August 29 – September 14, 2024

It would take us two days to drive to our next destination, Spearfish, and we split it almost evenly with an overnight stop in Green River, Wyoming.  Our lodging that night, the best deal we could find in this small town was at the Little Bear Motel for $119 a night.  As Joanna was feeling better and I hadn’t yet begun to feel the effects of Covid, we split the driving which made the long days manageable. 

Joanna is really good at spotting interesting places for us to visit and she found one that first day, a stop at the Golden Spike National Historic Park in Box Elder County, Utah.  The site commemorates the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad where the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad met on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit.  The final joining of the rails spanning the continent was signified by the driving of a ceremonial golden spike.  The spike is now displayed in the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

Although the line was abandoned in 1904 (bypassed by the Lucin Cutoff) and the original rails were removed in 1942 to serve the war effort, the site presently includes 2 miles of rebuilt track from the summit area (where the rail systems were joined) to a train storage building.  The rebuilt track was designed to be an authentic representation of the 1869 rails.

We were fortunate to arrive in time to witness a demonstration that included replicas of two engines, the Central Pacific Railroad #60 known as the Jupiter and Union Pacific No. 119 make a run apiece up and down the tracks that are now in place.  Before and after park rangers gave an informative talk about the trains and the historic nature of the building of the rail lines and the ceremony marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.

We enjoyed our brief time at the park and continued to Green River and the motel, an old school establishment with a fairly spacious room and quirky bathroom layout.  Apparently, they get a lot of seasonal traffic from anglers as pointed out by the sign taped to a mirror about cleaning fish in the room.  By this time though the symptoms (severely sore throat, excessive coughing, and loss of taste) were beginning to hit me, and the worst days were yet to come.  Eating now, and for the next couple of days, would be comprised, compensated by a general lack of appetite, so it kind of balanced out. 

We pushed off the next day and drove to Spearfish, where we checked into Chad’s Place, our Airbnb for the next three nights.  A large and nicely appointed two bedrooms in a triplex, our tab for the three nights came to $414, about what a hotel would have run us, but without the space and features like a kitchen and room to spread out.  Which was good as we did absolutely nothing except go to urgent care to check out my illness, as I was still denying I had Covid, and just hangout.  Which was a shame as we spent four nights there in 2016, camping at the KOA and being tourists while also getting a couple of nice bike rides in https://3jmann.com/2016/09/30/west-coast-tour-2016-black-hills-part-two/).

By now Joanna was testing negative and the major downside of my being ill was that starting on Wednesday, the Cisco’s would be flying into Rapid City with their wives for our annual Cisco Fest.  We’d secured a large Airbnb, Cynthia’s Place, in Blackhawk, a northwestern suburb.  With five bedrooms and multiple living spaces, it would easily accommodate all of us, except now Joanna and I would be hunkered down for four nights at the Best Western Ramkota.

There was a hiccup though in securing our lodging in that I originally secured a room at My Place for Wednesday through Friday at a good rate through Booking.Com, who I use frequently when traveling.  Upon reflection I decided I should change the reservation to also include Saturday night just in case I was still positive, as the Evan and Jan were leaving Saturday afternoon, but JB, Sheila and Doug would depart on Sunday.  I requested the change, but didn’t pay attention to the requirement that the hotel must confirm it. 

So, we drove out to the airport to check in with the rental car company to corroborate that someone other than me could take possession of the car, which was OK, and then waited for Evan and Jan to arrive and pick it up.  From there we grabbed a quick bit to eat at McDonald’s (I couldn’t taste it anyway) and we drove to My Place while the other two went the Airbnb.  Upon arriving at My Place, we were informed that they had no reservation for us, a real downer, but later I realized it was because they had never confirmed the change.  And so, I quickly got on my phone and made the reservation at the Best Western for quite a bit more per night, but it was worth it as we secured a large suite which would make our extended stay much more comfortable. 

Joanna and and I hung out at the Best Western the next day while the Cisco’s toured Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial, both of which we visited in 2016 (https://3jmann.com/2016/09/25/west-coast-tour-2016-black-hills-part-one/).  By Friday I was feeling much better and although still likely positive, the Cisco’s invited us to the Airbnb for lunch, which we ate outdoors and then later re-located to a large downstairs room for more conversation. 

As Evan and Jan would be leaving for home Saturday and the others weren’t as concerned about catching Covid, they invited us to spend the night there, making our need to start the ten-hour drive to Kansas City the next day easier to manage.  So, we checked out of the Best Western and moved in.  To close out our day, we ordered take out from J.R.’s Rhodehouse BBQ Pit which was near the interstate not far from the house.  It was very good BBQ and a perfect way to close out the oddest Cisco Fest of all, but one that still ended on a positive note.  We’ll move on to KC in the next post. 

Links

Little Bear Motel: https://www.littlebearmotel.com/

Golden Spike National Historic Park: https://www.nps.gov/gosp/index.htm

Chad’s Place: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/833203856704571594?source_impression_id=p3_1731611797_P3KbXwd-THrXFWg_

Cynthia’s Place: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/764658414374463818?source_impression_id=p3_1731631009_P32T3t_voM_yx8ku

Best Western Ramkota: https://www.bestwestern.com/en_US/book/hotels-in-rapid-city/best-western-ramkota-hotel/propertyCode.42048.html

My Place: https://www.myplacehotels.com/locations/my-place-hotel-rapid-city-sd

J.R.’s Rhodehouse BBQ Pit: https://jrsbbqpit.com/