It rained all night. When we woke up, everything was soaked, and it looked like the rain was going to continue all day. This was the first real test of our camping gear in wet conditions, and we were pleased that it kept us warm and dry. We got on the road early to try to make it out of the park before the crowds started streaming in. We stopped at one final geyser and ran into two gents bicycle touring...from Lancaster! We got to chatting, and one of them was from Lititz, a Lititzian just like Chad.
We headed out the north entrance, which was a steep descent out of the mountains and passed the 45th parallel - meaning we were halfway between the North Pole and the Equator! We had no set destination for the day and figured that when we had mobile reception again, we would check some places out.
As lunch approached, we decided to use our Olive Garden gift card (thanks Uncle Harry). While there, we chose Deadwood, SD as our stopping point for the day. For those who don’t know, Deadwood is an old town made famous by the 1870s gold rush and is the final resting place of such western legends as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.
We spent the afternoon driving through Big Sky Country (Montana) and even passed by the battlefield of Little Big Horn. It never ceases to amaze us just how much land is up here and how few people inhabit it, which brings us back to Chad’s recurring question of: “Who owns this land and how did they get it?” At one point, we went through road construction that left the caravan as muddied as a rally car. Even a quick stop at the local Splash & Dash carwash couldn’t get it clean. Oh well, there are more miles to come.
We arrived in Deadwood in the evening and checked into our hotel - the historic Franklin hotel at the top of old main street. The first floor is a casino filled with tables and slots. The other floors are hotel rooms, with each room named after a famous movie stars (perhaps they stayed in the hotel at some point or had a connection with Deadwood). Our room looked old, but felt cozy. The shower had a mind of its own, changing from scalding to freezing as it pleased, but the claw foot tub gave it character.
We headed down to Main Street to capture a few photos and grab dinner before the sun went down. Almost every building is a casino, which makes sense if you think about it as this was historically a gambling/gold mining town. As we were walking down the street, a gun fight broke out and they hauled the scoundrel away to court to try him for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok. While the crowd was looking forward to a hanging, we were looking forward to dinner. With full bellies from dining at the Deadwood Distillery, we moseyed on back to the hotel for the night.
