2nd July - Deadwood

We woke up early in order to get to the medical centre for a first come, first served appointment. I decided not to brave a shower, as I really couldn’t stand on my right foot. Eric had told me when he’d sprained his ankle his had swelled up heaps and turned purple with bruising.  Mine did no such thing. It was slightly swollen, but nothing purple or even remotely dark on it. So we went to the medical centre and waited just over half an hour (we were super early thanks to Will!), then it was time to go in and find out what had happened to my poor ankle. Will, my shining knight, managed to borrow a wheelchair for me, so it was my first time in a wheelchair! A little awkward for Will to push and for me to position my legs, but I could totally get used to be ferried around like that haha. And thank goodness for disabled toilets haha.

First came a nurse with lots of questions like whether I was up to date with tetanus shots, my occupation, how I hurt my ankle and what exactly were we doing in South Dakota??! Fortunately I had Dr Scott’s amazing international travel booklet, that has all the vaccinations I’ve had recently. I think I got it just before I went to China in ’05 – I had at least half a dozen shots. I remember one session where I had a shot in each arm and then the polio medicine, which tasted gross! Anyway, the nurse was impressed with it, as was Will. Then it was time to get an x-ray – the nurse did mention that my ankle could be broken. Argghh. I hope not. The nurse asked if I’d had an x-ray in South Dakota before and Will and I laughed. Apparently they have a new filing system which means that they can bring up any patient’s record on computer at any of the hospitals in the state. Pretty cool! Beats the paper trail that usually happens when someone is treated medically.

It was a huge x-ray machine hanging from the ceiling and I had to lie on my back and bend my foot left, right and straight up. Didn’t hurt, which was good! A few minutes wait and it was time to see the doctor. He said that I had a grade 1 or 2 sprain which wasn’t too serious, but that I wouldn’t be able to use it for a few weeks. He showed me some stretches I could do in a week or so, which would stop the cord at the back of my leg from shortening, as I would be wearing a boot for at least a week. Then the nurse brought in my sexy boot. It was huge! Black Velcro all the way! She showed me how to put it on, but I was too scared to walk on it, so Will wheeled me out. We paid our bill ($10 more than our insurance excess, so not really worth bothering with the paperwork) and left… I wanted to take the wheelchair too, but Will had to return it L. The doctor didn’t prescribe any painkillers, which was a relief as it meant I shouldn’t expect too much pain. He didn’t prescribe antibiotics either (unlike doctors in Oz!!), but he did say to get some Advil or other ibuprofen if it was hurting.

Then it was time to head to Deadwood! We stopped at Walmart and Will got me some Advil. First American painkillers! Deadwood is pretty close to Spearfish, but by the time we got there it was already pretty hot. There was no free parking anywhere, so Will parked me on a street up from the main street after we’d done a lap and he went down to check out the main street and maybe spot Neil, who we’d be hanging out with for the long weekend. No luck. We did a couple more laps of the main street, but didn’t have to follow the parade like we did the first time. We found a parking spot down at one end of the main street and parked there. It was time for me to try walking in the new boot. It was really hard! I felt so uncoordinated! I bet I looked really funny with one straight leg and my left leg doing all the work! My poor hip. We walked up the main street and then on the way back down decided to stop and have a leisurely lunch. We stopped at Mustang Sally’s, after waiting for a table, and had delicious big burgers with fries. Will had a beer and I had a coke. Ahh. It was nice to be sitting down, in the shade and eating!

We saw a guy with a little cart advertising the trial of Jack McCall, the guy who shot Wild Bill Hickock, but I honestly did not feel like limping down the street with hordes of tourists, so we stayed put. I had had enough trying to dodge them all standing outside tour booths, in the way, when I obviously had an injury. The crowds all rushed down to the trial, while we sat and watched the Deadwood bogans drive up and down the street in sports cars and monster-trucks with loud doof doof music blaring. I do like people watching and there were quite a few interesting people to watch! We finished lunch and headed back down to the car – slowly, for me! The hordes were heading back into town and didn’t really want to share the sidewalk, so Will walked ahead trying to clear a path for me. Didn’t stop one Indian lady from shouldering me. She said sorry, then made the mistake of looking down, seeing my boot and looking really guilty. Sucked in lady, that’s what you get for taking over the ENTIRE footpath with your six thousand children. Grrr. We saw Wild Bill, looking alive and well, joking with Jack McCall as we headed for the car. Obviously a good trial. Obviously it was over. We finally made it to the car and decided to try and find some internet to get in touch with Neil. Our phone hadn’t been working for a while.

We drove up the street, me with the laptop on and open on my lap. Finally we pulled up outside some houses and used the unlocked network we found hehe. As we were just getting sorted, some people stopped and said hello, and it was the British couple we’d been next to at the RV park! Random! They said they didn’t want to pay for parking, so they’d parked way up the street – not really an option of us in my current condition. Finally we made contact with Neil and we decided to head out to his family’s cabin at Cheyenne Crossing.

Fortunately we’d been given awesome detailed instructions on how to find the cabin, so we got there without getting lost! Will went and knocked on the door and Neil’s cousin’s wife answered the door – later she told that she thought Will was trying to sell her something! Until he mentioned Neil’s name! Too funny. We sat outside on the deck and talked to her for a while. Mal called Neil and said that we’d arrived. He and Mal’s husband had gone fly fishing just up the road.

Us with the fish car! 

They came back in the ‘fish car’ – an old white thing that spends its winters buried in snow. It was awesome! We met Mal’s husband, Nicholas, who is Neil’s cousin. We also met Neil’s parents, Jack and Vianne. Everyone was so welcoming, it was lovely! We told and retold the crazy story of how we met Neil and his friend, John, in Munich last year. I will quickly retell it. 

So last year Will and I were in Munich, staying with my friend, Martina. It was raining and horrible and Will and I were walking around not knowing where to go. We’d been to the Hofbrauhaus, a huge beer hall the day before, so we decided we’d head there and escape the rain. We were sitting at one end of a massive long table and Neil and John were at the other. In between us was a group of Asian people (I don’t remember, but Neil does) and then they left. Will and I played the ‘do they speak English’ game, but couldn’t hear as it was too noisy. I went to the bathroom and Will found the courage to ask them and they said yes! They’d been wondering if we were also speaking English! So we drank several more litres of beer with them! Facebook kept us in touch and we had dinner with both of them in San Francisco. Alcohol brought us together J.

Will and I accompanied Nicholas and Neil back to their fly fishing competition. There were lots of fish in a large pond just up the road. Not very big, but perfect for catch and release. They were popping up everywhere! It ended up a pretty close result, with Nicholas taking the lead late in the game and just as it started to rain. Crazy lighting up in the hills!

That evening we had my first American family dinner! Vianne cooked the most amazing dinner consisting of Bratwursts (brats), chicken, home baked ‘biscuits,’ coleslaw, salad and chocolate/orange brownies for dessert!! Jack did the grilling and Vianne encouraged everyone to eat their fill J.  I accidentally showed Nicholas up by identifying the secret ingredient of orange in the brownies – oops! It was delicious and we were so full afterwards!

Main street, Deadwood.

After dinner the boys went fishing, but I stayed at the cabin with the girls, which was nice – finally some girl time! Mal and Nicholas have the most beautiful daughter, so we watched her play while we chatted. At just under two years old, she is going to be a heartbreaker when she grows up! 

After the boys came back from fishing we went back into Deadwood to the apartment where we would be staying and started on our three night bender. We started at the Social Club, which is the bar above Saloon 10. Up until this point, I’d been drinking non-alcoholic beverages in the interest of looking after my ankle’s healing process. However, my lemonade was deliberately spiked by Neil (with grenadine. After I’d drunk it. ‘Oh yeah and a big shot of vodka’ haha, should have known that would happen!). After that I was back on the horse – Jager shots! We also had a ‘delicious’ shot that the bargirl recommended. It was gross. Whisky and butterscotch schnapps is not a good idea. It was basically straight crap whisky! Then it was on to Saloon 10. That place just kept dishing up the drinks…and somehow we ended up with tequila shots and various other drinks. Oops.

After the pub closed (2am) we played poker and drank Jager until 4am at the apartment, which is on the main street. Our poker ‘chips’ were Hershey’s kisses and mini Reese’s peanut butter cups (Reese’s pieces). The chips kept being eaten though! Then it was well and truly bed time.