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Published: August 7th 2008
Main St., Deadwood, SD
This is the location of Saloon #10 where Wild Bill Hickock was shot and killed. The original saloon burned down in the 1800's.Devils Tower KOA - Badlands National Park - Wall Drug - Deadwood - Whistler’s Gulch Campground
After a little “plumbing” problem - the waste water drain got stopped up - we relieved the RV of it’s excess fluid waste and we were finally on our way by 8:20. As I pulled out of Devils Tower KOA, I mistakenly made a left onto Rt. 24 - which I confused with Rt. 14 - and ended up taking us a little bit out of our way. No harm though, at least we were headed east. A little triangulation by Andy with the road atlas and we got right back where we needed to be and without losing any time, regardless of what Andy might tell you. We entered South Dakota at 9:00. Only 140 miles to go until we reach the Badlands.
As we drive through South Dakota, we start to get inundated with Wall Drug signs. It must be near…or is it? It’s actually 110 miles into the state, so we see quite a few signs. For the un-initiated, Wall Drug is kind of like South Of The Border. If you’ve ever driven I-95 through the Carolinas you know what
I’m talking about. Read: huge tourist trap. But just like any good car crash, you can’t help but stop and look. And, heck, tourist traps can still be fun, if even for the kitsch value. More on this later, we’ll be going there after we go through Badlands.
Off to our right, we start to notice the terrain changing a bit. The familiar white and red mounds that are the trademark feature of Badlands. Before long we reach the exit from I-90 and we enter the park. Tonight we want to try and get back to Deadwood - which is 90+ miles back where we came from - before it gets too late so that we can take a shuttle into town to get dinner and see the sights. As soon as we enter the park, there is a pull off. At this stop we all get out of the RV and, surprisingly, we are allowed to climb on the mounds. Upon closer inspection it seems as though the mounds are more dirt than rock. Actually, the consistency of dried clay; white, very brittle and dusty.
Next stop is the Ben Reifel Visitors Center where we all get
Devils Tower KOA, WY
The view from our campsite at Devils Tower KOA. acquainted with the geology of the park along with it’s fossil features. We end up spending about an additional 3 hours driving the 21 mile Badlands Loop Road which eventually takes us back to Wall. Now I’ve heard differing opinions on Badlands park itself. And it generally goes from one extreme to the other; either you love Badlands and you don’t want to leave or you are of the opinion “eh, what’s the big deal?”. Now we ended up only going on the main loop road and granted there are many more areas of the park to visit, but all in all I think everyone felt that the scenery got a bit redundant and once you had seen it’s main features that you had pretty much sent all that Badlands has to offer. Everyone really did enjoy the scenery and I know I am glad that we visited. But we all felt the visit was adequate and made our exit to the next stop: Wall Drug.
What can I say about Wall Drug? Well, it certainly is a must-see for it’s kitsch value alone. I enjoyed walking around and looking at the endless pictures that they had on display
Badlands NP, SD
Hmmm...I wonder why they call it the Badlands? of people from around the around the world showing off their Wall Drug signs and noting their distance in mileage from said destination. I saw signs from as far way as Holland, Saudi Arabia and even Antarctica. The store has evolved from a single drug store started in 1931 to entire city block of little stores interconnected into one big store. It reminded me of the farmers markets and flea markets that we have back home, except much cleaner. Now, what does Wall Drug sell? In a nutshell? How shall I say it? Um…crap…tons and tons of crap. Everything you can possibly think of with the name Wall Drug on it, western wear, western themed knick-knacks, and more than anything else…memories. The store abounds with photo-ops at every turn and even a photo booth. You are certain to leave with something to remind you of your visit. I opted for the free route; tucked way off in a corner of one of the many stores, way down by the floor were free bumper stickers, 1 per family.
After an hour we head back west on I-90 and to our campground for the night in Deadwood: Whistlers Gulch. I was
looking forward to checking out the town during our trip. Deadwood boasts some fabulous Old West architecture. It also features dozens of casinos on its tiny main street - certainly not part of the draw for any of us as we are all a bit partial to holding on to our hard-earned money. It also happens to the location of where my distant cousin, Wild Bill Hickock, was murdered and is also buried.
As we arrive in town, I consult the maps, locate our campground on the other side of town and guide Andy towards driving there. Unfortunately, Deadwood is laid out a bit strangely and we miss our turn. Now he must turn the 31’ behemoth completely around at the far side of town. Back into town, we miss the turn again - turns out some roads are one way. We get back to the side of town that we started on, pull into the public parking lot and turn around again. 3rd time through town, I figure out where the turn is and we make our way to the campground. We keep driving so far that I think we miss the campground but it turns out the
Badlands NP, SD
Andy doesn't like rattlesnakes. maps that I have a not really to scale. Finally, we make it to the entrance and nestled high on a hill, overlooking the whole area (but not the downtown) is Whistlers Gulch Campground.
It’s late in the day, around 6pm, everyone is hungry and we all decide that steak is on the menu for tonight. After we get the RV settled, everyone gets changed into cooler clothing and we make our way back the campground office to take a Trolley into town. Deadwood actually has a bus designed to look like a trolley that runs on a ½ hour loop through town. For $1 per rider you can get dropped off at any of it’s dozens of stops throughout Deadwood. We decide to get out at the first stop on Main Street which is right in front of the Silverado at the top of Main Street. From here you get a view of the full length of the main part of town where most of the historic buildings are.
This whole area comprises about 2 blocks so we don’t have too far to travel. Along the way there are many historical locations, especially the location of Saloon
No. 10 where Wild Bill was shot and killed. Unfortunately, most of the original locations of the time were made of wood and after massive fires in 1879 and 1899 that decimated the town, they no longer exist. That may account for the fact that all of the buildings in town are now made of either brick or stone.
So what was on the menu for tonight? Didn’t we get a nice big whiff from one of the backs of the restaurants on Main Street? Hmmm, there it is…it’s The Gem Steakhouse located on the 2nd floor of the Mineral Palace Hotel, site of Al Swearengen’s original Gem Theatre. Contrary to it’s name, it really wasn’t a, um, “theatre”.
The food must be good as we have a 45 minute wait for dinner so the hostess directs us to the bar area which has a balcony overlooking Main Street. Looking out over the buildings across the street you can see turn of the century-era (1900, not 2000), Victorian-style homes high up in the hills that surround the town. I am always a sucker for old architecture and Deadwood certainly doesn’t disappoint. Another thing we start noticing is that
Badlands NP, SD
The bikers LOVE South Dakota. all the 2nd floor windows of the buildings across the street have mannequins mostly dressed in period style lingerie. This must allude to the towns past history of prostitution which wasn’t actually outlawed until the 1980’s.
I think we finally get seated around 9:00 and we’re the second to last ones seated. Considering our lateness, the waitstaff were incredibly friendly and accommodating and the meal was quite delicious; one of the best steaks I’ve had in quite a while.
It’s getting quite late, we have a couple of rammy 10 year olds with us and there is not really much else we can do with them in tow, so we make our way back to the other end of town, pickup the trolley in front of the Franklin Hotel and make our way back to the road beast. The trolley ends up taking us on a late night tour of some of the surrounding neighborhoods before finally delivering us to the campground. Everyone immediately settles in for the night.
My one regret on this trip is that we didn’t get more time to tour Deadwood. If you too are a sucker for old west towns that have
Badlands NP, SD
This one's for you Super Steve! been painstakingly restored, I highly recommend you visit Deadwood.
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