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Published: June 11th 2008
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We had planned to stay at Oahe Downriver State Park until June 15, 2008, but because of the mounting cost of fuel, we decided to leave early; so we departed Oahe Monday, May 19, 2008 and headed to Deadwood, South Dakota. If fuel continues to rise, as is expected, we were concerned that if we stayed at Oahe for another month before we continued traveling if was going to start to get very expensive. We have already canceled our trip to Alaska because of the high cost of fuel, which is very disappointing.
The drive to Deadwood was not too long and we arrived the same day. We stayed at Fish n' Fry RV Park, a very nice, although small park. It is an older park, therefore, the sites are quite close together. We met the couple who owns this RV park at Curry Hammock State Park when we hosted there in 2005. Most of the time we were in Deadwood the bad weather continued to be a factor. It rained much of the time we were there and it continued to be cold and windy most of the time. On Monday, May 26, 2008, it even snowed. It started
Fish n' Fry RV Park
What our campsite looked like after the 10 inches of snow. around 6:00 p.m., great big huge flakes, and snowed all night and into the next day, finally quitting around 2:00 p.m. We ended up with about 10 inches of the white stuff. Because the weather was so bad we didn't get to do much in and around Deadwood, but we did finally have a nice day and went in and walked around Deadwood, and of course, we ended up in one of the casinos where we played the slot machines for a couple of hours. As usual we did not win, but it was fun. Dee wanted to play three card poker, but that table was not open at the time.
We also went to this same casino twice to go to the buffet they have nightly. The second time we went it was a Friday night and on Fridays they have snow crab legs and prime rib, also turkey, ham, fried chicken and fried fish; several vegetables, potatoes and rice; a salad bar and a dessert bar. The RV park gets it's name, Fish n' Fry, because they have a small stocked rainbow trout pond. The last night we were there we fished for some of the trout.
A Snowy View
A view of the campground, with the stream which flowed behind our campsite, after the snow fall. They charge $.60 an inch. and for an additional $4.95 they will clean and fry the fish and serve it with potatoes, coleslaw, and a roll. Nothing better than fish caught, cleaned, cooked and eaten. We also met another couple, Dennis and Penny, who stay at this RV park frequently and have become friends with Kelly and John, the owners of the park, and one night they grilled steak, fixed home fries and corn on the cob and invited us to join them, along with John and Kelly. I made a flan for dessert. Another night Dennis made something he calls pork green chili. They way it was served was to make a soft taco with ground meat, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and cheddar cheese and then to spoon this pork green chili over it. It was very good and had just the right amount of bite to it. One night I made garbanzo bean soup and invited John and Kelly to eat with us (this was before Dennis and Penny came to the park). They really enjoyed it, in fact John ate four bowl, Kelly ate two and she asked me for the recipe. Dee also made some bollos and
cooked about five or six dozen one night for John and Kelly, Dennis and Penny, and him and I; they were delicious and we ate the whole thing. John said he knows they would sell really well in his cafe, but of course, they require more work to prepare than he has time for. It is a good thing we didn't stay any longer than we did or we would have gained way too many pounds. Seems like all we did was eat, eat, eat.
We stayed at Fish n' Fry for about two and a half weeks, trying to wait out the bad weather -- cold, wind, rain, hail, sleet and rain )we had it all), but finally started getting ready to move on even though the weather was still cold, although not as cold as it had been. Most of the nights while here it went down into the low 30s and some nights it even went down into the 20s. Most of the days we felt lucky if the temperature went above the 40s, and then along with the dampness and the wind, no matter what the thermometer read, it felt at least 10 degrees colder.
We made the decision to move on and left Fish n' Fry and Deadwood on Thursday, June 5, 2008.
The entire city of Deadwood, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, is on the National Historic Register. The city got it's name because of the many dead trees that lined the canyon walls at the time it was established during the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1876. The mining camp was swarming with thousands of prospectors as well as many rough and shady characters. A mostly male population eagerly patronized the many saloons, gambling establishments, dance halls and brothels. Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall while playing poker at No. 10 saloon on August 2, 1876. Both he and Calamity Jane are buried in Deadwood. To sum it up, this was a bad-ass town in its day.
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