May 27, 2024 Monday
Third
day. Temperature in the mid 70’s until
we got to Deadwood, mid 60’s. Brandon,
SD left 8:45AM CT, Arrive Deadwood, SD 2:45PM MT. Miles 25.7 mpg 410 miles 7 hours, price of
gas $3.45 per gallon. total miles 1330, 21.25 hours, 29 mpg
Good night’s
sleep, quiet, relatively new hotel, comfortable, good amenities, large
room. It rained quite heavily during the
night but the morning is bright and sunny.
Really great fitness room, new equipment and nothing broken. The pool
area has a large children’s area with slides and tunnels, a lap pool and huge
jacuzzi. There is an upper balcony with
big tables for reserved events overlooking the pool. The breakfast was great quality and
assortment. Staff was excellent.
South Dakota
is relatively flat in the eastern part.
We are traveling due west across the middle of the state on I 90. Lots of beef cattle, growing corn and wheat. The top soil is not very deep and light brown
in color. Don’t know how they grow any
crop. But everything is spring green and
profuse grasslands which is actually prairie.
There are no forests; traveling on flat land it feels like we are in a
snow globe. The blue sky is the dome
over us as far as we can see and white fluffy clouds are the snow. Part way we start to fight the prairie winds
head on ~25 MPH. Every once in a while, the
car shutters. We pass Laura Ingalls
Wilder’s home, author of Little House on the Prairie and hit TV show. Have never stopped there but should
someday. We descend over the wide and
impressive Missouri River. Not as wide
as Mississippi but comparable. Then we
climb into small rolling hills and see less crop farming and more cattle. Eastern SD allows 80MPH on highway, midway
across the state it drops to 75MPH and we move into Mountain Time, gaining
another hour (2 hours gained since home).
We have been seeing signs for the famous tourist spot Wall Drug for 350
miles; it’s part of their history with the long-range signs. We won’t stop this time but likely to stay
overnight on return.
We stop off
at the Prairie Dog Ranch. We have been
coming here on nearly every trip since 1984.
Same place with giant PD statue and lots of cute PD’s which are more
like big ground squirrels. They have had
babies and they are fun to watch. They
usually eat our peanuts but they are enjoying the sweet, new grass instead.
We opt to
take a tour through the Badlands. We
have been here many times, but it never fails to impress. It looks like a different planet with its
craggy mound formations with bands of different colors. The southern area is
very different from the northern area.
The north has red, pink, purple and gold layers. We pass into the
Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and there are herds of buffalo roaming around. Two huge bulls pose for us near the road. The prairie dogs are everywhere into the
hundreds. The ranchers don’t like them but they are safe here and seem to know
it. There are a lot of people out and
about from all over the US and some international. They have a fossil laboratory in the visitor’s
center and they have actual fossils on display from the area, some found by
visitors. There are two archeologists
working on different fossils we can watch.
We finally get to see one antelope.
There are signs for elk and Bighorn Sheep crossings but see none. Would love to be there after dark. There is no light and if the sky is clear we
would have some awesome sights.
Moving west
we come upon a wall of high hills, we are in the Black Hills. Narrow valleys covered in dark pine trees; in
shadow the hills look black. There are areas where spruce beetle did damage not
sure how much is affected. There is still sandstone showing but now there is a
dark red iron ore looking mineral coming out of the soil. In the distance are the Elk Mountains,
highest peak around 6K feet. We leave I
90 and begin our climb to Deadwood, SD.
An old west town known for gold mining and wild living, a colorful
history. They have tried to preserve the
downtown as much as possible. It sits in a very tight valley and is picturesque. It is a party town with bars and casinos open
all hours. This area draws Hell’s Angels
from all over the US and beyond for a big meet-up mid-summer.
We are stay
at the Springhill Marriott. Lovely hotel
with all amenities, updated with restaurants and a casino attached. We’re not gamblers but we will be passing
through the casino to get to the steakhouse for dinner. Maybe a quarter slot? I looked out a back window and this hotel is
built into the side of a hill, requiring a lot of concrete walls with iron
support bars into the hill. That’s how
tight this valley is. Glad they don’t
have earthquakes?
Walked through Cadillac Jack’s Gaming Resort with all the lights and sounds. Dined at FYI Steakhouse. had a good dinner of filet mignon, baked potato and salad. Took our leftover bottle of vino to the outdoor deck; twin burning fireplaces and views of the peaks directly across the valley. Sunny, warm night and very relaxing after a few days of driving. Onward tomorrow to Devil’s Tower, one of our fave destinations.
