Leaving South Dakota- Heading to Utah

 

After a fantastic 2 weeks it South Dakota it was time to say goodbye to our new friends and move on. Its always hard to leave new friends behind but I know we will see Bob & Snookie again in Texas when the winter arrives. It was Snookie that told us about a  great work camp experience that happens every winter down in Texas. I wanted to go back to Tucson for the coming winter. This was just to good to let go.  The job is in a place called Mission, right down on the Gulf Of Mexico.  Its basically a RV resort but on a HUGE scale. Below is a picture of its location.

Windows Live Bloghttp://missionbellnewsletter.com/New_Staff.php

Link will open in new window, Dann and I are way down the bottom. Here you can read exactly what will be going on while the rest of the country freezes.  

I cant wait !!!

Anyway..Back to packing up and leaving Rapid City. We left around 9am on the 7th Of July 2011. The clouds were building again as it did every day while we were there, but this morning I was excited about the rain because I just find it so relaxing when travelling and its raining. BUT I didn't think it was going to be as heavy as it got. That's another story. We were on the road about a hour if that, and it opened up. Well at least we got the truck and 5th wheel washed again by Mother Nature. That's always a bonus when travelling RV Style. Most place don't allow it. Below is a picture of the rain storm that we went through.

The poor od wipers were workin overtime

The rain soon cleared up and it was clear sailing from here on. I had my camera beside me and took many pictures as we moved out of South Dakota and across Wyoming. We spent the night in a little town called Rawlings and next morning  we  set sail for Utah.

We are heading back towards Utah because Dann has a camp job in Panguitch Utah.  HE will be mowing lawns, edging and  some weeding for 10 hours a week for a free site with full hook ups. . Well that's what the add called for anyway, we will see when we finally get there. Me !!!  I suppose I will be farming and running my little Gourmet Ranch on Facebook  and trying to catch up on my blog. Its a hard life I tell you.    It wasn't to long and we were now back in the State of Utah. I was tired of taking pictures and I had been playing around with a new feature that I discovered on my little camera. MOVIES !!!  I was now on a movie frenzy. In some of them the loud scratchy noises that you hear is the wind blowing in to the camera.

 

This note is temp to who ever is reading this, I cant get into my blog account or post videos, I went to create a   youtube account and all my passwords got messed up, Now I cant get into my gmail account or my blog account.Sent email for help, going to be at least 24 hours untill I cant get help.

 

 

 

Our Big Day Out Touring Around The Blackhills Of SD

 

It was time for some more sight seeing, this is a town with lot of history. Today we decided to go and visit a little town called “Deadwood”  Just driving to these places is amazing. The scenery is really beautiful and no photo can do any of it any justice at all. You have to see it with your own eyes. I feel very lucky to be able to just do that. For those of you that don't know this is the final resting place for “ James Butler Hickok” and “Martha Jane Burke” More widely known as WILD BILL and CALAMITY JANE. I just had to put myself between these two signs.

 

Below a Picture of Wild Bills Grave.

And next to Bill lies Calamity Jane.No headstone for a Jane but a Plaque on a brick wall.

I have to admit I was pretty excited to see these graves, they are people in history that you hear about but never think you would ever get up close and personal with like this.

A little history Lesson.

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The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 set off one of the last great gold rushes in the country. In 1876, miners moved into the northern Black Hills. That’s where they came across a gulch full of dead trees and a creek full of gold…and Deadwood was born.
Practically overnight, the tiny gold camp boomed into a town that played by its own rules that attracted outlaws, gamblers and gunslingers along with the gold seekers. Wild Bill Hickok was one of those men who came looking for fortune. But just a few short weeks after arriving, he was gunned down while holding a poker hand of aces and eights – forever after known as the Dead Man’s Hand.
Deadwood is like a mini Las Vegas, Casinos on every corner and in-between. We couldn't find any parking any where so we decided to move on and continue our sight seeing trip.

Deadwood.

 

After such a great time in Deadwood we moved onto a little sleepy town that has about 7,000 residents. In the 1st week of August, during the famous Blackhills Bike Week, known mainly as Sturgis Week the population has swollen to a massive 700,000 . Below is what I cut and pasted from one of the Sturgis Bike week forums.

A sea of Bikes

The number of people going to Sturgis Bike Week has been growing. Crowds as large as 700,000 people have gathered in the scenic Black Hills for fellowship, fun and the riding - not to mention the vendors. The population of the town explodes during week leading up to Sturgis Bike Week. It doesn't start getting back to 'normal' until a couple of weeks after the huge event.

Below are some of the Pictures I took when we went to visit Sturgis.

While in Sturgis I was able to buy my sister (Julie) back in Australia a 2011 Sturgis flag for her bar. Hand picked by her “SISTA”. Must get that in the post  –One day-Soon. A great day so far, one more stop on the way home. To the film set of Dances With Wolves, where they have a few buildings stored from the film, plus a fair bit of memorabilia.

Some pictures below of Dann and myself at this fascinating place. I have to admit I do like visiting places that have any thing to do with Movies and famous people.

Me in front of the building that Kevin Costner got his orders from.

Dann taken a look around.

Me playing dead.

And “No” Mum  Dann is not really dead.

What a great day we had, I was so looking forward to to the next adventure on our Great Walkabout.