Finding Jerry and Mary: Rapid City, SD to Fargo, ND

Haven't updated this blog for so long, I forgot where we have been in the last 10 days. On that Sunday afternoon in Deadwood, we took a three-hour walk around the place, including up Boot Hill (Mount Mariah) to see the old cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamidy Jane are buried. When I was there 40 years ago, Boot Hill was merely a gravel road leading up to the cemetary. Now, everything is paved, upgraded with concrete walls around certain structures, statues, and plaques. They also now charge $1 to see it and have daily bus tours up the hill.

Wild Bill Hickok Statute on Gravesite (taken with cell phone)

Deadwood as seen from Boot Hill (taken with cell phone)

Deadwood has seen its share of hard times, too. The famous saloon where Wild Bill was shot is closed up, as is the place that had the train station set up in its basement that we saw two years ago.

This saloon was closed down (taken with cell phone)

Deadwood main street (lots of businesses closed down) (taken with cell phone)

On Monday, we drove to a lab in Rapid City to get our blood work done. We discovered this lab a couple of years ago when we were here. It is relatively cheap to get any blood work we want done here as long as we don't include our medical insurances, and they give the results directly to us.

We planned on staying at the Hart Ranch RV Resort in Rapid City for a few days. Weather was nice. We put out all of our slides and set up everything -- including the grill where Jerry grilled chicken that first night. But, the next morning, there was a knock on our door. It was the camp host. Seems that they inadvertently put us in the "no dog" area, and asked us to move to another area of the park. At that point, we decided to pack up everything and move along down the road.

We spent one night in Dickenson, ND, one night in Bismarck, ND (where I went back to see the physician who did my cataract surgery two years ago), and then drove to Fargo, ND. We have been staying out at the farm where Sean (my son) lives since Friday, September 17.

We have a couple of nice dinners with Sean and Rachelle.

Sean has been putting in a lot of time at work, so we are basically alone here on the farm. Being on the farm is very peaceful and it is fun to listen to the farm talk (the hens, geese, bull, cows and goats talking to each other). Jerry builds a bon fire every night.

On Saturday, we spent the day with Angela (our 8 year old granddaughter) and also some time with her mother, Audray. Angela gave us an updated tour all around the place, including the new hen house.