Deadwood - Sturgis

A shot of Deadwood's Main Street

Date: Saturday, July 31th
Day: 77
RV Miles: 6,514
Location: Rapid City, South Dakota
Elevation: 3,217

Want everyone to know that Sasha and I are alright but there seems to be something going around. Today Marsha felt “off” and slept in really late. In the afternoon we all piled in the car (no more doggie day care for us) and took a driving tour of Sturgis and Deadwood.

The Sturgis motorcycle rally starts next weekend and the town is getting into rally mode. They have huge tents set up all over town selling T-shirts, biker cloths, bike upgrades and do-dads and just about everything imaginable.

Deadwood was an 1876 gold rush town built in a canyon filled with dead trees, hence the name Deadwood. It became one of the most infamous western town inhabited with the likes of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. Lower Deadwood, known as the “Badlands,” housed saloons, gambling halls, opium dens and bordellos. Wild Bill Hickok was shot to death in one of those saloons.

Deadwood burned to the ground twice and got washed away in a flood before 1900 when its population was set at about 3,500. Larry didn't take many pictures because Masha wasn't feeling up to walking the streets in the 95 degree heat.

As Larry indicated yesterday, we are headed to Bayard, Nebraska tomorrow. For the life of me, I don’t know why, but he says we will all enjoy it. Stay tuned.