Sep 2 2017 - Sheridan,WY to Livingston,MT

Sheridan is a great walking-about town - especially on weekend before the locals come to town.
We started at the Sheridan Inn - in days gone by Buffalo Bill Cody sat on the front porch of the Inn auditioning acts to join the "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show."   That show was seen once by Queen Victoria in the UK and that lead to her supply one of the bars in the hotel.  But we digress...

Lots of nice building all over town but you would soon be bored so here are are few more interesting things.  First - the White swan barbers shop.  Its been there since 1904.

Its a bear!

The oldest bar in Sheridan

Deborah, James and Claire

Next stop Little Bighorn battlefield     This is perhaps better known as "Custer's last stand"
It is hard to grasp the size of the place until you realise that the modern day road that gets you to some of the places where the skirmishes take place, is nearly 5 miles long. And you still can only barely see the hills where it all started.   Many fine folks from both sides lost their lives that day.  Will we never learn?

Our rest stop for tonight was Livingstone.
Curiously as we were wandering around looking for supper, we noticed a few folks going down the steps under the rail station.  What did we find there? Several massive model railway layouts.  This seems to be where the husbands sneak off to every Saturday evening for a few hours to play trains. Didnt see any wives!

 And finally supper. Very tender lamb - cold beer and watch the red sun set through the smoke haze.
Did we mention the smoke? Montana is on fire - won't be out until the first real snowfall.

Sep 1 2017 - Devil's tower to Sheridan,WY

First task for the day - find breakfast.
No breakfast in this town.  Mutter mutter.  Walked up to the drive thru Java hut instead and got a cup of Joe.

The a short drive towards the tower - still hazy from the smoke.

Made our own breakfast once we got a good enough view

Then a lovely stroll around the base of the tower.

Then we are off to the town of Sundance.  We had high hopes but were disappointed in the town itself.
But - the free museum was great - highly recommended.  Learned all about the Vore Buffalo Jump
Look it up!

Final drive of the day got us the Sheridan - looks like a great place to walk around in the morning.

Aug 31 2017 - to Hulett,WY

So did we win at the Casino last night?  Well they 'gave' us $45 in credits for the slots. - we managed to get  $24 out of that in cash.  Unlimited free drinks while doing this, and another half price one later.  $20 credit for breakfast that more than covered it.  So it ended up costing us  close to nothing.


Deadwood has a great downtown that is often used to host large rallies.  Today 100's of Mustangs were in town.

Yep - Wild Bill was shot here.....

Then a brisk stroll up the hill to take in the Cemetery.  Lots of famous folks are resting up here - but the most famous are probably Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane,

A pleasant drive down Spearfish Canyon Rd  brings us to Spearfish (surprise!) then on to Belle Fourche for lunch

Belle Fourche  (pretty fork)  was a railhead at the end of a cattle drive.  It also became the geo-center of the country when Alaska was added.  So now you know.

Then in to Wyoming

 

The tiny town of Aladdin   (pop 15) This town sold recently at auction for $500,000
The store is 120 years old and fun to poke around in.

We stopped for the night at Hulett.  Nothing much there except for glimpses of tomorrows adventure.

A distant Devil's tower thru the haze.....

Aug 30 2017 - to Deadwood,SD

First order of the day - back up to the viewpoint we at in failing light yesterday.  Much better today.

Then back to Mount Rushmore to poke around in sunlight. There is an easy trail that gets you up close to the base of the mountain.

Then off along the Needles Highway.....

To Custer.....

The Purple Pie Place!

Crazy Horse monument is a work-in-progress  - we skipped this.

Tonight we are in a Casino in Deadwood.  Will we win?