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Location: Buena Vista, CO

I have not updated this blog as of late, because we have been making long driving legs between stops of the trip. From Chicago, we drove through Wisconsin, Minnesota, and most of South Dakota to make it to our next stop. There is plenty to do in South Dakota, but all the attractions are near Mt. Rushmore which is on the western border of the state. Our first stop in SD was Badlands National Park. The park contains ever changing rock formations that erodes every time after it rains. The neat thing about this park was that there were no off limits inside the park and you were free to roam wherever you pleased. Matthias and I ended up hiking over 6 miles in the heat. Talk about a workout! That night we headed to Deadwood (place where Wild Bill got shot with Aces and eights) to find some poker action. Matthias did not join me at the casino as he has been fighting the cold ever since Myrtle Beach. We have been doing stuff constantly on this trip so he has not had the chance to recover :(. The inn that we stayed at had a small wedding reception that night. When I took the shuttle to the casino Cadillac Jack's, I was in the middle of the after wedding party (remember the reception was very small). The groom, bride, and a few of their friends were heading to the casino for some late night partying. I chatted them up and bought them drinks at the casino to ring in their holy union.

I found myself into the poker room and put myself on the list to a 10-100 spread limit HE game with a min buy-in of $500. I have never played spread limit before, but figured it would not be a tough adjustment. I ended up playing $3/hand blackjack and 2-10 spread limit for a couple hrs. before my seat opened up in the biggest game in town (I'm not joking). As I sat down, I felt a little out of place. It was a bunch of old guys with John Deere caps and a couple guys with cowboy hats on. Then there was me a 5'5'' Asian guy with a black Full Tilt hoody. The game was very passive and the winning strategy in the game was just to value bet your strong hands, because there was not much folding going on. I ran well as usual and took down a $570 profit in only 3 hrs. of play. The funniest part of the game was this one elderly lady. Now, I do not like to stereotype players, but I do notice some group of players play in similar fashions ex.( elderly=passive, women=tight-passive, young kid=aggressive) When I am new to a table, my only info are these stereotypes of these groups from past experience. When we 5-handed, this elderly lady just ran over the table for about an hour. She was raising many pots and taking them down with CBs on the flop. I stayed out her way as I was running cold during this stretch. She then told the table " You four are the weakest group of poker players I ever played against". I had to hold myself from outright laughter as it was too funny for me. I have never seen a woman be so aggressive in a poker game and then to trash talk afterwards was icing on the cake.

The next day Matthias and I were committed to a whole day of sightseeing. We first went to Mt. Rushmore, but both of us were surprised that the monument was not as big as we had imagined.

Mt. Rushmore



We then headed to Custer State Park where wildlife like buffalo, antelope, and donkeys could be seen. The donkeys had no shame as they would approach your car looking for a free hand out. This just reminded of me of the donkeys in the poker world after they go broke. The state park also had these tall rock needles that were pretty cool to see. The next day we took a one hour tour of Deadwood that gave you the history of the town and Wild Bill. The tour guide was hilarious and we learned some really neat stuff about Deadwood. I was disappointed to find out that Calamity Jane really had nothing to do with Wild Bill Hitchcock. She met Wild Bill once, became obsessed with him, and spread rumors that they were lovers after he passed away. What a way to force yourself into history huh?

Main Street in Deadwood



After three exhausting days in South Dakota, we headed to Colorado to see a friend of Matthias who lives in the mountains. During our drive in Wyoming, we drove by a town of Lost Springs that claimed a population of ONE. That is when you know you are in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, Matthias' friend promised of great outdoor activities when we got to Colorado and she apparently lives in a tent so I was interested in checking that out. This is when our trip took a turn for the worst as our 88' Subaru broke down in the mountains. They just don't make cars like they use to :). Luckily, somebody gave us a ride to the nearest town where we got the wagon towed to an auto mechanic. The timing belt is broken and it is going to take a couple days to fix so we are now stuck in Buena Vista. Luckily, this area is a hotbed for whitewater rafting, so that is what we did today. We both had a blast and I will definitely want to do some more rafting in the future. We are really getting pressed for time (2 1/2 weeks to do the entire west coast as well as the southwest) so we are going straight to Seattle after our wagon is repaired. Hopefully no more obstacles come our way as we cannot afford to deal with them right now!