September 26, 2013.. It's time to catch up...We did not have Internet/phone service when this entry should have been posted. Wednesday, we spent several hours visiting Deadwood, SD. In the old days, Deadwood was a "rip-snortin" wild west town and is mentioned in some of author, Louis L'Amour's, western books. When we were there in 1989, Deadwood was truly a small western town as we had imagined. But...today it has completely changed. They legalized gambling in the early 90's, and that brought casinos, new hotels and lots of people to the area. The legendary Wild Bill Hickok was killed in Deadwood's Saloon No. 10 by Jack McCall with a shot in the back of his head as Hickok was playing poker. He was holding a poker hand made up of black aces and eights which is known today as "dead man's hand". He is buried on a ridge overlooking Deadwood in Mt. Moriah cemetery as is Calamity Jane. We walked around town observing how things had changed since the last time we were there. Once again, we enjoyed our visit to Deadwood.

September 26, 2013.. Thursday...We spent the night last night in a campground in Badlands National Park.  We did not have any hook ups or telephone/Internet service. It was an enjoyable stay except, during the night, a really strong wind woke us up and we were awake several hours. I think these winds are typical in this particular park. Today, we visited the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site,. This site was a key part of the U. S. defense strategy during the Cold War. The following information is quoted from the brochure we received:

It was established by Congress in 1999 to preserve two 1960s missile sites: Delta-09, a missile silo, and Delta-01, a launch control facility. There are no longer active ICBM silos in South Dakota, but 500 nuclear missiles are still deployed in the upper Great Plains.

Our tour guide was a retired Air Force major who had been stationed at the launch facility.

Tonight, we are staying in Plankinton, SD.

Welcome to Deadwood, South Dakota

Downtown Deadwood-It sure has changed a lot in recent years

This was an active brothel until about 1980

Inside saloon No. 10 where Wild Bill Hickok was assassinated

Photos of Hickok in saloon No. 10

Badlands National Park

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site-Looking down through glass at the Minuteman II Missile. It would have contained a nuclear warhead before being deactivated and could reach Moscow in 30 minutes. There were 450 of these sites nationwide. I am sorry for the reflections in the glass but it was the best I could do.

We have been very blessed none of these missiles have been used on either side.

The launch room was in a capsule about 30 feet underground and suspended so if bombed, the equipment and two people inside could still do a successful launch. Notice how thick the steel door is beside the guy in the white shirt. Be sure to read what the sign says on the door.

The two men in the launch room are strapped in seats with a seat belt at the launch control panel. The seats are attached to the floor so if violently shaken by getting hit, the launch person can still function. 

It takes both people to launch a missile. There are lots of safeguards to prevent an unintentional launch. Each launch center could launch quite a few missiles at different locations. The launch room was not at the actual missile site but several miles away. The missiles could also be launched from high flying planes if the launch room was destroyed. 

Each of the Minute-Man II missiles carried a warhead explosive equivalent of 1.2 million tons of dynamite. These sites have been taken out of service but there are still 500 more modern missiles still deployed in the upper Great Plains.