Today we left Horse Thief Campground and headed westward. Our route took us through Deadwood, South Dakota, which has to be one of the quaintest places I’ve seen. The town meanders along a creek of the same name, nestled between steep hills which limit its expansion, at least laterally. And with a population of only 1300 or so, you would not expect much. However, it apparently does so well at serving tourists that it is hugely prosperous and pretty, with many amenities of much larger cities. The downtown area has brick streets and large buildings, banks and other edifices that would appear to serve a much larger population. Scattered throughout are chain hotels and restaurants which would not be there without significant demand for them. The Deadwood on TV may have developed into this city, but there is little resemblance.
While it was very near, we didn’t take the time to detour over to Sturgis, since I wasn’t driving a bike.
Our primary destination other than the RV park here in Sheridan, Wyoming, was Devil’s Tower, which you’ll remember from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And you’ve seen this iconic monolith in dozens of other images as well. It’s a national monument, and even though there are very few people scattered around this great state, all the tourists that are not in Yellowstone must have been at Devil’s Tower. You enter the park through the standard National Park Service entrance, where they take your fee if you don’t have a Senior Pass, then drive for three or four miles around the tower to the visitors' center and parking area. They have limited parking for RVs, and it was too limited for us. We couldn’t find a place to park anywhere. There was an overflow parking area for “large vehicles” about a mile away from the main parking lot, and we parked there, had lunch, and waited for some of the other RVer's to leave. But we didn’t see any of them leaving. Other RVs with the same idea, I’m sure, came into the overflow lot where we were. But it was raining intermittently, and we decided we’d rather go see the prairie dogs that have an extensive colony beside the entrance road. We did get lots of pictures of the tower.
The turnoff from I-90 to go to Devil’s Tower is at Sundance, which is not where the film festival is held (that’s Park City, Utah), but is the town which gave Harry Longabaugh his nickname, before he teamed up with Butch Cassidy to rob banks.
After the excursion to the Tower, we drove on to Sheridan, which we reached about 4:30 p.m., and camped for the night. The campground has nice facilities (and Internet!), but the sites are tightly packed. We can almost reach out from the front door and touch the motorhome next to us! We’re hoping to attend services at the First Baptist Church tomorrow morning.
While it was very near, we didn’t take the time to detour over to Sturgis, since I wasn’t driving a bike.
Our primary destination other than the RV park here in Sheridan, Wyoming, was Devil’s Tower, which you’ll remember from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And you’ve seen this iconic monolith in dozens of other images as well. It’s a national monument, and even though there are very few people scattered around this great state, all the tourists that are not in Yellowstone must have been at Devil’s Tower. You enter the park through the standard National Park Service entrance, where they take your fee if you don’t have a Senior Pass, then drive for three or four miles around the tower to the visitors' center and parking area. They have limited parking for RVs, and it was too limited for us. We couldn’t find a place to park anywhere. There was an overflow parking area for “large vehicles” about a mile away from the main parking lot, and we parked there, had lunch, and waited for some of the other RVer's to leave. But we didn’t see any of them leaving. Other RVs with the same idea, I’m sure, came into the overflow lot where we were. But it was raining intermittently, and we decided we’d rather go see the prairie dogs that have an extensive colony beside the entrance road. We did get lots of pictures of the tower.
The turnoff from I-90 to go to Devil’s Tower is at Sundance, which is not where the film festival is held (that’s Park City, Utah), but is the town which gave Harry Longabaugh his nickname, before he teamed up with Butch Cassidy to rob banks.
After the excursion to the Tower, we drove on to Sheridan, which we reached about 4:30 p.m., and camped for the night. The campground has nice facilities (and Internet!), but the sites are tightly packed. We can almost reach out from the front door and touch the motorhome next to us! We’re hoping to attend services at the First Baptist Church tomorrow morning.
So are you still in Wyoming? Also, I think your cell phone is out of juice.
ReplyDeleteNo, but I have NO phone service. I am furious with Sprint. I called them to ensure that I would have service all across Canada, and even arranged to have my phone serve as a "hotspot" for Internet service. They never hinted that I wouldn't even have phone service in much of the U.S., much less Canada. I haven't been able to get to the phone since I left Nebraska. And I haven't had Internet service for the last several days. I paid for service here at this RV park west of Calgary. More blog to come.
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