Road Trip! (Part 2)

Somehow on Sunday, Heather managed to stuff everything we brought plus several impulsive purchases, horses for fellow NW hobbyists, Gala, and two prize models. The car was bursting on the way there and I'd only managed to sell one horse. I have no idea how she did it, but I suspect witchcraft.

See? I told you she's a witch. She even associates with the Devil!

We jumped in the car and my iPod shuffled to "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson. This happened numerous during the trip--clearly a sign that my iPod became self aware before shuffling off its mortal coil and going to the Great-Apple-Store-in-the-Sky.

We decided we couldn't leave Kentucky without a quick detour to Churchill Downs. Outside the museum, Heather and I finally got to lay our eyes on the great Barbaro statue. We noticed something amiss:

"Since when was Barbaro a gelding?"

I walked into the store looking for a Cult of Barbaro™ shot glass and left with a Black Gold poster. We jumped back in the car and aimed toward Deadwood, South Dakota. Heather tolerated two hours of me ranting about Barbaro and making castration jokes until I finally passed out, leaving her to drive in peace.

We arrived in Deadwood sometime after 11pm. We were exhausted and had long since given up my "always unpack the car" road trip rule. Having once had a car broken into the night of a horse show, I'm usually entirely too paranoid to leave valuable models in a car overnight. Then again, my friends will probably tell you I'm entirely too paranoid in general.

Heather was barely able to crawl down the bar in the basement for a beer and I had too little energy to hit on the cute bartender messing with the jukebox (probably a first.) We retired to our room:

Totally worth skipping the Best Western

I'm a giant fan of both Deadwood the TV show and Old West history in general, but I honestly didn't know what to expect. I would never have guessed "Legions of Grandmas taking tours about prostitutes...and bikers." We ate at the Gem and I took the opportunity to try buffalo for the first time.

The town had a Virginia City meets Reno kind of feel. Not as authentic as I'd hoped, but little less cheesy than I actually expected. Just when Heather had had enough of my "I don't gamble" stick-in-the-mud-edness, we drove up to Mount Mariah Cemetary. Heather went with me as far Bill and Calamity's final resting place, but declared me insane when I insisted on walking a mile up hill to the graves of Seth and Martha Bullock. But the view was worth it:

Of course, my geek-tour of the western plains wouldn't be completely without a stop at the Museum of the Rockies! Heather was a good sport through all of this, but suspect she was more looking forward to getting out of the car then the fossils themselves.

Grrr. Arrg.

It's just like a giant killer chicken. Exactly the same.

Fossilized scales. How cool is that? (Not really? Too bad, my blog.)

After Montana, the only thing of note is that Idaho has better rest stops them most restaurants. Most *nice* restaurants.

Since this is a model horse blog and not just a "random rantings of crazy woman" blog, here's an obligatory horse photo. This is my Seattle Slew portrait with his recently refreshed finish. His paint is the same, but for models that travel a lot, I find they occasionally need to be resprayed with a clear finish to maintain an even appearance.