The Day of the Biggest Mistake Ever

July 3

Waking up in the Ritz of campgrounds, we were sad to say goodbye to the free Wi-Fi, but also very excited that we had made it through our last night of sleeping on the ground for a few days. We still had a bit of sightseeing to do before we left the Black Hills, however, so we set off for Deadwood, SD – the resting place of both Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Deadwood – like the rest of the Black Hills – was another hot spot for the Yellow Car game. K made a trip high (so far) with a total of 24 points in a single day of Yellow Car. She is still in 3^rd place, but it’s “a marathon not a sprint.”

In Deadwood, we went to Saloon #10, where Wild Bill played his last poker game. It is said that he held black aces, black eights and the nine of diamonds in his last hand – also known as the “Dead Man’s Hand.” B and C reenacted the shooting outside of the Saloon with B playing the part of the bad guy and much more enthusiastically than C was. We couldn’t believe it when a waitress asked us if we wanted a drink (it was 10:30 in the morning!) however we did see people starting in on the sauce already. (Don’t worry moms and dads…we just said no.)

C was especially excited to see lots of Harleys (the nearby town of Sturgis, SD is home to the Annual Harley Davidson Rally – this year is the 70^th rally and the town is expecting 500,000 bikers!!!) and John Wayne’s truck. There were even posters of the Duke’s best films (from McClintock! to True Grit) and a button that played some of his best lines (the knockout scene from McClintock!, pilgrim!!). B put a dollar into a penny slot machine and won a whole $4 (with a little help from C and K who took a few pulls of the handle). It’s still a while before we go to Las Vegas, so we’re just getting some practice in early.

After Deadwood, we headed out towards Wyoming. We stopped (as usual) to take a photo by the “Welcome to Wyoming” sign. And remember our missed South Dakota sign moment? Well with a little clever photography we were able to snap a picture of the “Welcome to South Dakota” sign that we could see from across the street. We still consider it an authentic picture even if it looks like it’s a mini sign and B is a giantess.

We decided to take a detour off the main road in Wyoming to see the Devil’s Tower National Monument. Along the way we spotted an alpaca/llama (we’re not sure which one it was since we couldn’t see it’s tail, and as K informed B & C, tail up = llama, tail down = alpaca).

The Devil’s Tower amazed us all because it was so much bigger than we expected. The sides of the Tower were especially interesting with their column-shaped rock formations. Native American legends say a giant bear’s claws scraping down the sides caused this as he tried to reach people who were safely atop the Tower. From where we stood we could just make out rock climbers making their way up the sheer sides of the Tower. Apparently people can climb all year long except June, when the park closes off the trails in respect for Native American beliefs. There was even one guy who parachuted to the top of the Tower to “prove he could do the impossible.” He was then stranded for six days while rescue climbers made their way up to get him. (Maybe they left him up there to cool off his ego?)

Much to K’s delight, we passed a field of prairie dogs as we left the monument. But after the earlier prairie dog incident (with one screaming at “predator” K), K remained in the car to Ooo and Aah from a safe distance.

Driving through the northeastern corner of Wyoming, we found great amusement in the road names. Some of our favorites are: Wild Horse Creek Road, Dead Horse Creek Road, Crazy Woman Creek Road, Dry Creek Road, and Prairie Dog Creek Road (K’s fave).

It was getting late as we entered Montana, and we still had to make it to Red Lodge, where we were going to stay at C’s mother’s college roommate’s mother-in-law’s house. We decided to stop to get a quick bite to eat on the road. Since we had been seeing so many signs for “Taco John’s” – what we figured was the west coast’s version of Taco Bell – we were eager to try it out. We stooped to an all time low when we used our GPS (Nina) to find the closest Taco John’s, got our food to go, and drove across the street to the McDonald’s so we could use the free Wi-Fi and eat on the grass outside. Not one of our finer moments. Taco John’s ended up being a huge mistake as it was pretty disgusting and all of our stomachs immediately revolted. Biggest mistake ever.

We eventually arrived in Red Lodge, MT to meet Robin (C’s mother’s college roommate), Franny (Robin’s mother-in-law), Annie and Margaret (Robin’s daughters), and Cole (Annie’s fiancé), along with a multitude of dogs – Maddie, Miley, Boomer, Juno and Dutch. Since addresses are rare for Montana lodges, it was lucky for us that Robin had sent Cole to fetch us at the head of their road and guide us back to the house. We were all astounded not only by the location of the house (which was nestled at the base of a mountain alongside Custer National Forest) but also the house itself. It was exactly what one would think of fitting right into a mountain scene; complete with animal trophy heads (that had come with the original log cabin) and huge picture windows that offered amazing views from any angle.

Tired from all our driving we only managed to stay up a little while to chat with our hosts before we went up to our first night in real beds since this trip started and dreamt about all the 4^th of July fun to come.

Mileage to date:

States visited: South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana

Yellow car count:

C – 72

B – 73

K – 67

Highs and Lows:

Group high – entering Big Sky country. The sky is really big!

Group low – Taco John’s

C high – John Wayne’s truck and seeing the Owens!

C low – Running out of Swedish Fish.

B high – Winning $4!

B low – Thinking we might run out of cheese.

K high – Seeing the Devil’s Tower and my Yellow Car record!

K low – Running out of Swedish Fish