Welcome to Deadwood @#$%-Suckers!

Despite laundry and shower facilities, pools and wifi, sometimes it's just nicer to stay out in the weeds. We've had the best luck with small National Forest campgrounds. They're cheap, quiet, and off the grid. We stayed at the Pactola Lake campground in the Black Hills of South Dakota the following night. We needed a quiet night after all the gambling, drinking, and swearing we had done earlier in the day back in Deadwood, SD. 

We parked the Truckster and toured Deadwood's Main Street on foot. The town is essentially a series of historic hotels, 2nd rate casinos, bars and t-shirt shops where you can buy any number of items with "Sturgis" or "Deadwood" written on it, ranging from shot glasses to thong underwear. We had a Bloody Mary at the bar across from Al Swearengen's old Gem Hotel and got some tips from the local bartender on things to do and see in the Black Hills as well as some history of the town of Deadwood. We had been looking forward to the re-enactment of the murder of Wild Bill Hickok at 3:00, 5:00 or 7:00 pm that day but were a little turned off after the bartender told us about how recently real bullets had been accidentally or intentionally put in one of the guns used in a street gunfight show in a neighboring town. An investigation was still pending as a person in the crowd was actually shot in the arm and several others were grazed by the real bullets used... so we weren't too sad to find out that the Wild Bill murder show didn't play on Mondays. Instead we looked at the dummies complete with awesome wigs who were set up in the saloon just as the real men would've been the day he was shot. My favorite was the bartender in the Rod Stewart style wig who slouches innocently by while Wild Bill is about to get capped.

 We had more drinks at the opposite end of Main Street on the veranda of an old hotel. We learned that despite the HBO television series painting a rough and tumble and very offensively colorful picture of Deadwood, it was now home to a bunch of pansies. Our bartender informed us that the casinos and bars in this town would warn you after your first F-bomb and kick you out with the second. What kind of yellow bellied $#%@-suckin' no fun havin' kinda town is this? I know a couple of nurses back at Alaska Regional who wouldn't even be able to step foot in this town thanks to these new rules. 

After winning big, we headed back to the van at dusk. We camped that night in the Black Hills which just appear black due to the large Ponderosa pine trees that cover them. The next morning we cruised past Mount Rushmore opting to save the $11.00 and took photos from the road. We pulled over just after the monument to go rock climbing. The ground near the climb was covered in quartz and glittered in the sun. After just a few difficult ascents of the "Fintastic" route, named for the weird fin like appearing rocks, we were thoroughly juiced and sweaty. Either I haven't been climbing in a while, or it was more difficult than it was rated, or a combo of both, but I found it to be really hard. Also, it was something like 92 degrees out which helps no one. 

 We continued on back toward Rapid City, SD. I had downloaded a new app that seemed custom made just for me, called Thrift Buddy, which finds thrift stores near me! We hit the Corner Stone Thrift Store downtown where God rock music was blasting from the speakers and the clothing was likely donated by members of their church who last cleaned out their closets in 1989. Sadly we exited empty handed.

We moved on to our next National Park, the Badlands of South Dakota where Kai, even while driving, continued to out-spot all the wildlife. This of course is likely due to his new eyeballs, a gift from Dr. Ford at the Lasic Eye Center. He could be rollin' at 55 miles an hour and see a prairie dog while I was looking the wrong way. Clearly this is why I am not a sniper in the military and why no one has ever asked me to be their hunting scout. A buffalo could be standing 30 feet in front of me, and I was like, "Where? By that tree or is it that one?"

It was early evening but still in the 90's outside. We stopped at viewpoints throughout the park taking hundreds of photos of the weird moon like landscape before finding camp in the prairie fields campground. We watched the sun set super badassedly over the badlands and then enjoyed tacos in the dark while the crickets chirped all night. We used the indoor shower in the van for the first time as well. Kai went first and later after I cleaned the kitchen, I jumped in. However the tank was as this point nearly empty having filled up a state ago, so I took an nervous shower not knowing if there was enough water left to rinse the suds out of my hair as the shower head sputtered and spattered the last few remaining drops of luke warm water at me. I went to bed clean and awoke sweaty again in the desert like heat. This weather is unreal. We dumped and pumped and sprayed the dog down with water before heading east. 

We fed some adorable prairie dogs non-salted peanuts, evidently their snack of choice, and watched them wrestle with each other and fight the black birds who were often faster than them at grabbing the nuts. The roads continued on in a super straight fashion with row after row of corn fields and sunflowers. There seemed to be significantly fewer liquor stores and casinos and more churches and diners once we crossed the border from Wyoming to South Dakota. On an up note, we've seen some of the best hair yet on this trip in southern SD. By best I'm really talking about some intensely adverse mullets, perms, and dye jobs. 

Up next, we head up to the Dakota due north for some walleye fishing this weekend with my Uncle Bob.

***Heads up to all the worry-warts out there, the best man from Orion's wedding back in Bellingham is alive and well. He was reunited with his family.