DEADWOOD HERE WE COME!

Sept. 30

We leave our camp at Garryowen and head out for South dakota.
The trip was about 6 hours-and it was really not so interesting country-just a lot of flat-oil and coal producing land-which is of course a good thing-but not much for the sightsee-er. When we finally got close to South dakota-we could see the Black Hills in the distance. Suddenly there was something great to see-and to look forward to getting closer to! We were getting excitied about getting to Deadwood-and really had no idea this part of the country was so pretty!
There is a lot of history here-and the buildings getting closer to town are pretty cool. The hills are covered in Aspens and really beautiful and golden. the sky is blue-again the best weather we could ever hope for. We wind thru the town-up the hill past great old homes and businesses and evidence of gold mining of the past years. We get to the top of a hill-we see our camp-and home for the next 8 days-Whistler Gulch. We are just on the outskirts of town-there is a trolley that runs every half hour to town-so we are set! We get the house all put back together and decide to go explore. The trolley comes and away we go to see the town-and all of the historical sights it has to offer-mainly the saloon where Wild Bill was shot.
Main street is just as it was originally-even thought the whole town burned in the 1800's-it was rebuilt in the early 1900's as it had been. The No.10 saloon has been rebuilt just the way it was-but it is now located down the street a bit. We walk in-sawdust on the floor and lots of antiques all over the walls-and the chair where Wild Bill was sitting when he was shot hangs on the wall. It is a pretty cool place-and one can feel all of the history that has gone on here. Then, of course, there are the slot machines-and the card tables-Miss Kitty is not here-but I think we met her cousin Lucy. We hang out in the No.10 for a bit-meet some nice visitors-then head on up the street to check out the rest of the town. Every building is a store-or a saloon with a casino-there are lots of places to eat-and spend money.
We decide to head back to camp and make some supper-we will explore town another day-
Oct.2nd
Today we are going to see Mt Rushmore,Crazy Horse-and the best thing-Ginger will get groomed. there is a petsmart in rapid City-so we will drop her off and go sightsee for the day.
We head first to the Crazyhorse monument-we see the film of its beginning-it is really pretty interesting how one man could devote most of his life to the making of this monument. I will not go into the history here-but it is a work in pregress-funded entirely by private contributions- that accounts for the long time it has been in the making-we will check on its pregress in a few years-on the internet!
from Crazyhorse-we head to Mt. Rushmore. No matter how many pictures one sees of this monument-when you see it in person-it is pretty fantastic. The detail in the faces is so good-and it does make one proud to be an American-really!
We leave Mt.Rushmore-head back toward petsmart and Ginger. We decide to bypass the reptile gardens(sorry,Kris) and also Bear Country USA-it has been a full day and we are anxious to get back to camp with a clean and less hairy doggy!
We get back home-the Cronics-Mike and Gayle-and their friends Ken and Sheryl-are camped next to us. we compare notes of the day-they did the same tour as we did-
The friends we have followed since Cody were leaving the next morning-so we all said goodbye and spent some time around the campfire with Brad-his guitar and harmonica.
He and Mike played a few songs and then it was time for bed. Tomorrow is another day of sights in these beautiful Black Hills.