I headed into Deadwood a couple of times during the week. The first time was the day they were doing the Legends Ride and doing some filming for PeeWee Herman’s movie. I drove through town (after the long, hot, dusty trip from the campground, then through Sturgis) looking for a parking spot. Well half the town was blocked off and the other half was a zoo. Gave up any hope of parking on the street and headed back to the visitor center parking lot at the end of the main drag. There’s a trolley that runs through town that I thought I’d hop on and get a little closer to the action at the other end of Main Street. Well, I got on the trolley and soon learned that it wasn’t going any where near the action on Main Street. What I thought was going to be a two-stop journey wound up being the entire route. Got off where I had gotten on. (Got my money’s worth out of that $1!)

Just walked through town at that point. Knew there was a webcam in town and didn’t exactly know where it was, so I was keeping an eye out for it. It didn’t take too long to find it. I wound up making a beeline for my favorite watering hole, The Stockade, only to discover that the webcam is right at its’ front door. Well, decided that beverages came before tweeting and went upstairs and got something to drink and hung out on the balcony railing looking at all the bikes and people out on the street. Didn’t stay too long as I was hungry. And lo and behold, right across the street was a Chinese restaurant. Good enough for me!

The restaurant was the 2nd floor above a casino. And of course it was dark inside, so I went to prop my sunglasses on my head and boom! – they broke. Now realize, that within the past 7 days I had broke an identical pair the identical way, scratched up the lenses on my night glasses, bought a replacement pair, and now those were broken too. Buggers! I really liked the way those glasses fit, but if they can’t stand up to being propped up on my head, forget ’em! Well, I was now on a mission to find a better pair, but after lunch please!

The restaurant had great service and great food. Got to talking a bit with the wait staff. Everyone always wants to know if I rode in myself. And that’s always worth a conversation – mostly from them! I must have been really tired, because I sure took my time eating. Had nowhere to go anyway. Stop and smell the orange chicken! When I finally left the hostess chased me down. I had left my broken glasses on the table and she thought I had left them behind. Told you it had great service, even if it included throwing them out for me.

Spent the next few hours poking around. Did find some cheap glasses at the Harley store. And I also talked with some of the locals who were commenting on the weather forecast. Just the week before, Deadwood got hit with a MAJOR hailstorm. Looked like snow in the streets it was that deep. Broke some glass in one of the casino hotels and flooded it’s basement. Well, I didn’t think lightning would strike twice, but I also didn’t want to get caught out in a hailstorm. So I finished up my tour of town and headed back for the ride back to The Chip. I think it might be a total of 15 miles or so, but it took me well over an hour. I basically had my feet down from Boulder Canyon all the way into The Chip. Was awfully glad to finally drop the jiffy stand and crawl off the beast once I got to my campsite.

I think I mentioned that my boots are NOT made for walking. After my after day in town, my tootsies were achin’! I walked around the campground again, but limped is probably more of an accurate description than walked. Got some drinks, food, and took in the concert(s). And got the boots off as soon as I could. 🙂