Randazzo's Out West 2011

 6-7  Today we traveled to Crazy Horse Monument.  On our way the jet stream came thru last night and we were hit with 60 to 80 mph winds. Our Awning was coming out and loosened up to a point it started banging against the motorhome. We had to stop and try to fix it with the winds.  A couple of people stopped on the road and helped us out. They are very nice up here.

Crazy Horse Mt. was really nice.  It is a place you have to go thru on your travels out here.  The monument is still being worked on but the face and arm are done.  This place was heartwarming and filled with so much love from the sculptures family that is finishing the monument.  There is a movie which is very moving and a museam that has so many things to see and take pic's of.  It is about the lacota Indian tribe.  I left with the feeling of so much love in this place.

We traveled also to Custer St.Pk. and saw buffalo, burro's ,foghorn, deer and other animals.  I feed the burro's they are in the streets and won't move unless you have food to give them.  It was really a nice place. There were lots of mountains and the ride was quite long along the loop. From there we headed to Deadwood where we are spending the two days seeing the sights.

The winds  here are running around 60-80 miles an hr. too and tomorrow it's good bye to warm weather 50's during the day 40's at night.

6-8 Today we woke up to 40 deg'. weather.  It feels like winter is back. In a few days it will be warm again in the 80's.  We traveled by trolley into Deadwood.  This town was a gambling town in the gold rush days. So this is what is there, all gambling casino's and saloon's.  Very interesting to see every building in town with slots, game machines and cards.  Done up in Western style "of course".  We played some 1cent slots which is very popular here.  Also went to the Morning Star Saloon which is owned by Kevin Costne,r took pic's and also played a big slot there.  We took the tour bus around town which told you the stories of the cowboys and outlaws that lived there .  It also told about the gold rush etc.  Very interesting. We visited the graves of Wild Bill Hitchcok and Calamity Jane.  If you look at the photo's. You will see orbs on A couple  of the pic's.  They must be still around in spirit. Also the grave of Fountner she was a Madame and owned several bordella's the devil faces are the amount she owned (4). We are going to Sturgis and then head to Devils Tower tomorrow.

 6-9  Sturgis is a small town most noted for the August bikers rally. We seen the Full Throttle Saloon outside of Sturgis. Also, we seen the Buffalo Chip another saloon and camping grounds.

We then drove to Devils Tower Wyoming. Amazing place, this is where "Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed".It was a very interesting place. We then traveled to Gillette,Wy. where we spent the night.

6-10 Today we traveled to Cody,Wy. This is the town where Buffalo Bill Cody was from.  We spent the night there.

6-11 We took the Yellowstone scenic byway to Yellowstone.  The area was really very scenic.  We traveled into the Mountains that were high as 10,000 ft.  Yellowstone is unbelievable.  We had snow from a few days ago and even had hail that looked like snow.  The mountains and the scenery was outstanding.  We saw many animals such as Bison, pronghorn deer, Burro's that came right up to you and wouldn't move unless you fed them. I gave them ritz crackers and they came running back for more.  We also saw moose and other animals.  Old Faithfull was amazing it  erupts every hour and what a sight to be seen.  The park has so many geyser's and mud volcano's. It is a wonder to be seen. We spent the night in Jacksonhole, Wy. Noted for the ski resorts and being at the end of the Grand Teton mountains which you go thru after yellowstone.  They are very big Mt.s and are a beauty in their own.

6-12-13  We left Jacksohole,Wy.and traveled to Rock Spring,Wy. it is at the Green River Basin.  This area has Sand Dunes which is a  popular area for dirt bikes and atv's.  The Green River Basin has a red desert and lakes and a beautiful gorge which has many wild life animals, fishing etc.  Tomorrow we go to Laramie, Wy.

6-14 Today we bypassed Laramie. The weather was bad raining and windy and went to Cheyene,Wy.  We stayed here overnight and took some pic's of the railway station and buildings.  This town was the first railway town for people from the east going west. Tomorrow we will be headed to Pioneer Village in Neb.

6-15 Had a day of traveling thru the state of Neb and stayed in Gatherburg before we went on to Pioneer Village the next day.

6-16 We arrived in Nebraska at the Pioneer Village after another day of heavy winds going thru the prairie states.  I feel for the people here. To live constantly with these heavy winds.  Their ancestors went thru a lot to build the west.  Nebraska is the kornhuskers state and in my pic's you will see fields of corn forever. 

We toured the Pioneer Village this place was in the cornfields of Nebraska started by a family and has about everything you can think of from 1830's to 1960's  They start with covered wagons to airplanes and automobiles everything is in runable shape and this place is something to see for people who are collectors and want to see everything from each yr. made and dated from the 1800's up. The ladies have china old clothes up to the 1900's and kitchen and living room furniture set up like the room itself.  It is unbelievable.  Check out the pic's.  There is so much here we could have stayed for two days if we took our time and checked every little thing out.

6-17 We are headed towards St. Louis today and stayed at a casino RV Park in St. Louis. We toured the Amheiser Bush Brewery(Budweiser)  in St. Louis.  This tour a Big complex and it was a few blocks .  This place was so big and the tour was unbelievable.  They toured the plant in each section we went to the Horse Stables which were very High Class and saw the Clyedales .They were beautiful horses. Took pic's and then they took us on a walking tour of the outsides and a shuttle tour.  Then in the end we got to taste all the beers with pretzels. I went for the light bud with lime which was very good tasting. John had the reg. bud.  If you are ever in the area tour this place.  It is a really nice tour they give.

6-18  Today we hit the Casino we stayed at it's RV Park which was a very nice set up.  We had a security shuttle to the casino and took the Metro link to the Arches and the the town of St. Louis.  A very nice town and the area of the Arches is a very nice park.  The arches were very big  and a beautiful touch for the city.  The wait was 2 hrs. so we decided not to go for the Arch tour and go into it.  We visited the resturant row and had a very nice day.

6-19 Today was Father's Day still at St. Louis.  Tomorrow we are going to Nashville.  Nashville is a nice town we have been here several times.  It was our stopover and we stayed for two days.  We are actually at the end of our Vacation.  We are heading for home on the 21st.  What a great time we had a lot of Memories and saw some really beautiful and exciting things.