We enjoyed the free pancake breakfast at the camp kitchen before setting off at 8.30am this morning. While we had planned to visit the museums and exhibits in Cody itself, it seemed it housed artefacts from nearby towns we would pass through, so we decided to keep moving forward and see actual locations rather than museums.
Our first stop was unplanned at Shell Falls in Bighorn National Forest, chosen purely because of the breathtaking scenery there. From there we moved on to Buffalo, thinking as it was the centre of a lot of Butch Cassidy action and near the Hole in the Wall (which was also the name of his gang), we would see and hear a lot. Straight to the Visitors Centre we went to make the most of our visit. Pleasantries completed, the lady behind the desk could only suggest the historic Occidental Hotel across the road (“but make sure you only look in rooms that aren’t occupied”) and a park with children’s playground! It appears there is nothing else to do or see in Buffalo!
So to the park we went, and had lunch which allowed the kids some free playtime. I used that time to read a booklet from the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce that was much more informative than Visitor Centre personnel! If I wasn’t sitting in bed writing this while everyone else sleeps, I would retrieve the booklet and tell you some cowboys and Indians history. However, just one example: the owner of the Occidental invited locals to meet one night to choose a name for their town. They all put their submissions in a hat agreed that whatever name was pulled out would win. A young man there from Buffalo New York put that name in, which of course was pulled from the hat. And thus the town of Buffalo Wyoming came to exist. Oh what could have been here…
Being a little disappointed in Buffalo, we moved on hoping to get across the border to South Dakota before day’s end. Another unplanned stop was a point of interest Ross’ Dad had told us about from their last trip here: Devil’s Tower. An amazing column of rocks and boulders reaching up into the sky, and looking out over such green pastures and ranches. Another example of such amazing scenery this week. We saw a storm in the distance as we climbed to the base of Devil’s Tower, so sat to watch the lightning strikes over the distant valleys. Awesome.
Of course, that storm met us as we drove away from there, and we were caught in our first bad weather of the trip. Ross was keen to see Deadwood after seeing some of the series on Foxtel and knowing some of the history surrounding the gold rush period. I convinced him to drive through Sundance on the way there – he thought because of my lunchtime reading about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but I was thinking about Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival!! – but Sundance is just a small country town with nothing to see…and no Robert Redford…
A family we had met at the Devil’s Tower had suggested being at Mount Rushmore for the ‘lighting ceremony’, but I rang ahead and found out it was at 7pm which we were not going to make, so we settled at Deadwood instead. The RV park here offers a bus on the hour to take you a mile back down the road into the town, so after dinner we jumped on the 9pm bus and walked the Main Street of Deadwood, an interesting excursion. There are at least twenty-odd casinos in the one street, which is all lit up at night and quite busy. It looked like something out of a movie set, and some characters standing in doorways smoking and dressed up looked like they were from gold rush times themselves. While waiting for the 10pm bus to return us to our RV, I noticed the local elementary school in the same street as all the casinos and hotels. I would love to poll those children about what they want to do when they grow up.
Sidebar about Main Street: a friend gave us before we left a Navman his brother had bought on a visit to the US last year. With its current maps and ease of use, it has been SO so beneficial to our travels. However, it doesn’t like when you just want to program in a town in general, it likes an actual address or point of interest (which we often don’t know until we get there). With all my previous research of the US (well, their television shows…), I started programming in to the Navman not just the town but “Main Street” in each town. And it works!! Hilarious! 😉
PS. To my Dad: yes, don’t worry, the kids’ holiday from schoolwork is over. We have started scheduling some time each day for home schooling, which is an experience! And works just fine when they are not all asking me questions at once 🙂