Buffalo Bill and Cody, Wyoming

 Oh, what to do today? Well, Cody, WY, is only 106 miles south, so why not check it out? South on Highways 212, 310, and 120 got us to Cody, and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West Museum. 

On the way south, we were able to look to the west at the Rocky Mountains, and one of the several fires currently burning there.

This extraordinary facility is a complex of five museums and a research library featuring artifacts and art of the American West. Museums include: Buffalo Bill Museum, the Plains Indians Museum, the Whitney Western Art Museum, the Draper Museum of Natural History, and the Cody Firearms Museum. 

We arrived about 11:30 and headed into the natural history section. Exquisite taxidermy skills present in the Eagles, White Owls, and Bison.

The Buffalo Bill museum showcases the spectacular career of this larger than life hero. It's said that at the turn of the 20th century, Buffalo Bill was the most famous person in the world! He was, at times, a rider for the Pony Express, a soldier in the Civil War, a civilian scout for the US Army, gold miner, trapper, stagecoach driver, and consummate showman when he formed Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the United States, and Great Britain and Europe.

We were particularly interested in one member of Buffalo Bills troupe: Annie Oakley. Donna's oral family history relates Annie as a distant cousin, unproved, but pretty cool anyway. Annie was born Phoebe Ann Moses in 1860, and developed skill with firearms while hunting to provide for her family. She was an ardent supporter of shooting sports for women, and offered to train companies of female sharpshooters for service in the Spanish-American War and World War I. Her gloves, traveling trunk, and firearms are on display.

Annie was befriended by Chief Sitting Bull, who was also a member of the show, on loan from military prison. The Chief nicknamed her "Little Sure Shot." In 1901, she was injured when a freight train ran into the Show train, and was forced to settle for a less taxing routine. She passed away in 1926, days after setting new sharpshooting records.

Moving on to the Firearms Museum, we were astounded to learn of over 4,500 firearms collected there. From rifles used in Olympic Biathlon events,

to the Garand M1 presented to General George Patton in 1945,

and custom firearms from "back in the day". I mean, hundreds of years ago!

The collection is overwhelming, and photographs are a dismal substitute for the real thing. But two interesting firearms are the Blunderbuss from the 1700's:

and this four barreled pistol. Looks like all four fire at the same time. Talk about scattershot!

Stopping by the Sharpshooters section, we not only got a photo of The Wild Bunch,

but also Belle Starr, the Sidesaddle Gunslinger.

The Plains Indians Museum showed us details of everyday life in the tribe. From erecting the tepee to caring for the family, women had many duties, but also were adept at making colorful garments, including this "container" for babies.

Decorations for horses was also a sign of personal wealth.

This dress is considered to be Plains Art, due to exquisite beading detail. This was a way to connect to cultural identities after being dislodged from ancestral lands.

This star quilt is made as a reference to an Eagle, using many of the same colors the magnificent bird has.

In the Museum of Western Art, hundreds of paintings were exhibited, but what interested us most was the bronze art. This piece shows a Mountain Man descending a steep slope with his sure-footed horse. This was a favorite subject of the artist, Frederic Remington, and was cast in 1903.

This larger than life size Elk is "Sniffing the Air".

Probably the most well known bronze in the collection is this one by James Earle Fraser, done in 1894, and titled "End of the Trail".

After diving into Wyoming, and then back to Montana,

We returned to Billings Village RV Park, site number 70, and rescued Sasha from prison! She'll miss this nice patch of grass!

We'll be leaving tomorrow, having found dozens of things to do in Billings that will have to wait for another trip. It's on to Butte, Montana, for a couple of days. Keep pedaling, y'all!

Billings, Montana, Pedaling West....

 Interstate 94: Glendive, Terry, Miles City, Forsyth, Big Horn, Custer, and Huntley, until, two hundred eighty six miles later, we pulled into Billings Village RV Park on South Billings Blvd in Billings, Montana. This nice park is a combination mobile home, long term rv, and overnight rv sites all settled into one location. It's about a mile off I90 (yes, I90, because 94 and 90 merged a few miles back and 94 won the fight), and easy to get to. We've been assigned an ends site, so there's a lot of grass for the Princess to play on. 

The trip west was uneventful. When we left Medora, the wind was back to 20 mph sustained, 35 gusts, and we fought that like a sailboat tacking across San Francisco Bay. Out of nowhere, the Montana/North Dakota state line appeared. I should have seen it coming, because there isn't anything out here to obscure it!

It's an indication of driving boredom when the cell phone towers in the distance captivate your interest.

A beautiful rest stop along the Yellowstone River was a great place to have a picnic lunch and take a break from driving.

Twenty five miles east of Billings, we passed Pompey's Pillar. Named by William Clark during his journey with Sacagawea in 1806, it was named in honer of Sacagawea's son, nicknamed Pompey. Clarks inscribed his name on the stone, where it is still the only hard physical evidence found along the route that was followed by the expedition. Today it's a national monument. We only a brief glimpse as we passed by: look to the left of the flagpole, above the trees. It's the black and brown stone.

After setting up in site 70, we hopped in the car (when is enough, enough?) and set out to check out the town. Downtown was ok, but not intriguing, so after some searching, we found Montana State University Billings where an acquaintance once attended college.

High on a hill overlooking Billings, we chanced upon the grave of Yellowstone Kelly.

Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly was born July 27, 1849 in New York state, and died December 17, 1928 in Los Angeles, California. He was one of the last "Mountain Men". Always on the move, and easily bored, Kelly was a soldier, hunter, scout, adventurer and administrator. He served in the Civil War, as part of an 1898 expedition to Alaska, and commanded a company in the Philippine-American War, where he later served in the new civilian government of the Philippines. He was buried, at his request, in Montana, with full military honors. 

His lasting advice was:

"Keep not standing fixed and rooted. Briskly venture, briskly roam."

Good advice, I'm thinking.

As we neared the end of our evening outing, we came across the Yellowstone River near the town of Huntley.

And so it ends. We're here for two nights, so we'll have an opportunity to get into trouble tomorrow!

Dogtown

After our epic 316 mile day trip yesterday, today we opted for a much shorter 56 mile trip into the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The entrance is only about 1/2 mile from the rv park, and once through the entrance to the park, the road is normally a loop road through a varied landscape. Now, however, the loop is not completely open due to road deterioration, so we went as far as we could, turned around, and came back the same way.

This South Unit is perhaps not as spectacular as the North Unit, but has it's own points of interest. At the beginning of the tour road, a vista point looks out across the Little Missouri River to the plateau beyond, and Medora just beyond the trees to the left.

This section of road is known for it's Prairie Dog Towns, and there are many of them! They are everywhere, but coexist nicely with the resident Bison.

Somewhere out there, in the picture below, are a couple of dozen little dog guys standing at attention, on the lookout for danger. The Dogs have both a verbal communication system and a body language system that warns of problems or gives an "all clear." Much like a canine, they can be "read". The mounds of dirt on the ground surface are the result of tunneling efforts below ground that provide "rooms" for sleeping, eating, birthing, and hiding. There are always two entrances/exits, and ofttimes more.

Wild horses also populate the park, alongside bison.

And, again, more dogs.

Finally we were able to catch a sentinel standing by his burrow.

Bison are plentiful in the park and it's almost a challenge to drive since the "tourists" want to stop and get a picture. We joined them for this pic of Mr. Bison taking a leisurely stroll along the highway.

Coal seams streak throughout the park, remnants of ancient plant life and huge pressures over millions of years. This coal seam fire has been burning for some time, and will continue to smolder underground for the foreseeable future.

At the request of our adoring public, we resorted to a selfie at a convenient over look.

Moving right along, we noted some sandstone formations that show the effects of wind and rain erosion. Much better picture!

Wild horses were resting in the midday heat.

At the end of the road,

Donna spotted this tiny cactus bursting with color!

True to it's surroundings, it was conveniently placed beside a fine example of bison poop.

We stopped for lunch at a shady picnic area. The temp was about 85 F, so the shade was a blessing on a rare day without wind.

The eroding sandstone has left some "mushrooms" where harder upper layers shield softer lower layers. It's fascinating to speculate what caused the different colored layers and the different thicknesses of the layers.

And, as we prepared to leave the park, this lonely bit of rock caught our eye. It looks a lot like an ancient ziggurat, and evidently is home for at least one bison.

The sunlight was just right as we approached the exit, to notice this rock formation.

Donna sees a turtle. I see a lioness. What do you see?

Tomorrow it's off on one of the longest driving days of this trip, into Billings, Montana. As I write this at about 4 pm local, the sun is about to move to the back of the motorhome, so I can clean the windshield. It hasn't been washed since we left home, some 4500 miles ago. It's time! Of course, the car hasn't been washed either, so they are a matched set!