We made our way into Cody and spent 3 nights while we waited out a bit of rain. What a neat town. Literally. It was very neat and tidy. The town was founded and designed by Buffalo Bill and he wanted the main street to be big enough to run his Wild West show down the main street. Considering that his troupe was about 600 strong, they’d need a pretty wide street! The best part was the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It’s really 5 museums under one roof; the Buffalo Bill museum, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, the Plains Indian museum, the Cody Firearms museum and the Draper Natural History museum. A $15 ticket will get you in for 2 consecutive days. We spent about 3 hours each day and I still only saw the Buffalo Bill, the Art and the Natural History! Les skipped the Art and did the Firearms. The original BB museum was started in 1927 by his niece; 10 years after Cody died. It is amazing how much of his memorabilia they’ve retained. The whole thing is so well done that it was reminiscent of a Smithsonian. Don’t miss this if you’re ever near Cody! http://www.bbhc.org/museums/index.cfmOne evening we stopped in Buffalo Bills’ “Irma Hotel” for a cocktail. While there we meet a fun couple, Tony & Lin, from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England. Famous for Pork Pie, Stilton Cheese and Robin Hood! http://www.melton.co.uk/ I was inspired by their adventuresome spirit! One day Lin told Tony that she’d found a great airfare special to Denver and the next week they were here. Once here, they rented a car and just started driving wherever the spirit took them. They didn’t even make hotel reservations! Not the first time they’ve done this! Can you imagine doing that with a flight to England?
The Irma has a beautiful old bar that was gift to BB from Queen Victoria as a thank-you for him bringing his Wild West show to England. At the time the bar was estimated to be valued at $100,000. It was shipped over by boat and then cross country by rail and then buckboard. It’s amazing that it even survived. The show toured Europe for 4 years.
We’re starting to feel the push of the weather to head south to Colorado, so we beeline south to Casper. We had planned to stay at the Wal-Mart but on arrival we encountered the “No Overnight RV Parking” signs. Bummer. Its late afternoon, but we jump in the truck and drive around to the 2 RV parks on our Woodall’s list. Yuk! The first one was a nasty little gravel park filled with permanent trailers. We drive all the way across town to the second park which is full! After about an hour we’re back to the Super Wal-Mart where Les decides to defy the law and stay anyway. He talks to a couple of Wal-Mart employees who insure him that no one has ever been kicked out, to their knowledge. Another RV joins us and we were rewarded with a lovely sunset…
Today I made my first attempt to drive the coach! We were on this very straight, very lonely stretch of road in southern Wyoming and I brazenly said “hey honey, why don’t you let me drive”. Yikes! What was I thinking?? He quickly pulled over and said “help yourself”! I was able to white knuckle it down the road for 20 miles and thought that it was enough courage for one day. Kudos to Les for all the miles he’s driven.
We made our way into Colorado, through Fort Collins (right through town with our monster coach) and have landed here in Boyd’s Lake State Park and plan to stay here for a few days while we explore the area. We met some fun folks at the campground tonight and they invited us to share their yummy freshly caught fried catfish. They had run out of TP so we gladly provided a roll!
Charles, Sheila, Dale & Terry!
Lethea...You described the Cody museum so well, I felt like I was back there again. It's terrific. You are sure adventuous with the driving, my hat is off to you, but don't tell Vern or I'll end up behind the wheel!
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