Continuing in Montana and Wyoming

Before I forget again, I want to mention a couple of things that came to mind since I posted the respective locations.


There is camping throughout Yellowstone National Park. I'm pretty sure it is on a first come basis. We did not check this out since we were going only for the day.

The campground we stayed at in Bozeman, MT was Sunrise RV and we really enjoyed our stay there. The folks who own the park are extremely friendly and will bend over backwards to make your stay there a good one.

The major thing I left out while we were in Salem, OR is that we crossed the 45th Parallel which passes through Salem's City Limits. (This is halfway between the North Pole and the Equator... in case you're like me and didn't know).



Now, on with continuing our journey.

We left Bozeman heading on to Garryowen, MT and the 7th Ranch RV Park. What a surprise this has been. It is or was actually a ranch. They have horses (which are plentiful in Montana) and cows, of course. The sites are gravel and one side has to be raised a good bit (we are on a mountain side). We were able to get set up and level and it has turned out to be a delightful place to be, even if we are out and away from anything. Also, I have to mention that we are on the Crow Indian Reservation.

After we got everything set up we headed out to see theBuffalo Bill Museum. It is small but has a lot of artifacts on display. The indians played a very important part in the history of the West so there are also a lot of indian artifacts exhibited. It is small but very interesting.

At Custer Museum. which is also small but very interesting we found out more about the war with the indidans. There is a lot of controversary about Custer's last stand (whether if protocol had been followed by soldiers under him, could Custer have been saved).

We went to the cemetary where early soldiers are buried and it is laid out like Arlington Cemetary in Washington. Around the monument are markers where soldiers were buried where they fell. We understand that Custer remains was dug up and moved to West Point.

We left the coach at 7th Ranch and I took Chris to Cody, WY for Father's Day. We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast which was a wonderful place to stay. The owners, Sondra and Terry, were very friendly and outgoing.

We went by the Visitor's Center (which we do when we go into a new city) to obtain more information about the area. We purchased a combination ticket for a trolley tour and a two day visit to the Musuem (which is actually five musuems in one...even though one is closed at present).

We had time before the trolley tour so we visited the Indian Museum and the Gun Museum. (The largest gun collection in the world). I got tired of looking at guns and Chris said he saw guns that he didn't know existed. Actually, it was a good thing we did this first as it was really raining and this kept us inside and dry. We did take pictures of some of the statues through the windows and some you can see the rain on the windows.

We are so glad we took the trolley tour as we got a lot of facts about Buffalo Bill that otherwise we would not have known. For example, he and his wife did not get along. So when he died there was a disagreement on where he should be buried. Some say he is buried in Cody and others say he is buried in Denver, CO. It was not just about Buffalo Bill but other people of the old west (did you know Annie Oakley was born in Greenvlle, Ohio where our youngest daughter was born).

The trolley took us out through three tunnels (the longest they said was where one high school held their prom.) It certainly was big enough and was well lighted and if you know me, you know that I DO NOT LIKE TUNNELS. We also went by the dam.

The tour took us around the city of Cody where we saw beautiful homes (some very expensive and some in the medium price range). Then back to the museum where we still had time before they closed to go through the Buffalo Bill part of the Museum.

Here again there were a lot of stuffed wild animals, western and indian artifacts, as well as posters and other information about Buffalo Bill and other western personalities. Did you know that Annie Oakley was born in Greenville, Ohio and she and her husband are buried there? I didn't know that but I do know where Greenville is since our youngest daughter was also born there.

The rain had let off so we went to watch the shootout. We chose our seats carefully when we looked at the sky and saw dark clouds heading our way. We made sure we were under the cover of the porch at the famous Irma Hotel . We sat with our refreshments and waited not willing to give up our seats just in case.

Well, we chose wisely. Just as the time for the shootout was to happen, it started raining "cats and dogs" (as the old saying goes). People who had paid for chairs down front close to the happenings rushed to get under the covering. It rained really hard for the next ten to fifteen minutes during which there was a discusion whether the shootout would be called off or not.
It slacked off and things proceeded just a few minutes late.

If you've been to a shootout anywhere, you know the outcome of this one. The only variance was there was a lot of humor in this one.

Afterwards, we went to Zapata's for a Mexican meal which was very good and in line with what we have paid in other places.

Enough about Cody, WY. After a peaceful night at the B&B, we headed back to Garryowen, taking a "scenic route" we had been told about and which we saw on the map. This route took us up across the Bighorn Mountains and also Bald Mountain, where we were up 9,000 to 10,000 feet around curvy roads. At some places going up the mountains, it looked like we would reach the sky. There was snow in a lot of places.

We kept watching for wild animals (which we were told we might see) and we did see some but they were a long way from the highway...so no pictures. The only one we got a good picture of was a moose (maybe "Bullwinkle"). We did see a deer; he was ready to come acoss the road in front of us...don't know if the "deer whistles" stopped him or not but he stopped and went the other way.

We finally arrived home and collapsed. It was a long day and Chris and I were both exhausted; Chris from driving and me from sitting in the passenger's seat where I could look straight down where there were no security fences. It was NOT a gradual down, it dropped down.

Now we're getting ready for the next part of our journey to Medora, ND.