Road Trips

Road Trips: Deadwood, Wind Cave, and Devil’s Tower

The summer is coming to an end, yet I hadn’t seen all I had hoped to while working at Wall Drug. And so, the last few weeks have marked a series of road trips, all of which have taken me at least 200 miles to the west.

In hindsight, I suppose I should have visited these places as I headed east. But I was burdened with towing the trailer and hell bent on getting to Wall a day early so I could settle in before starting work. And so, the three trips.

Deadwood – pretty dead for a gambling Mecca

Deadwood was a frontier town. It was where “Wild Bill” Hitchcock died. Calamity Jane and Doc Holliday also resided here. And, of course the town pays tribute to those frontier days. These days, the focus is on gambling, with a half-dozen or so small casinos. South of Sturgis, the town famous for it’s biker rally as well as other motor rallies, Deadwood is somewhat dreary. If what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, what happens in Deadwood is something no one really cares about.

Unlike Vegas, the casinos are dull emporiums trying to fit into the old west theme, so there is little glitter outside. Parking in town is quite difficult and costly, and I just didn’t want to pay money to park so I could go into a casino and lose money. Towards the outskirts of town, there is a place called Cadillac Jack’s. In most of the parking, you are required to get a permit from inside. However, there are a few “free” spaces and I got into one. It was beginning to rain and as I walked into the casino, I searched for blackjack tables. Now for those who don’t gamble, blackjack is about the only game where the odds aren’t overwhelmingly in favor of the house. A decent player, like myself, can bet small amounts for hours and gradually build up a small pile of chips, or if the cards aren’t quite working for you, at least you can get away with losing money slowly.

Like any casino, the gambling area is dimly lit and the slots make noise to attract people. In Vegas, payout is between 94 and 97 percent. Here, it was about 90 percent. And I didn’t like these slots very much. They require you to put your money into a card and your winnings or losses are recorded on the card. I much prefer machines that have actual coins coming out. Anyhow, I took $60 out of my bank and discovered there were only two blackjack tables in the entire casino. There were just four poker tables in another section, but there was no playing going on during my visit. In fact, the blackjack table I used was often near empty with just a few players. There always was an empty seat or three.

I watched for a while to remember my personal rules for playing the game. Basically, they are to follow the same rules as the house. I finally asked what the minimum bet was, and was surprised to hear just $3. Most tables I have been to in the past few years have $5 minimums and are usually far more crowded as many other tables have $20 minimums.

Anyhow, I started playing and started losing; not much, about $30. The cards just weren’t going my way. I thought about walking away, but the rain had developed into a major thunderstorm and I didn’t want to drive in it. In fact, one person had left his/her expensive BMW convertible with the top down and was being paged about it.

I gradually started to win and when I was up around $15, the rains had ended and I went out.

And so, for me, Deadwood wasn’t much of an adventure. But I can say I visited it. I kept a $1 metal coin as a souvenir, but haven’t a clue what to do with it.

Wind Cave National Park: An “unknown” National Park

A few weeks later, I was sick. My blood sugars dove really big time. After consuming both 10 ounces of OJ and a candy bar, the reading I had was only 59. I had nearly passed out, and probably should have seen a doctor or gone to a hospital. But it was Saturday and the doctor’s office was closed and the nearest hospital was 60 miles away. I just wasn’t up for the drive.

Anyhow, I left work and spent the rest of the day pretty much lying in bead and trying to get more carbs into me. The next morning I woke up feeling like death warmed over and again called in sick. I went back to bed. Waking up around 1 p.m., I felt great. The low sugars were a side effect of my diabetic drugs and I had not taken any more either the night before or in the morning. So I decided to head towards Devil’s Monument. However, while en-route, I realized that I would not get there before the visitor center closed. I checked my GPS and it suggested Wind Cave National Park.

Wind Cave is located between two major tourist attractions: Custer State Park, which features a nature loop packed with wild animals including the largest buffalo herd in the country and wild burros left by prospectors. Black Hills National Forest features some of the most beautiful scenery in America. So Wind Cave is a distant number 3 and few people are even aware of it. I certainly wasn’t.

After passing through Custer, I reached the entrance to the park. One would think the big attraction is a cave. There is one, but most of the park is prairie lands where buffalo were recently re-introduced, though I didn’t see any. 

And so I journeyed into the park and the visitor center. Now one of the things I do at every national park I visit is request a Jr. Ranger badge. I show the rangers a photo of myself at the visitor center at Ft. Clatsop (Lewis & Clark National Historical Park in Oregon) and show the rangers the collection of badges that are displayed on the wall from other parks. Anyhow, I’ve been collecting them. But I also learned I was just in time for the last cave tour of the day. I was delighted and because I have a senior pass, the tour was half price.

Now the first thing you have to know about Wind Cave is that there is no wind! The cave was discovered because a small hole leading to it was blowing out cool air. It is sort of like having a natural source of air conditioning. Ranger Dan, our tour guide, held a ribbon in front of the hole and you could see it waving from the wind.

 

But once inside the cave, there is no wind. It is unlike any cave I’ve ever seen and Dan said it was one of a kind. The last cave I visited was Luray Caverns, located in Western Virginia. It is an impressive site with huge caverns filled with giant stalactites and stalagmites created over the centuries from dripping water. But there were none here. Instead, the rocks were laced with delicate “box” patterns and are as fragile as potato chips.  The “rooms” were also much smaller, with many a tight squeeze as we descended about 20 stories down. There were no ponds of water. In fact, there was little to be found at all. The cave supports little life, except a few pack rats that make some of the entrances a temporary home in the spring and autumn months.

The way up was very easy though – via an elevator!

I went home with a sense of satisfaction. I had visited a place off the beaten path and was rewarded with an interesting and unique place and marvelous scenic vistas outside the cave.

Devil’s Tower: Close Encounters with a really huge rock

Yes, Devil’s Tower is where the aliens landed in the 1970s film: “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” And there is an annual celebration featuring a star watch every autumn. It’s one of Wyoming’s best-known sights, though pales in comparison with Yellowstone on the other end of the state.

My visit didn’t include meeting aliens, but was quite rewarding. This is one huge rock. Scientists believe it is volcanic magma hurled from the earth millennia ago. But they disagree on how it happened. It’s huge, its radius is about 1.3 miles (2 kilometers) and there is a paved trail around it.

Anyhow, I stopped at a viewing place about ten miles away and met a couple. We took one another’s photos and then continued onward. I made my usual visit to beg for a Jr. Ranger badge and got one, along with a patch (my personal souvenir vice). The ranger pointed me to the trail and after ensuring that Pup was walked and watered, I left him in the truck and started climbing.

It was a long, hard climb. I have been walking for miles recently and this one nearly knocked me out. But the views were spectacular and well worth it. As I reached the base of the tower, I noticed that many eagles were soaring around the top. They were hard to photograph because I neglected to bring my telephoto lens with me.

I moved onward, thinking that the trail would end soon. It didn’t, but the initial climb was the hardest part and after that, while there were many “ups and “downs” along the paved trail, the tower itself was incredible, but the trail also offered many different vistas. I especially liked one called “Cattleman's Heaven,” a magnificent valley.

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As I began circling the Tower, I observed a climber attempting to reach the peak. I thought about my friend Frank’s son, Justin, who was born about a week after my youngest son. He has done a lot of climbing in the east, but nothing compared to this.

As the trail continued, I ran into the people whose photo I had taken earlier. We again took one-another’s photos and I got one that I am sure will be my Facebook photo soon. And the trail continued. I realized that most other people had hauled some water with them. A group of volunteer conservationists even carried a gallon. Until that point, I didn’t think I was thirsty, but the sight of water made me realize I was starting to become a little dehydrated. By now, despite a mild day, I had worked up a bit of a sweat.

After about 40 minutes, I reached a sign that said “halfway point.” By then I was really tired. But I refused to stop. I was determined to burn some extra calories. I had a rather bad encounter with some bagels and cheese the night before and had gained a couple of pounds. And so I refused to stop and sit at any of the many benches. Though I did wander off the trail to empty my bladder.

Soon, the trial began going downhill and my pace slowed, as I had to take shorter steps. At the begging of the trail, one could go in two different directions and I was glad to have chosen the one I did because the uphill climb was clearly easier than the part of the trial I was going downwards on.

Suddenly, I discovered I was near the starting point and with a sense of price finished the trail. I encountered the ranger I had spoken to earlier and asked how long the trail was. When I learned it was 1.3 miles, I was astounded. It seemed like at least three miles. For me, it was probably closer to 2 miles as I often journeyed off side tracks to explore the entire area, but still it exhausted me, but in a good way. I was pumped with endorphins, the body’s chemical that gives one a sense of well being.

As I drove out of the park, I came across a prairie dog town. I again cursed at myself for not bringing a telephoto lens. But by slowly approaching them, I got a few close-ups. One critter actually walked to me after I sat on a log for a while. I suspect that park visitors sometimes are willing to give a handout.

I took a more northern route back towards South Dakota and saw some beautiful country. But I was generally too tired to stop and shoot photos. As I got back on the Interstate, the sun began to set, rewarding me with beautiful magenta clouds reflecting it in the east and then a spectacular sunset in the west.

I stopped en route at a fast-food store in Belle Fouche, which is the dead center of the continental United States. As you exited, they had a bell to ring if you were happy with the service. I rang it and heard a chorus of “thank yous” from the employees and I answered back, “No, thank you.”

I proceeded to drive the last hundred miles along the interstate in one big leap and got back to my trailer by 10 p.m. Still wired from the trip, I wrote this, and then gave the dog one last walk before hitting the rack for six straight days of work. Next stop,
Fort Mandan in North Dakota before heading east in about three weeks.