We’re deep in the heart of the mountain west now, with our faithful steed (the RV) tied up in Cody, Wyoming. This town of about 10,000 is remarkable in part because it seems mandatory for restaurants and highway motels to have “Buffalo Bill” in their names.

We started the day driving through Yellowstone NP one more time, mostly because that’s where US 20 goes on its way east. Everything east of Fishing Bridge was new to us. The pass you go over leaving the park is breathtaking (and a little nervous. It includes a downhill run of 6% or so for better than 5 miles. The driver was not amused).

You then get to enjoy the Shoshone River valley, some really interesting rock formations, and then a dam that seems to have been built out of a pre-existing rock wall. All of this was great!

We got checked in at the Cody KOA, then went over to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, having discovered that our tickets would be good for two days. The Center has five museums in a single complex, and we toured two today; the first was a giant collection of firearms, the second a fine museum of the native Americans of the plains. We’ll go back tomorrow to see the other three.

After dinner we took a shuttle bus to see the Cody Night Rodeo. It’s amazing that such a small town can put on a two hour rodeo every night from June 1 to August 31. It had a little of everything, roping, bull riding, barrel racing, pretty much anything you’d expect in a rodeo.

The stay in Cody will be brief; we leave on Friday morning. But we have an exciting day planned for tomorrow…stay tuned.