Sunday, July 8, 2012

RV Women National Conference

P7060024

We arrived in Gillette, Wyoming last Sunday for the RV Women National Conference. It’s been held at Cam-Plex, on the edge of town. All of the facilities are just a short distance from the RV area where the rigs were set up. We paid for a full hook-up site but there were a few rigs that opted for partial services.

On Monday, Linda and I had signed up for a bus trip to Devil’s Tower. P7020043

We hiked the 1.3 mile path around the base of the tower, which revealed how different each side of the tower is. The tower is popular with climbers and there were quite a few attempting it when we were there. Some do it without any ropes; using only hand holds in the cracks and muscling their way to the top. It looks like it would be really scary !

P7020045 P7020060

P7020047 P7020051

P7020059 P7020058

Some of the trees, overlooking the valley below, had Native American prayer cloths tied in the trees. Summer solstice is a time that is very sacred to Native Americans and they come to Devil’s Tower for various rituals. I didn’t think I’d like seeing Devil’s Tower as much as I did. It’s the first national monument that was ever designated in the U.S. by a President. We left there and drove into Deadwood and were left to wander around for about two hours. The town is pretty much casinos from one end of town to another. It’s a town real close to Sturgis and probably is busy with bikers during the Sturgis rally but not much going on there otherwise.

P7020064

P7020065 P7020066

In the town’s cemetery is Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok but we didn’t have time to take a tour bus up to see their graves. Deadwood was the last stop of the day so once we left there and headed back to Gillette, we got home around 5:00 p.m.

On Tuesday I went to an all day advanced RV maintenance class and Linda went to the Durham Bison ranch. Linda will post more in a day or so about her trip there. We pull out of Gillette tomorrow, headed for Jackson, Wyoming. I still have the rest of the week to tell you about but that will have to wait…..tired and headed off to bed. More later….

1 comment:

imMovable Book Lady said...

You'll be back in one of my old stomping grounds, Jackson. I lived there back in 1972 and haven't been back since. Be interesting to see your pix to note differences. Have fun at the convention.