Close Encounters, Prairie Dogs, The Occidental and Whoops!

On day 53 I left Deadwood where I had been staying as it is close to Sturgis. As you probably know, Deadwood is steeped in Cowboy legend. Colonel George Armstrong Custer led an expedition into the Hills and announced the discovery of gold in South Dakota. Custer's announcement triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood. The town became famous for the murder of Wild Bill Hickock and he is buried nearby along with Calamity Jane in the nearby cemetery.

Here are a few pictures of Deadwood today. You can still see glimpses of the past, but most of the original buildings are gone....

I crossed the border into Wyoming, the 18th state I have been in on this tour and I soon reached the town of Hulett where I stopped for coffee. As you can see, a few of the buildings have a 19th century appearance ....

In Hulett I saw these two dogs guarding this bike....

I went to see the general store in Aladdin, Wyoming. I had heard it still looks today much like it did in the 1800’s and sure enough, it did. I took some photos inside, but they didn’t come out well, but if you are in the area, go see it – you won’t be disappointed. I like it because it is still a general store today and it hasn’t become a tourist attraction....

Soon after it was released in 1977 I saw the movie Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, by Steven Spielberg. It became and still remain today, one of my favourite films. At the time, the special effects were stunning and I marvelled at how they made such a clever film. A great deal of the film was centred on the Devils Tower in Wyoming, so I had to go see this for myself.

When travelling from the east, the first glimpse you get of the tower is 16 miles away and even at that distance it is breathtaking. Rising out of the plains it looks very odd standing there on its own – it almost looks un-natural and spooky. No wonder they used it for Close Encounters which was about earth being visited by aliens. Here are my best pictures (I did take a lot!).....

I love it.

I had scrambled up a slope to get a better view and on the way back down, took this picture of the Leading Ladies....

Right alongside the road within the National Park that the tower sits within, there are Prairie Dogs, that are a little shy, but if you try hard enough and do not move quickly, you can get quite near to....

A lot of Wyoming is High Prairie where just cattle, deer and Pronghorn roam....

I haven’t done it yet, but I am determined to get a photo of a Pronghorn. They get spooked very easily!

I passed the 8000 mile point near Gillette in Wyoming, just as I was about to join an Interstate.... I have generally kept off Interstates but I didn’t have much of a choice....

My hotel for the night was in Buffalo and I had booked it in advance about 9 months ago because I wanted to stay at this particular hotel, It is called the Occidental and many famous people have stayed there including Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill Cody. It was built in 1880 and still retains many of its original features. This hotel has now been elevated to the best I have stayed in so far. It is so cool to stay here, that I will definitely come back....

Here is the front of the hotel....

The entrance lobby....

The bar....

An old piano....

A sign on the front door of the hotel....

The bedroom I stayed in....

They have entertainment in the bar and dancing too! I joined a group of riders from Phoenix for dinner and this is two of them enjoying a dance....

What a great place!

Finally, I knew I should have tethered my GPS / Sat Nav to my bike, but I didn’t bother because I knew it wouldn’t come off when I was riding the bike.... Wrong!

WHOOPS!....

All I can say is they don’t bounce very well. Thanks to Mishy Moo, my Step-Daughter, for finding me a replacement and getting it shipped to where I am now staying. Let’s hope it arrives soon so I can move on....