Cody Wyoming

Cody is a neat little town known for it's Rodeo--one of the largest in the world.  Since we are going to the Calgary Stampede in Canada, we skipped that.  We followed the advice of fellow travelers and spent two days at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West museum which is affiliated with the Smithsonian.  It more than lived up to the hype!  It covers 7 acres and is beautifully done.  Your ticket covers two days and we needed every bit of that.  There were short video presentations, a live talk about Annie Oakley and a presentation about Bald Eagles with Jade the Eagle!  It was all WONDERFUL!  We are going back tomorrow for more!

These are puppets of Cody wildlife!

We attended a TERRIFIC dinner and musical show at the museum.  The buffet dinner was filet mignon and BBQ chicken-- a big step up from camper cooking!  Dan Miller's music show featured a local 24 year old beautiful girl who was a singer/fiddle player/horse trainer.   Another lady who is an award winning broadcaster in Wyoming.completed the trio.   They were so much fun and had us on our feet and singing along.  It was the perfect day!

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Another day at the Buffalo Bill museum!  Such a great place and people were so helpful. Two authentic looking cowboys made us lunch of beans and biscuits at the museum.  Tasted great!

Someone we met there suggested we see the “Heart Mountain World War II Japanese internment camp” memorial.  It was about 14 miles northeast of Cody and well worth the trip.  This was one of 10 internment camps where Japanese (about 70% of them U.S. citizens) were taken.  They were given a weeks’ notice and could only take what they could carry in one suitcase.  This happened about 8 months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  They were well treated but there was barbed wired and guards.  The camps were closed down near the end of the war but few people returned to the west coast.

A word about food!  We always start out with homemade spaghetti sauce, sloppy joe, vegetable soup, roast beef, gourmet cheese, guacamole, fresh fruit etc.—and things  I’ve made ahead and frozen.  Approaching the 10^th day we are fast consuming the good stuff.  I’ve saved a lot of frozen meat to look forward to and just remembered today that Canada won’t let you bring in fresh fruit, eggs, meat, and dog food among other things.  So now we will be eating three meals a day with high quality protein!  We’re hoping to slide in Bailey’s dog food because she has a special diet due to her allergies.  How to make her invisible as we go through the border???

We're on our way to Yellowstone and Bear Tooth highway so probably won't have internet for awhile. 

From hot and humid to the cool mountains - Loveland to Cody, WY

This adventure begins before we left home!  36 hours before departure, Pete discovered we had a huge hole in our fresh water tank.  He thinks he must have hit something on his 60^th Iowa high school reunion trip  and didn’t realize the damage.  This means no running water in the sink or toilet for 3 months unless we can get this fixed.  “Ok Google” came up with Gramps RV repair in Morrow 11 miles away.  Gramps had us fixed up in three hours so we’re ready for the road. 

One last stop at Carrie’s to kiss our little girls good bye and make them promise they will not grow while we are gone!

We thought it was hot in Loveland but across Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, it was worse!  98 degrees and so humid!  Getting out at Rest Stops was like stepping into a sauna!   Our usual travelling overnights are in National Forests or parks which are beautiful but no electricity.  This is fine in the winter but Pete figured we would need some juice to run our air conditioner in order to survive! He booked nice parks along the way and that saved us from frying!

So two and a half days of driving and eating delicious road food—we upgraded to Arby’s, Chick Fil A and KFC—and we are in Colorado Springs! 

The Air Force Academy was our first stop and our favorite!  The grounds are huge and back up to a pine forest against a mountain.  The chapel is iconic and is home to four separate churches within its walls.   Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhism.  I can’t even tell how large the parade grounds were.  Pete says at least two football fields long and wide.  It was fun to watch the new recruits learning to march and do workouts!  It was SO worth seeing!

Chapel Ari Force Academy

Stretching and calisthenics

First year students just beginning

View from Cracker Barrel near Acad

Garden of the Gods was next.  It is an area of beautiful red rock formations that we drove through and stopped to hike a bit.  Visitor center very nice but crowded.

We are spoiled because we always travel off-season and few people around.  It reminded us of Sedona but with beautiful pine trees.

Garden of the Gods

Pike’s Peak is over 14,000 feet and Pete felt that was a little too much for The Bailey Buggy’s transmission so we went to the top with a tour company.  SO glad we did!  Much less stressful and Pete was able to enjoy the view.  It was 45 degrees up there!  You can see for 300 miles at the top but not on our day—cloudy.  I could really feel the lower oxygen and felt a little short of breath. The guide taught us proper breathing technique which really helped. Breath deeply in AND out. Deep expirations empty the lungs which makes room for more oxygenated air. Pete was fine as usual! 

Bigfoot sighting on the way up

Carol's feet are so petite

Colorado Springs from the top

We’re now in a National Forest campground South Meadow.  It is lovely.  Colorado is so dry and there are two forest fires burning right now…. But not within range of us.  The rangers have shut down all campfires and no PROPANE devices  even allowed until further notice.  Microwave to the rescue to cook those camp dogs!  If the microwave conks out, we might have to come home—I’m that dependent on it!

We hiked beautiful trails in Red Rock park which was right up the road from our campsite.  The red rock formations were stunning and the weather perfect.  We are at 8,000 feet so it is so much cooler!

Trail to Red Rocks

   We drove north through Winter Park which is a big ski area in Colorado.  Lots of people there enjoying a music festival.  A large elk was holding up traffic as he walked across the road.  Today is the 4^th of July and we didn’t know how busy the National Forest campgrounds would be, so we pressed on to Denver Creek park to find it deserted except for one other RV.  At $10 a night, it’s perfect!

On to the Wind River area and planned to stop at Boysen State Park in Wyoming.  It is on a lake.  We didn’t have reservations so stopped to talk  to a fellow camper.  When I rolled down the window , a swarm of mosquitos jumped us in the RV.  We turned right around and decided to keep going to Cody.  The drive through the mountains along a river was beautiful but we are still swatting mosquitos!