Whelan's Wheels (go round and round, round and round): AAAAAAh

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

AAAAAAh

They finally came out to play!!! Today we went to Deadwood - one of King Richard's favorite SD places. I'm not sure I quite get that ~ it is a fun place with lots of history but..........

Anyway, this is the Elks Lodge where Rick and Frankie hung out in 1997 (or was it 1998?).

This lodge has funky hours - in fact they don't even post their hours - if the light on that sign is on they are open .... if the light is off oh well! The light was off today ;-(

One of the many casinos in Deadwood. Deadwood is by no stretch a mini Vegas .... it's different way different - all with an "old time" theme. The buildings are very old - Wild Bill and Calamity Jane days ... I will have to read wikipedia or some of the many many tourist brochures that I pick up at "welcome centers" when we enter a new state (other than the state of confusion, but that isn't a new state for either of us!)

More of the Deadwood "history" that intrigues Rick ... last time we were in Deadwood (which was 2002 by the way, I remembered after my post the other day that right beside me was the coffee cup, that always makes my morning coffee taste better, that I bought when we were out here for rally and it had the year on it! DAH) anyway, ramble ramble, last time we were in Deadwood we went up to the cemetery where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried.

Lastly for today, above is Saloon #10, which legend has (again read the travel brochure Tracey) it is where Wild Bill was shot....

So, after a riding day here we sit outside watching the Red Sox in a rain delay (but It is Jerry Remy day so it's alright) waiting for the daily massive thunder storm to descend upon us.......... more great memories of our 2002 trip. Speaking of which, as an after thought as I close this post..... below is the house we rented in 2002 - it's still there (and the barn and farm house next to it that we had fun exploring) and hasn't been paved... aaaaaah it's all so good in beautiful Spearfish, SD - I LOVE THIS TOWN....... I LOVE THIS AREA........

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This is our story ~ and we're sticking to it.

Our attempt at a blog - quite scary isn't it?

We left MA in early October, 2007 after I (Tracey) retired September 5 as an executive assistant for a software developer and Rick retired from his job on October 1. We passed papers on our house September 28th and off we went. We traveled down the east coast to the Florida Keys ~ where we planned to spend three nights but 17 nights later had to leave our site because someone had reserved it a year prior! We then stayed in northern FL for another month and headed off to meet our Marine returning to the San Diego area after his second tour "over there". We spent several wonderful weeks realizing why grandparents get tired easily! After the San Diego area we headed to the "low desert" (certainly a new phrase for us) of CA and into western AZ .. and decided it was finally time to start the blog we'd talked about since August or so!!

So many wonderful things we saw along the way. And the people, oh the people. I have said so many times to Rick the best part of this journey has been the people. So, so many people with so many interesting stories. Think about it - think about the stories YOU have and multiply that by the many many people we must have met along the way ~ particularly a social person like Rick .. we met a rattlesnake milker in Sweetwater, TX, we met the camp hosts in the Keys who summer back in NH ~ talk about the best of both worlds! We met the female police Sgt. at the Sweetwater Elks whose son was also in Iraq at the same base as my son. We met people in Slidell, LA who survived Katrina and had a great attitude and a smile on their faces and were proud to share their local cuisine with us. We saw the Blue Angels, purely by chance, in El Centro, CA. Or the "campground" where within an hour of arriving our house had been hit three times by golf balls! Or the Elks lodge in Indio ~ the sweetest, bike riding, bartender ~ I just wanted to pack her up and bring her along on our adventure. Not to mention the aerial tram while we were there, the warplane museum for Rick who does NOT do aerial trams! The Salton Sea ~ WOW just WOW. We stayed in the lovely little town of Wilcox, AZ - there was just something about that town. How about Pensacola, FL where the Elks Lodge on the beach is now built high, very high, off the ground! Or what about Huntington Beach State Park in Murrels Inlet, SC - talk about beautiful. What a great place that was to spend our first Thanksgiving on the road with good friends - that was something to be thankful for, for sure. Our first Christmas and New Years in the Keys!! WOW. The love and support of a dear friend in FL while Rick had to fly back to Boston and we dealt with all that entailed with unexpected follow ups back in FL .. how fortunate were we through all of that. Not to mention having the new trailer outfitted in Myrtle Beach and staying at what a week or two a year is the Broken Spoke? Or the kind and soft spoken LA Police Detective who is on the gang unit? So many people, so many stories. And there is so much ahead. The people .. did I mention how wonderful the people have been - all different walks of life .. so many personalities, so many stories! I have said many times ~ I need to pinch myself every morning to be certain it REALLY is happening to US! We are so grateful.

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