This is trip 15, in 2015! We arrived in Phoenix (AZ) on March 25th and traveled North and East, taking in Jerome, Mogollon Rim, Zuni (NM), El Morro, Farmington, Durango (CO), Ridgway, Black Canyon NP, Breckenridge and Golden. Moving North from there we have been to Fort Collins, Laramie (WY), Cheyenne, Fort Laramie, Chadron (NE), and on to Custer (SD) to explore The Black Hills, as far North as Devil's Tower (WY). From there we have driven East to Dreadwood,then on to pickup our mail in Box Elder before exploring The Badlands NP. We have been to the capital Pierre (SD Capital), before driving North up the Missouri to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota. We have finished towing by driving via Fargo and Sauk Centre to Minneapolis, where we will clean and store the rig, ready for us when we return for Trip 16 in the Fall (DV). On this trip we have towed the trailer just over 2800 miles.
Oldest blogs are at the bottom of the page. All blogs can be accessed from the Archive to the 2right.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Deadly Dreadwood

Sunday
Oh what a disappointment!
We approached Deadwood with visions of the Deadwood Stage and Calamity Jame, sunny skies and lots of happy dancing people.
It turns out that when when the mines closed down at the turn of the century Deadwood died. Around the eighties some astute person somehow got the State to legalise gambling in Deadwood, because that is what had made it famous, along with gold, drinking and prostitution, so like almost every other town west of Boston. This enabled Dreadwood to 'renovate' and 'restore'  its old buildings and turn them into casinos, so now the City Center looks like a disney theme area.
Arriving here yesterday we did not feel comfortable at all, though we did have a very nice steak in the Legends Restaurant in the newly re-opened Franklin Hotel. The theme park environment was extended by having Main street as a no parking area, almost a pedestrian precinct, which made the public car parks a nightmare.
If you don't want ads then click on the 'Start Slideshow' button, bottom left and then the 'Full Screen' button, bottom right. Then select 'Show Info', top right to see captions.
Today was raining, all day, though we did go back to Dreadwood it was still very miserable with loads of small casinos and 'kiss me quick' establishments.
We made a detour up the hill to the cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried, however a combination of pouring rain and charging (albeit only a dollar) to go into the cemetery made Sally see red when, having taken our money, she could not actually access their graves. So by the time she had finished with the dear lady in the box office we were able to leave with our two dollars firmly back in our pocket.
So we spent this afternoon doing the laundry and watching the trickling stream that runs through the campsite turn into a raging torrent.
If you don't want ads then click on the 'Start Slideshow' button, bottom left and then the 'Full Screen' button, bottom right. Then select 'Show Info', top right to see captions.

1 comment:

  1. Oh no rain again! you are not having a success with weather, we did visit Deadwood and yes it was all touristy but we had sunshine, we sat on the kerb edge and watched the usual shoot out! The sheriff gave me a badge! They didn't charge for the cemetery when we were there. If its any consolation we are still waiting for some good weather here its sunny one day,then cold the next. We are going to Bournemouth at the weekend and having a couple of days on Guernsey so it better sort itself out for then

    ReplyDelete