Arose to 48 degrees and cloudy! We're almost missing the heat at home in NJ! We actually got out the door before 8 am and were headed into South Dakota.
As we headed east, the landscape became grass and small green shrubs. We entered the Black Hills around 11 am and to Deadwood around 12. We headed out to the campground for lunch and to plan our afternoon. After lunch we decided to head back to Deadwood's Main Street.
The streets were narrow and were not fit for RV parking but since it was Sunday, we found an empty office parking lot and parked there. We went to the Adams Museum first and got to read about Deadwood's early days. Deadwood was named for the dead trees outside the city. It also had the first phone exchange in the state which made it easier and cheaper to contact others outside of Deadwood. We learned about the ethnic backgrounds that helped to develop the town. We also saw the fateful hand that Wild Bill had in his last poker game (2 aces, 2 eights, and a 9). There was also information about Calamity Jane. Jane went to Deadwood during the gold rush and stories say that she and Wild Bill had a relationship. After he died, she married another man and performed in Western shows including Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. She was fired because of her drunkenness. Upon her death she was buried alongside Wild Bill.
It turned out to be a lovely day, so we headed for the streets. We walked in and out of the stores....and in and out of the casinos. These are not your Atlantic City casinos. These are casinos in saloons. Casinos in restaurants and casinos in hotels. They were small with maybe fifty slot machines. Some were smaller with up to 10 machines. There were no other tables. The person at the payout counter did everything....serve drinks, make change, clean up. We played a little. And mom, Priscila and Thump....we could even take pictures inside and not get yelled at! We watched a silly reenactment of the fateful card game and saw Saloon #10 where Wild Bill was shot. We also saw where they caught the assassin, Jack McCall.
I want to apologize for any typos.....I take the Internet when I can. Most places I have such a weak signal and I'm afraid if I review what I wrote, that I'll lose it all (that did happen one day). I hope you are enjoying it even with the errors!
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