We finally got here!!

Driving from Rapid City to Deadwood

(This was all typed while driving on Thursday, but too late to post)
Warning: Picture overload!! :)

We left Rapid City about 9 this morning heading for Yellowstone National Park and stopped in Sturgis and Deadwood on the way. We were both expecting something different from both of these cities. We drove around Sturgis and couldn’t find anything what we though looked like bikers hangouts for the Sturgis motorcycle rally, held every August. We thought it would look like the typical movie-type town with old wood front buildings, with bikers and old timers sitting outside waiting for the time of day to pass. It’s a small, normal city, regular buildings with cute little American looking houses with rocking chairs on wooden porches that was setting up for a rodeo this weekend. They probably set up all the movie-type props just before the Sturgis rally….RIGHT SHARON! I think we need to think outside the box a little more! Cute little city though, glad we visited. I would love to be there when the rally is on.

Trolley ride in Deadwood

Deadwood, what it really looks like!

Then we went to Deadwood, nice little city with all its history and the same thing, we both expected it to look like the movie-type set like on the series Deadwood. (Deadwood is where Wild Bill Hickcock and Calmity Jane were armed guards on a wagon train.) Shawn couldn’t wait and we were going to take lots of pictures of all these old saloons, jails, blacksmith shops with their boarded sidewalks and with hitching rails for their horses in front to show Dad. (Shawn and Dad both loved the series Deadwood). There was nothing like that, lots of old historic buildings but not the type we were looking for. We took a trolley ride around town for an hour on the Casino trolley bus that takes you casino hopping, thinking we may find something more, nice way to view the city. Leigh-Ann, you would have loved to have been here, tons of vintage signs on buildings and I’m sure they are all authentic. Deadwood would be a nice place to stay for a couple days and be able to try some of the activities like panning for gold or going into the mineshafts and living through the history of a town like this. The casino door man told us that Kevin Costner owns some of the business’s in Deadwood.

When we left Deadwood, we were kind of mixed up with directions and were heading southwest, actually it was our GPS’s fault. I was driving and Shawn was navigator, hmm! We turned ourselves around and headed back towards Deadwood and our GPS kept trying to tell us to turn around and go back. We finally stopped at a visitor booth and she reassured us we are going the right way and yes the GPS was wrong, maybe it was going to take us on a more scenic route???

The country is so beautiful here, with lots of large cliffs, small mountain ridges and lots of rock cuts along the highway, it’s almost feels like were driving through the Rockies. The rock is really strong red and you can see all the layers in it. When you touch it, it leaves the red sandy dust on your hands, so it’s quite a soft rock. These areas (Black Hills, Badlands, Deadwood) are a geologist’s dream come true. There just may be a few pieces of these rocks make their way into our flower beds at home this summer.

We have never seen so many motorcycles in our lives, the area is filled with them. Bikers of every age are here in Deadwood. I think it would be an adventure, there were lots of bikers in the Badlands and the Black Hills area also. I can’t imagine what it’s like when the rally is going on, bikers stay in Rapid City, Deadwood, and Sturgis which are all within about an hour of each other.

We are both very relaxed and enjoying the traveling. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shawn this relaxed, he really seems to be enjoying it and says he is. He’s driving right now while I type all this on the computer.

Hmmm! I wonder what Shawn is doing? Even in the mountains, you shouldn't eat yellow snow!

Matt, we found a good place to kayak!!

Driving through Wyoming, the terrain changes so much. From rocky mountain ridges to, zigzagging down the side of the mountain where we were only able to drive 20-25mph with sheer cliffs, to ranching and farmland to desert areas with tumbleweeds.  We were at the top of a mountain that had an elevation of 9666 ft. above sea level with snow at the top. We decided to change our route from the route that CAA had suggested to this route (Hwy. 16) that was advertised along the highway as more scenic with less climbing. We decided to take it and it was nice and scenic but a lot slower. Some of the small towns along here are so small, we went through Emblem that has only 10 people in it. It’s a long ride to Yellowstone!

 

Somewhere in Wyoming?

We've only seen 2 of these the whole trip so far, nothing else.

(Typed on Friday morning.)

These 6 pictures taken just after Cody, then it got dark.

We got into Cody, Wyoming about 8:00 had a quick bite to eat, then heading out to drive through to Yellowstone National Park. We should have taken the route CAA had given us and we would have been at our destination a lot quicker. Oh well, whats done is done, and at least we made it safely! When you drive through the mountains, you don't realize that when the sun goes down, it goes down. At 8:30ish it was already dark and we had a long way to go with all the curves through the rock cuts, canyons and then we had rain, sleet and SNOW while driving against traffic, NOT FUN! Most of the time while in the park, we were driving 25-30mph. Shawn was teasing me that he could walk faster than I was driving. Oh well, we made it! When we drove up the motel office lights were off and an envelope with our name was clipped on the outside of the building and the man was still inside waiting for us. We got into our rustic little cabin and went to bed. I'll post pics of the cabin in next post.

Talk to you later today.