After a morning of sleeping in and catching up on work, we headed into town to experience Deadwood!

In 1876, the Wild West town of Deadwood was born when prospectors came across a gulch full of dead trees and a creek full of gold. Historic Deadwood, SD is just as wild today as it was when legends like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock roamed the streets. We even saw the historic site where Wild Bill was shot! Dan's parents joined us for a delicious lunch at Mustang Sally's. And, Myra got a new headband! 

We took a BEAUTIFUL drive out to Devil's Tower, passing tons of wildlife, including many mule deer, and an entire field of adorable screaming Prairie Dogs! Devil's Tower was the first national monument in the United States, founded by President Theodore Rosevelt in 1906. 

After sunset, we went to an awesome restaurant called Buffalo Jump steakhouse, where we all tried..... ROCKY MOUNTAIN OYSTERS! They were.... fine. But we're glad we tried them! Dinner was wonderful, and we even had some fancy drinks, including a Cadbury cream egg martini.

After dinner, we headed back to Deadwood for a poker and casino adventure. ​Tomorrow, we're at the Homestake Opera House at 7pm and hope that everyone comes out for a great show! 

This morning started out with road closures due to weather, but we found an alternate route, and headed towards South Dakota! The drive through Nebraska was GORGEOUS! We even drove through the world's largest hand planted forest, The Nebraska National Forest with over 90,000 acres of beautiful greenery. It was pretty epic. 

After the monument, we got some huckleberry gummy bears and ghost pepper cheese curds at the gift shop, then we went to an awesome little saloon (the only one open due to the season!) called the Silver Dollar Saloon for some great food served by an awesome new friend named John. It was the perfect end to a long but awesome day. We're happy to be in South Dakota! 

Because we had back-to-back shows, we drove after the show in Colorado to get to the Red Lion Hotel in Wyoming. There was a winter advisory warning and snow coming down inches at a time! But we made it to the Historic Atlas Theatre and met up with their wonderful staff. 

There were so many cancellations due to the snow, that we were concerned for a while we wouldn't have much of an audience! But we did have a small but mighty crowd show up and represent Wyoming, including a young family of musicians who were SO enthusiastic, and new friends who drove several hours to see the show, Vonda and Bob. 

The quilting presentation by the Quilts of Valor tonight was even more special as it was given to Edward Carlson- and presented by his amazing daughter, Cindi who also made the quilt!

The staff at the Atlas Theatre was awesome, and load out went quickly. Our team had A+ attitudes all day, especially after a long couple of weeks with back to back shows. It was an early night at the Red Lion hotel while more snow fell on the ground. 

We had an amazing time in Boulder at our show at the Dairy Arts Center's Gordon Gamm Theatre for our official Colorado stop on the 50 States Tour! For a Monday night, we had so many incredibly special people in the audience! 

So many of Erinn's dad's side of the family was there, Meghan, Shannon, Uncle Rich and all the kids (including Mickey who had his stage debut during the show!), and Randy and all of his family. It was the first time they had seen Letters From Home, so it was a really special time. Erinn's mom, Jan and her husband Billie came to the show as well for the first time since Myrtle Beach and it was wonderful to see them.

But it doesn't stop there! Dan's parents and so many of Dan's family made it to the show, including Jerome and Jessica, Lauren and Scott (who also had a stage debut in the show)! We also got to catch up with so many lifelong friends- including Patricia from NC, Ben from MN, and April from the American Queen. There were also several American Queen passengers at the show, and SO many of Jack's friends who were so supportive and wonderful. 

Myra's brother Del and his wife Carla came (Del left with a little red lipstick on his head)! And the Fabers, who we had the pleasure of seeing in France for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day were also there. 

The Quilt of Valor presentation tonight was one of the most special, as the quilt went to Erinn's brother, Randy who was career Air Force! Also, one of the quilting presenters was Lori, the Executive Director of Quilts of Valor!  

Many thanks to the Dairy Arts Center, and to everyone who made our Monday night in Colorado so special. We love you, Colorado!

Today was a big day. 

The ashes of Pat Dearth were traveling with Letters From Home since we started this tour. Today, Erinn's mom and her husband Billie and Erinn's Brother Randy, his wife Jessica and kids Ethan, Seth and Evelyn joined the tour team at Echo Lake, the place pat wanted his ashes spread. 

Upon arrival, it was so easy to see why dad wanted this as his final resting place. Not only did he have great memories of fishing and hiking at Echo Lake, but the views are just incredible. He always loved the mountains. 

It gave all of us a sense of peace to see dad be placed where he always wanted to go. Dad was a community builder.  A kind, generous loving man who always spoke his mind and was incredibly honest. Everyone thinks they have the best dad in the world, but lucky enough for me and Randy and mom, it just so happened to be true. After he passed away, the amount of people who reached out to me saying what an impact dad had on their lives was outstanding. 

As pretty much everyone reading this knows, Letters From Home was dad's idea. I know he is watching over all of the veterans who come to the show, and watching over our tour team as we endeavor on this crazy adventure. I know he watches Randy and his family every day. I'm sure he is watching over my mom, who he loved with all his heart and Billie who is now such a big part of our lives.  And I'm confident that with Echo Lake being dad's new home, he will be at peace here, but will still visit all of us often as he continues to see his legacy unfold on earth. 

After the ceremony, we took some time at the lake, then walked around, had a snowball fight and went to one of the places dad used to hang all the time in Colorado- the Little Bear Saloon. Billie treated all of us to dinner, and Seth challenged Uncle Dan to a game of pool that was neck and neck. 

It's a tradition at the Little Bear Saloon to sign a dollar bill and staple it to the wall. We all signed one for the tour, and in honor of Pat. If you're ever in Evergreen Colorado and want to see it, stop by the Little Bear for some live music and find our dollar next to the Buffalo Trace poster. 

Drained from a fun day, we all went back to our hotels to rest. Dan and Erinn got to briefly see our great friend Ben for a walk, and then we settled in for a night of rest. Tomorrow's show in Colorado is at the Dairy Arts Center and we can't wait to see all of our Colorado friends there! 

This morning, Dan and Erinn got up before the sun and attempted to get a picture of buffalo with the sunrise for Dan's portfolio and official "Kansas" photo. When we arrived, there were certainly many buffalo waiting to say "hello", but it was a behind a fence experience, and not at all what Dan was hoping for. So we said goodbye to our new buffalo friends, hopped in the car and drove away.

We drove down a ways, and just as Dan was about to give up, the sun started peeking over the horizon and BAM! There it was! A beautiful field with cows, horses and a cute photo bombing donkey. He got a GREAT shot (be sure to check out Dan Beckmann Photography for the main event). 

Then, we got in the car and drove to Colorado! We stopped at IHOP on the way and after driving miles on the "flatter than a pancake" landscape, the mountains of Colorado came into view! 

We checked into our beautiful Mariott hotel, and then went to the Flat Irons to hike around with the team. We had a great thai food dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the evening in beautiful Boulder.