd see. We got "several" photos of the monument and I just wanted to take more. After we left the monument the bus ride was hair raising. Some of the hairpin turns and bridges that it crossed, I was ever so glad Celeste wasn't with us. The bus driver did send out an interesting fact that wasn't an age old joke or just nonsense. He told us the pine trees growing on the boulders were Ponderosa Pines and they can grow on the rocks because their roots secrete an acid that eats away at the rock to allow the roots to sink in, however, the acid won't break or make the rock crumble. Thats kind of cool!!!!! It just amazes me how nature will always find a way. 

My Hoodman was found!!!!! Thank God too the damn thing was expensive. Anyway we stopped at the Game Lodge in Custer State Park for lunch. It was some of the best food we have had. Now as you can imagine, when the bus unloaded and forty some odd people got off it was a crush at the restaurant, so they paired people up at tables, or at least they did with us. We ate lunch with a really nice couple from Salt Lake City, Utah. We talked and laughed at lunch and before you knew it the hour was up and it was time to get back on the bus. Steve had some buffalo stew, I didn't even try it. Last night for dinner I made us a buffalo steak and although Steve loved it, it didn't do anything for me. 

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this so I'm just going to put it out there. The roads that the bus was taking were so twisty turny, and there were three tunnels you go through that are hardly large enough for a VW bug let alone this bus. Well at the last one, the tightest one, the driver has to pull up then back up to be square with the opening cause as you get inside the tunnel if there are too many coats of wax on the bus it's going to scrape, are you getting the idea of how tight this tunnel is, a sheet of paper can't be passed between the bus and the rock wall, it's a freaking rock coffin, anyway, the driver and his constant prattle, tells us he is going to freak out the people at the other end of the tunnel. He's going to pretend he's stuck. So he stops, turns on the flashers, reves the engine like he's stuck. The people t the other end, that I might add are waiting to go through the tunnel, freak!!!!!! They start to come in, try to help him navigate, etc. I'm sure there were calls to 911, "yeah um, hi, we are like up on the Needles Highway, yeah and we are at a tunnel, and um, there is this bus and um, I think it's stuck in the tunnel. Honey, can you see, is he stuck? Yeah, my husband is saying he's got that thing wedged in there good. I think you better send up a wrecker or something. . . " Now I think this is sort of mean, those poor people, and when we did finally get going again, there was a LINE of people waiting to go through. It creates such a bottleneck! I don't know, maybe it's just me.

Crazy Horse Monument

Jul 22, 2013, 5:13 PM

We saw the Crazy Horse Monument/Sculpture. I thought it was much more complete. With Mt. Rushmore as done as it ever will be most likely, did you know that the presidents on Mt. Rushmore were supposed to be a sculpture to the waist?, yes we saw that in a special on PBS, but Borglum died and funding dried up and they called it done, anyway I thought the Crazy Horse Monument was much further along. What you can see is still very impressive. I also think it's so fitting that they will not take any government funding for the project, and I say good for them. The treatment of the American Indian has been so disgraceful, but I'm not going any further with that. They said the four heads of the presidents together on Mt. Rushmore would fit in the head of Crazy Horse. You don't really get a feel for the size cause the viewing area is further away, but the model is something to see if nothing else. Now we are on our way back to Ft. Hayes for a dinner and show. It has been a long day and at this point I'm ready to go home, but dinner will be good to have someone else cook and clean up. 

At dinner our seating was on the tickets. When we got into the dining hall there were several rows of tables that were picnic tables set end to end. Each row had a letter and each seat had a number. Steve and I were on Row E, Seats 7 and 8. This was perfect because we were the first two seats at the end of the table, Steve prefers to be at the end of a row. Anyway we weren't seated for more than a minute or so and we hear a cheery hello from behind us, we'd been sitting with our backs to the table, when we turned around there was Bill & Eva, the couple we ate lunch with. This was such a great coincidence. We were able to spend dinner talking with them again. It was really fun getting to know them and we have promised to look them up when we get to Salt Lake City.