The last time I was at 11,000 feet, I was on a plane . . .

We picked up Al and Adrienne about 9 am and then headed down the street to Peter’s Coffee for traveling food, coffee and muffins.

Hitting the road again, our trip took us back up into Montana on SR72 to Belfry (Yes, they have two belfries in town and the football team is called ‘The Bats’) about 50 miles north of Cody.

This was the route we came into Cody on a week or so ago, but luckily today we didn’t have to go far enough north to hit the 11 miles of one lane, gravel road construction we had to go through then.

At Belfry we took a left onto SR308 heading to Red Lodge, MT about 12 miles away. On the way we passed through the small town of Bearcreek, home of the worst coal mine disaster in Montana history.

On February 27, 1943, seventy-seven miners went down into the Smith Coal Mine. After an explosion later that morning, only three came out alive. And beside ending these seventy-four lives, the explosion also ended the local coal mining industry in Bearcreek.

Getting into Red Lodge, we took a bathroom break at the Visitors Center, and then did some shopping along the nice Main St. area.

On one corner was this old bank that’s now a ladies boutique. Waiting for Jan I took a moment to read the plaque on the wall in front.

And, lo and behold, this was a famous bank. On September 18, 1897, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and others of the Wild Bunch attempted “to make an unauthorized withdrawal from the Carbon County Bank.” The “withdrawal” went bad, and after an 80 mile chase, they were captured  and returned to Deadwood, SD, where they later escaped again.

Leaving town and heading south on the Beartooth Highway we came across this store selling furniture and art made from juniper trees,

including this neat elk, and even a moose.

Really very nice work.

It didn’t take long for us start encountering the fantastic scenery and multiple switchbacks that the Beartooth is famous for.

This map picture shows just one of many switchback sections that takes you from about 5000 feet to just over 11,000 feet.

WOW!

The higher we got the more snow we saw. And looking at one of the snow fields I thought I saw movement, so zooming in with my camera I saw

this herd of Big Horn Sheep crossing the snow. This was above 9000 feet.

And we just kept getting higher and higher.

When we would think we couldn’t go any higher, we’d look up and see more switchbacks above us.

At one of the pullouts where we stopped to take in the view, we did see this marmot sunning himself on a rock.

Although they kind of look like a beaver or a big guinea pig, they’re actually a type of large ground squirrel.

Cute, though I hear they can be mean.

The views just kept getting better and better.

Finally we reached the namesake of the Beartooth Highway, the beartooth.

See it, it’s right at the tip of the red arrow.

Maybe this closeup will help.

We came across a lot of pretty flowers along the way, some of which only grow at high altitudes,

like this Sky Pilot Flower, that only grows above 10,000 feet, and also has a slightly ‘skunky’ smell.

Reaching our 11,000 foot peak, we started back down, with of course, more switchbacks and hairpin turns.

After our 50 mile journey on the Beartooth, we reached SR296 and took a left onto the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway.

This 45 mile section had its own set of switchbacks, although we didn’t get near as high as on the Beartooth.

Finally we merged back into SR120, about 17 miles north of Cody, and headed home, getting back about 4:30.

After dropping Al and Adrienne off at their rig, we all met back at Proud Cut Saloon and Steakhouse for dinner about 5:30.

The steaks were delicious, but more important Jan and I had our first chance to try Rocky Mountain Oysters when Al ordered them as an appetizer. If you don’t know what they are, don’t ask.

First off, they were good, nothing like real fried oysters, which Jan and I love (raw oysters, too). More like fried slices of roast beef.

Actually I think they just prove the old adage that pretty much anything battered and deep fried will taste good.

After a great meal, Al and Adrienne came back to the rig to check out Jan’s Amish rug, and then we talked a while.

Finally, after saying our goodbyes and getting in our last hugs, they headed back to their rig. Tomorrow we leave for Billings and we probably won’t see them again until next March at Nick Russell’s Gypsy Rally in Yuma.

After they left, I walked next door to visit with Jack Allen and Nell Dahl, who we had met before at Nick’s rally.

They wanted to say hi, and find out more about using South Dakota as a residency. I had a great time getting to know them better, and talking about our travels. They plan on being at Nick’s Gypsy Journal Rally  in Celina, OH in September so I’m sure we’ll see them then.

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Thought for the Day:

The Tripolitan Wars (The Barbary Pirates) taught our young republic vital lessons, among them: tyrants cannot be appeased, peace cannot be purchased and there is no substitute for victory.

afdsdf

Custer and the Little Bighorn . . .

I’m still going through all the Beartooth Highway photos. I’ll try to have the story of our trip for you tomorrow.

We left Cody, WY about 9:30 this morning heading for Billings, MT about 117 miles away. But our first stop was at a Maverik Gas Station about 2 miles away to fill up on diesel.

With my Maverik discount card it was $3.80 a gallon, but the real problem was how slow the pumps were. And it wasn’t just diesel, it was gasoline too. The clerks said they had called a tech to take a look at the problem.

It actually took 40 minutes to take on 105 gallons. Talk about slow.

Jan had been waiting off to the side in the toad, and once I was finished we headed down the street a couple of blocks to a vacant parking area to hook up, and about 10 minutes later we were on our way.

After our really bad luck with construction on SR 72 in Montana on our way down to Cody, we decided to take a slightly longer way back to Billings.

So we took US-14A northeast to Garland where we got SR 114 to Deaver. Here we got on US-310 which took us all the way to I-90 about 10 miles west of Billings, and then to our RV Park. This time the roads were good, and the trip was uninterrupted by construction zones.

We got parked and hooked up, and then about 1:30 headed about 60 miles southeast to Little Bighorn National Monument, site of Custer’s Last Stand.

We had spend a good bit of time here in October 2008 on our way back from Alaska. It looked like this and it was in the low 30’s.

Today it looked like this, and the thermometer at the Visitors Center said it was 100 degrees in the shade.

Big difference!

The real reason we came down today was to get our National Park Passports stamped for here. But we couldn’t leave without walking to the top of the hill where the monument stands.

 

The remains of about 220 soldiers are buried around the base of this pylon. The bodies of the officers, including General Custer, were removed in 1877, about a year after the battle, and reburied at various military cemeteries around the country. Custer is buried at West Point.

It’s hard to ignore the eerie feeling you get walking this battlefield. Even today when it was so hot, you could feel a cold shiver run through you as you walked around.

Leaving Little Bighorn, we got back to Billings about 4 pm, stopping off at Sam’s Club, before getting home about 4:30

Then we left about 45 minutes later to meet our friend Linda, and her friend Sandy, at Guadalajara Restaurant. The food was delicious, and since Linda and Sandy work at a hospital, and Jan used to, much of the conversation stayed over my head.

After dinner and saying goodbye to Sandy, Linda came over to the rig to ask my opinion of some software she was looking at, and then stayed awhile to talk.

We always enjoy seeing Linda, and hopefully it was won’t be too long until we’re through Billings again.

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Thought for the Day:

The nice thing about being dumb, is that everything is helpful.

sfdg

Check Back Tomorrow . . .

We did the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joesph Highway this morning along with our friends, Al and Adrienne.

I got over 200 photos of some great scenery, but don’t have time tonight to go through them since we’re leaving early tomorrow for Billings.

So I’ll have a full blog post tomorrow.

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Thought for the Day:

If you pet a tiny goose, you will feel a little down.

zdsfga

Hair Cuts and Bear Spray . . .

After coffee about 9:30 and a lunch of leftover BBQ and Nachos around 12, we goofed off until about 2 pm when we headed out for the afternoon.

Our first stop was the Cody Mural, a panoramic painting covering a dome 18 feet high and 36 feet in diameter. The mural depicts the Mormon pioneers settling the West, and especially the Big Horn Basin here in Wyoming.

It was interesting to discover that states and territories encouraged Mormon settlers to come to their areas because they were hard-working and industrious. Buffalo Bill even tried to get them to come to Cody, but they ultimately ended up further to the northeast in the Lovell, WY area.

Mural Slideshow

Leaving the Mural, we drove by the local Walgreen’s and I got this shot of their sign.

If Walgreen’s is selling Bear Spray, maybe bears are a bigger problem then I thought.

Right down the street we came across this very unusual RV parked in a liquor store parking lot.

I might have to be drunk to drive this too. Note the chimney for a wood stove.

I like the AC unit right above the steer horns.

And the back porch is a nice touch, too.

I’d been thinking about getting my hair cut (no snide remarks, please) and saw the Cowboy Cuts Barber Shop and decided to give it a try.

The owner/barber, Coral, was really good, but she was not too complementary of my old haircut. The first thing she said was, “Where’d you get this cut, Wal-Mart”?  I had to sheepishly say “Yes, a while back in Las Vegas”

She said, “Well, I hope you did better at the slots than you did with this haircut.”  Ouch!

She then proceeded to give me a layered cut, and also trimmed my beard. When she finished and I ask, “How much?” She said, “Eight dollars” “Why so cheap”, I ask. She just smiled and said, “You didn’t give me a lot to do.”

Ouch, again. But I did give her a $5 tip.

Our next stop was Wal-Mart for a few things before we met our friends Al and Adrienne at Bubba’s BBQ. And if you’re counting, that does make it 6 meals in a row at a Bubba’s.

After another great meal of BBQ, Al and Adrienne headed home, while Jan drove down the road a ways to Tecumseh’s Trading Post to check out their 7000 square foot Western diorama.

Highly detailed it shows many scenes from the settling of the West, Custer’s Last Stand, the coming of the railroads, and more, along with voice narration.

Really nice, very well done, and even better, it was free.

Tomorrow, at the suggestion of several of our blog readers, including our friend, Dave Cross, we’re going to drive the Beartooth Highway up north from here. It’s a loop of about 180 miles and is supposed to be really spectacular.

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Thought for the Day:

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

zdsgf

Five in a Row . . .

We left our very nice Motel 6 room about 9:15 and headed right down the street for breakfast, and yes, once again at Bubba’s BBQ.

And that officially makes it four in a row.

After another great breakfast we were back on the road to Cody about 177 miles away by 10:30.

Unlike the last last few days, our trip today was pretty much wildlife-free, except for one pronghorn antelope and a lone bison. We did check out our moose-sighting sites from yesterday but found nothing.

I don’t know where everyone was going today, but the traffic through both parks was much heavier than our other trips through here over the last week.

Except for a couple of rest area stops, we drove straight through to Cody. arriving home about 2:30 pm.

But coming into Cody, we saw something we hadn’t noticed before.

There’s a Bubba’s BBQ here in Cody. We instantly made the decision to have dinner here tonight.

Getting back to the RV park, Jan was happy to find the cats and the rig doing OK. After getting the truck unloaded and things put away, a nap was in order.

About 5:30 we headed out to Bubba’s BBQ to make it Five in a Row. Yes, when we find something good, we just run it into the ground.

Leaving the park I saw this Royal Classic Class C RV with a rear slide, something I’d never seen before. Don’t know what year this one is, but Google tells me that models as early as 1993 had them.

Neat!

The Bubba’s here in Cody was almost, but not quite identical, to the one in Jackson. The biggest difference is that they don’t have breakfast at this one. Our waitress said they dropped it a couple of years ago because they weren’t making money on it.

Apparently, although they use mostly the same recipes, they have two different owners, but are not a franchise, either. I did think the BBQ Beans are better here in Cody, and they have bigger iced tea glasses, too.

Coming home, we took a detour to check out a Maverik gas station where we can fuel up the rig on our way out of town on Sunday. If I can I always like to plot out how to get in and out of the station, and where we can hook up when we’re done.

And of course, as usually happens, when I’m about ready to buy diesel, the price starts going up.

Tomorrow we’ve got some errands, and then dinner with Al and Adrienne. And supposedly there is a balloon festival here this weekend, but other places says it’s next weekend.

We’ll see.

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Thought for the Day:

“The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program.” – Ronald Reagan

afdsfds

Three in One Day . . .

This morning, our last full day here in Jackson, started at Bubba’s BBQ for breakfast. When Jan saw Blueberry Pancakes on the menu last night, it was a given that we’d be here again.

Then we headed about 25 miles north to Moose Junction. First we wanted to get our National Park Passports stamped at the Park Visitors Center and we also asked a Ranger about the best places to find more moose.

He told us that there had been one by the bridge we just crossed up the road, and also along Moose-Wilson Rd. So it looks like our idea of driving the Teton Park Road and the Moose-Wilson Road might work out.

We first turned north on the Teton Park Rd. that runs for 20 miles before it connects back with US-89 right before Moran Junction. We had some great views along the way, including these shots along Jenny Lake,

 

and this photo at our closest point to Grand Teton.

Along here we also did the 4 mile Jenny Lake Rd. loop, another good spot for wildlife, as evidenced by this sign. Since we’ve seen all three, I guess we’ve really been lucky.

Reaching the main highway we decided to drive the 4 miles back to Pilgrim Creek where we saw the moose yesterday. And we hit the jackpot again.

What were probably the same two moose were back, and much more visible than yesterday.

One of them was down in the water along the bank, munching on all the green goodies. Moose like willows and aspens, and both were in abundance here.

Because he wasn’t in the trees like yesterday we got some great shots.

Here you can see the 2nd moose further up in the trees.

 

After a few minutes, the moose moved on to where we couldn’t really see them anymore. Jan had noticed some people only about 30 feet from the moose and said “Those people are much too close.” And then she said “I bet they’re getting some great pictures. I want to go over there.”

But luckily, the Ranger showed up a few minutes later and started yelling at people to get away.

We did move further along the creek where we could see the moose again. And in another episode of “Where’s Bullwinkle?”, this is what my camera showed at 1X.

And this is at 72X. Quite a difference.

 

After the moose finally disappeared into the brush, we headed back down US-89 and turned into Moose Junction again to this time take the Moose-Wilson Rd south back down to Jackson.

And as we came to the bridge the Ranger had mentioned before, we encountered a moose-jam.

He was back!

 

And this time only about 50 yards away, so we got some great photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally dragging Jan away from the moose, we drove back into Jackson and out the other side to Snow King Mountain Resort so we could take the Scenic Chairlift.

In the winter it’s a ski-lift to the top of Snow King Mountain so you can take one of the several runs down the mountain, but in the summer it’s just a great sight-seeing trip.

It’s a 1500 foot climb to the 7800 foot top, and so steep you would be hard-pressed to walk straight up. However there are an number of zigzag trails leading to the top for hikers and horseback rides from the nearby stables.

And the route up is lined with snow-making machines just waiting for the temperature to fall.

Looking down at the ground under our feet, we saw a lot of shoes. Apparently losing them is almost a given.

For most of the trip we were about 50 to 70 feet off the ground. What’s kind of funny is that Jan has a fear of heights. It is very difficult for her to stand at a railing and look down. She had problems at both Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.

But she has absolutely no problem dangling from a ski-lift chair. Go figure!

Getting to the top we had great views of the mountains and out across the Park.

Well worth the trip up.

And the trip down was even better, with great views of Jackson and the Elk Refuge beyond. I was hoping to see one of the elk herds from up here, but no luck.

 

And we even have a memento of our trip to the top. Someone needs to show them something about color correction on their photos. Mine look better.

Leaving Snow King, we drove back into town to get gas for the trip home. One thing I’ve noticed here in Wyoming that I haven’t seen anywhere else is that the gas grades are different.

The price for unleaded was only $3.48, but instead of 87, 89, and 91 octane like everywhere else, the gas here in Wyoming all seems to be 85, 87, and 89 octane.

Anyone know why? My truck really doesn’t like 85 octane, especially at these high altitudes.

Next Jan wanted to shop one of the gift shops on the main street.

And which one did she pick?  Well, the Moose on the Loose, of course.

Jan found a moose tee-shirt she really liked, but when she went to pay for it, something strange happen. Both our Wells Fargo and Chase VISA debit cards were declined.  So I paid with cash.

I knew both accounts had plenty of money, and I had just used the Chase card to get gas a few minutes before, so after we left the store, I called Chase.

I got a nice young lady from India, not named Peggy luckily, who was very helpful. She said they log every transaction, even if they’re declined, and she showed the last one was the gas I had purchased. She didn’t show anything even coming thru, much less declined after that.

She said the store was probably having trouble with their merchant account, which would explain why both cards were declined.

Leaving the Loose Moose, we drove back to Bubba’s for supper.

Yeah, we ate there last night, and this morning, so let’s make it three in a row.

And here’s a little secret. We’ll probably eat breakfast there tomorrow on our way out of town. So there.

This is the sign of a good BBQ place, cords of oak wood stacked up next to the separate building housing their smoker.

And when I peeked in the door, they were unloading the beef briskets and taking them into the restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And you wonder why we keep eating here.

After dinner we stopped off at a nearby Maverik for Nick Russell Memorial Cappuccinos before heading back to the room for the night.

Tomorrow we’ll probably leave here about 9 am for the 177 mile trip back to Cody.

And if Jan has her way, we’ll probably be making a quick stop at Pilgrim Creek for another moose sighting.

Hopefully this will get it out of her system for a while.

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Thought for the Day:

Everyone spreads a little joy. Some when they come, others when they go away.

kjhkjh

What do you see in this picture ?

We headed out on our overnight trip this morning, leaving a little after 8 am. Our first stop was Peter’s Coffee in downtown Cody for coffee and a breakfast roll, then a quick stop on the way out of town for gas.

Very quickly we were back in the same beautiful vistas we saw last Friday when we did Yellowstone with our friends Al and Adrienne. But it’s hard to get too much of these views.

 

Although we were heading for Jackson, WY and Grand Teton National Park, we decided to backtrack up past Old Faithful to see the Paint Pots and some of the other geysers.

As we came back by the same place we saw the grizzly last week we slowed down to check things out. Unfortunately, no grizzly, but right down the road we did see this female elk out in the brush.

Our first stop in Yellowstone was the Fountain Paint Pot area. There is a boardwalk that makes a 1/2 loop out and back so it’s an easy walk.

It’s really hard to describe the Paint Pots. Some of it looks like the surface of the moon.

Some of it looks like the bowels of Hades.

Some of it is very beautiful.

 

And some of it looks like all three.

 

 

But however you want to describe it, it’s not to be missed.

Our next stop was right down the road at the Midway Geyser Basin. A bridge from the parking lot takes you across the Firehole River ( apt name, don’t you think.) and out into the Basin.

The runoff from the geysers flows into the river and keeps it warm. In fact warm enough to be comfortable for swimming when there’s snow on the ground in the dead of winter.

I’ll let the rest of the photos tell the story.

 

 

By this time it was about 1 pm and we were getting hungry. So heading back to Old Faithful Village we decided to have lunch at the Old Faithful Inn where we ate last Friday. We didn’t have the buffet this time, but we definitely wanted some more of the bison chili. In fact we split a BLT (Well, Jan had a BT because she doesn’t like lettuce on sandwiches. Salads yes, sandwiches, no.) so we would have room for the chili.

Leaving Old Faithful and heading south once again we came across another female elk. So we’re two for two on elk today.

Down the road a ways we stopped to check out Lewis Falls, a very pretty sight.

 

As we finally got into Grand Teton National Park we started paralleling Jackson Lake that runs for about 20 miles along the roadway.

What do you see in the middle of this picture?  I’ll bet you don’t see two large bull moose.

But they’re there.

Jan’s Holy Grail!

What she’s been looking for since we hit the road for this year this past February.

What we made a special trip down to Grand Teton National Park for when she heard there might be some down here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were able to get as close as about 50 feet since they were in heavy brush. There was a Ranger there keeping everyone from getting too close. Otherwise SOME people would have been trying to pet them.

 

We watched them for about 20 minutes before they disappeared deeper into the brush and we lost sight of them.

Jan said this made the whole trip worthwhile.

Hey, if she’s happy, I’m happy.

Getting closer to Jackson we came across this group of bison who had knocked down the fence and were almost out into the highway.

There was a Ranger there too, keeping people back.

Man, these Rangers are real party-poopers.

Arriving in Jackson a little after 6 pm and getting safely ensconced in our Motel 6 room, (very nice, by the way) we heading out to get some dinner.

We had noticed a place called Bubba’a BBQ on the way in and decided to give a try.

It was easy to see why we had to wait 20 minutes for a table. Boy, was it good.

So good, in fact, we’re going back for breakfast.

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Thought for the Day:

Actually, I was pretty thoughtless today. So there.

 

awe

Buffalo Bill and Granny . . .

Today was another ‘play tourist’ day, so after coffee at the rig and a quick stop at McD’s for a breakfast sandwich we headed over to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

Today would be a ‘twofer’ with a 1 hour trolley ride around Cody, and then coming back to the Center to go through the five museums inside.

The trolley ride was fun and interesting, with a lot of good information from both Chuck, the driver, and Greg, the narrator.

It was interesting to discover that Cody (the town) was designed from scratch by Buffalo Bill to be a ‘tourist’ town. It was laid with very wide streets like the ones Buffalo Bill had admired when he toured Europe with his Wild West Show.

Also interesting was the story of his death and burial in 1917. He died in Denver, CO while visiting his wife Louisa. Cody hated Denver and its leaders with a passion, because they had once foreclosed on him due to a debt he owed.

His 1906 will stated he wanted to buried on top of Cedar Mountain just outside his beloved Cody. However when he died in Denver, the town supposedly paid his wife $10,000 to bury him there.

To the public they said that Cody on his deathbed had said he had changed his mind and wanted to be buried in Denver. The folks in Cody said “Yeah, right” and started hatching plans to steal his body back.

Hearing about this, the Denver leaders stationed the National Guard and a WWI tank at the grave. They kept this up for four years before finally sealing off the gravesite with 20 tons of concrete. You would think this was the end of the story, but it wasn’t.

Buffalo Bill died in January 1917 but wasn’t buried until June when the ground thawed out. Now as the story goes, a vagrant died in Cody who somewhat resembled Buffalo Bill, so the town mortician and several townsfolk got together and did some creative makeup on the vagrant’s body so he looked even more like Cody. They then put the body in a automobile, drove down to Denver, snuck into the funeral home where Cody’s body was being stored, swapped corpses, and hightailed it back to Cody.

They then buried his body on top of Cedar Mountain like he wanted, in a unmarked grave so Denver could not steal him back.

Now all this might seem kind of fanciful, but there was a break-in at the funeral home recorded in a police report, and apparently no one thought to look closely at the body, which although it looked like Buffalo Bill, was more than 6 inches shorter than Cody’s slightly over 6 feet.

Now this story didn’t come out until after Denver had concreted over the gravesite, so there was no way to really check.

But the people of Cody, WY say they know for sure.

My favorite part of the Historical Center was the Firearms Museum.

In the main hall they have over 1200 firearms on display, starting from the 1500’s to the present.

They also have rooms by manufacturer, with pretty much ever gun that Remington, Colt, Winchester, Browning, Savage, etc., have ever produced.

They also have a number of unique firearms, like the very first production M1 Carbine from Winchester in 1941. During WWII they made over 800,000 of these.

Another very unique weapon is this Colt 1883 Gatling Gun.

It was acquired by Winchester in 1949 to test the feasibility of adding an electric motor to power it. This electric-powered Gatling Gun was the prototype of the M-61 Gatling Gun still in use on today’s military aircraft.

Except instead of firing 200 rounds per minute of .45-70 caliber ammo, the Vulcan fires 6000 rounds per minute of 20mm ammo (approx. .78 caliber)

I think one of these would be real nice mounted on the roof of our RV. Idiots would think twice about cutting me off.

Another little fact about Gatling guns. Custer had two of them with him at the fort before he took off chasing Indians, but he didn’t take them with him because he thought they’ve slow him down.

I imagine he was rethinking that decision a little while later.

According to the one of the museum displays much of how we see Indians of that era, tipis, warbonnets, warriors on horseback. etc. comes from Cody’s Wild West Show. But these only applied to a very few tribes of the Plains Indian.

I guess this is like supposedly much of the way we visualize Santa Claus today comes from Coca Cola advertisements of the last 100 years or so.

And apparently like many of today’s rock singers, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show did ‘Final Farewell Tours’ for a number of years. An ad in the Stockton Evening Mail of October 8, 1910 states that "Buffalo Bill Positively Bids You Good-By".  But 3 years later the show was still on tour around the country, including another show in Stockton 18 months later.

I’ve got a lot of other pictures but I’ll save some for later on a slow news day.

Leaving the Center about 2:30 we had a light lunch at McD’s before heading back to the rig to pick up Jan’s cat, Emma, and take her to the vet

Lately she’s been losing weight, always hungry, and always thirsty. She’s about 15 years old and we wondered if she had diabetes.

But after blood tests and $200 later, it turns out she had hyperthyroidism which should be treatable by a pill twice a day.

I do want to give a big thumbs up to Lifetime Small Animal Hospital here in Cody, and Dr. Erin Pedersen, our vet. She was great!

Two of our other friends recommended Lifetime and they were right.

After getting back to the rig, and a nice nap, we headed out for dinner about 8 pm, and ended up Granny’s Restaurant. It was very busy, and very good, just good down-home cooking.

Coming home we stopped off at Albertson’s to get a large disposable aluminum roasting pan to use as a secondary cat litter box.

Tomorrow we’re going down to Grand Teton National Park for a couple of days and this will make sure we don’t have any messes to clean up when we get back.

More tomorrow from Jackson, WY.

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Thought for the Day:

“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature,” – Henry James

fgds

Something I never thought I’d hear in a Mexican restaurant !

Got this photo from a postcard. It shows a full shot of Jimbo, the 106 foot Supersaurus at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.

That’s one big dino.

And this is a little paleontologist humor from the staff bulletin board at the Dino Center.

Today was a do-nothing day for us, and after a couple of very busy days, we really needed it.

After coffee at 10 and lunch about 11:30, Jan napped and read, while I spent some time planning our trip to the Tetons later this week.

After a little research I found a Motel 6 in Jackson, WY for a $110.00 A NIGHT!

WOW! They’ve forgotten the whole concept of what the 6 in Motel 6 stands for.

We’ll go down on Tuesday, stay two nights, and then come back on Thursday.

We thought about taking the rig down, but RV sites in the area are $75 – $85 a night plus about $200 in diesel for the 360 mile round trip. So it’s still cheaper to pay $220 for the room plus much less gas for the toad.

About 5:30 we headed out for dinner, and decided to try La Comida, a Mexican restaurant right across the street from Zapata’s, where we ate our first night here.

And compared to Zapata’s it was a mistake. The chips tasted like they came out of a 50 pound bag from Sam’s Club or Costco. And I would swear the salsa came from ‘NEW YORK CITY”.

And when Jan ordered the Deluxe Nachos, I heard something I never thought I’d hear in a Mexican restaurant. She noticed on the menu that the nachos didn’t come with jalapenos, so she the waitress if she could have them add some.

And the waitress said, and I swear I’m not making this up, “I’ll see if we have some”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Well, at least they don’t put black olives on their nachos like some places up north do.

Coming home, we walked over a couple of rows here in the park to meet Sherry and Charley Dilworth. They had heard from Lu and Larry Tillotson that we were here and left a card on our door saying they wanted to meet us.

We spent an hour or so getting to know them and had a great time. They’re planning on being at Nick Russell’s Eastern Gypsy Journal Rally in Celina, OH this coming September, so I’m sure we’ll see them again.

Coming back to the rig we meet our next door neighbors, Beth and her husband. I’m sorry but I didn’t get his name. They’ve only had their camper for about 4 months, so they still learning about the RV life. I gave them copies of the Gypsy Journal which should give them a good start.

Tomorrow we’re taking a trolley tour around Cody, and then we’ll take in the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum.

More tomorrow . . .

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Thought for the Day:

"Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own." – Aesop

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Dinosaurus . . .

After coffee and bagels we headed over to Al and Adrienne’s a little before 10 am to pick them up at their rig. Then it was off for the 85 mile trip south to Thermopolis, WY.

Arriving there, our first stop was lunch at Lil’ Wrangler Family Restaurant. Al and Adrienne had eaten here a while back and said it was really good. And they were right. Hamburgers made with 1/2 pound hand-formed patties of fresh ground beef.

Really good.

After lunch we headed over to the object of our trip, The Wyoming Dinosaur Center, the largest privately-funded dinosaur research center in the world. And the only one to have excavations in progress on their own property.

This is a cast of an ocean bottom containing hundreds of echinoderms, relatives to today’s sea stars and sand dollars. This fossil is about 300 million years old.

This is a pterosaur, one of the earliest flying dinosaurs. Although this one is about the size of crow, other species had wingspans as large as 30 feet.

A Dimetrodon.

Archaeopteryx is considered the first bird, since it had feathers. There are only ten specimens of this dinosaur in the world, and this is the only one in America.

A cousin to the Stegosaurus.

Two meat eaters in combat.

A Protoceratops.

A type of Ankylosaurus.

Triceratops.

Allosaurus, cousin of T’Rex.

A nest of baby duckbills,

And their mama.

Albertaceratops.

An Ichthyosaur, the ‘fish lizard’.

This is Jimbo, so big I couldn’t get him all in one photo. A 106 foot long Supersaurus, he’s one of the largest fossils in existence.

At 2 pm we all loaded in a tour bus and were taken about 5 miles out in the country to an active dig site. In the last 20 years 17 dinosaur skeletons have been excavated from here.

These next two photos show the remains of an Allosaurus that they have been working on for 5 years, and it may take them another 15 years to remove it completely.

In the wintertime, this large excavation pit is completely filled in with dirt to protect the dinosaur bones from freezing and cracking.

Next we were taken over to a large open excavation under the shed. The bones, mostly of plant-eaters, are lying around on the surface.

Because of the jumble of chewed-on bones, they think this was a kill-site where baby meat-eaters were fed.

Outlined in red paint, this is the footprint of a large Allosaurus.

And this is the footprint of a large plant-eating dinosaur. This is the only known location where both dinosaur footprints and fossils are found in the same area.

We really enjoyed our time at the Dinosaur Center, and it’s well-recommended. The displays are all top-notch, and very well done.

Leaving the Center, we drove up into the country behind the Hot Springs State Park just admiring the many unique rock formations, and rich colors.

The many hot springs in the area have been a tourist attraction since the late 1800’s, and are considered the largest mineral hot springs in the world.

Just how mineralized the water is can be shown by these ‘travertine beehives’.

A 8 foot pipe is stuck in the ground over a hot spring. The mineral-laden water flows out the top of the pipe and down the side, leaving the mineral deposits behind on the pipe. It slowly builds up and expands, creating these rock-hard ‘domes’. As the dome grows, more pipe is installed on top as necessary.

After another great day of exploring, we got back to Cody a little before 6, and after dropping off Al and Adrienne at their rig, we came back home, tired but having had a great time.

A little before 7 pm, we walked a few rows over to Lu and Larry Tillotson’s, readers of our blog who discovered we were in the same park and wanted to meet us.

We had a great time getting to know them and talking over some of our experiences in traveling fulltime. They’ve been on the road for 8 years now, still enjoying the RV life. Hopefully we’ll cross paths again soon.

And tomorrow . . . ?

Nothing, I hope. It’s time for a rest-up day.

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Thought for the day:

"The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out." – George Carlin

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