Yee Haw – A Rodeo Is Coming To Town

We are going to a neighboring town of Cody called Meeteetse, population 351, to see a parade and Rodeo. Oh this is a cute little town with wooden sidewalks and a homey feel. Fun parade with horses, antique tractors and cars, , unicycles,     the turtle patrol,    and candy being thrown to the kids. Some of the kids had bags to collect all of the candy. That was almost as good as Halloween for them. After the parade we headed down to the local park for a Western BBQ where the Cow Bells (a ladies auxiliary) really put on a spread. Let me tell you, I had the best baked beans ever! Excellent beef BBQ too! At 1:00  the Rodeo started. I was looking forward to a real rodeo, and here in Meeteetse at their 98th Annual Labor Day Rodeo, I knew we were in for a treat.

Before I go on about the Rodeo I have to tell you about a couple we met in the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum a few days ago and we kept running into them. Suzy and Lawrie are here for vacation from Australia. Sometimes  you meet people and immediately feel their warmth and positive energy. I call them “feel good people”. They make you feel good just to be around them. This is Suzy and Lawrie. Having spent time with them made our stay in Cody and Meeteetse  just that much sweeter and I already love this area. We sat with Suzy and Lawrie on the front row of the bleachers and had a great view of the arena and the kids. I had as much fun watching the kids play as I did watching the rodeo. This little guy looked so grown up with his hat, boots, spurs, belt, and watch. He even had his John Wayne walk down. I think he might have been four.           The children were allowed some freedom to roam around, the parents were not far away but not under foot. The boys twirled their lassos, they lassoed a cooler and each other, they danced, they climbed fences,        and helped each other out. We watched children play in the sweetest, purest way today. No crying, fussing, or fighting. Just good fun and wow did they have a good time. This made my heart melt. When it was time to say a prayer and sing the National Anthem before the rodeo began, those kids stopped, stood, the boys took their cowboy hats off and placed them over their hearts. They were not told to do this, they knew to do this. These kids were 4 to 8 years old! A beautiful thing to see.

Now for the Rodeo. There was roping,   bronco riding, bare back riding, barrel racing, wild horse racing, and bull riding. This bull did not want to be there and he was getting out. There were all ages from juniors to seniors. This youngster was really little, about 4 or 5 years old, on a big horse. Mom needed to come out and give a little helping hand,  but Hey, whatever it takes to get the job done and build the kids confidence and skills. The wild horse racing – Holy Smokes – I have never seen anything like this before. They let several wild horses go in the arena. The team needed to catch the horse, saddle it up, and ride the horse all in under four minutes. Well that sounded easy enough. OH NOOOOO! These were wild horses and they wanted no part of it. They bucked, kicked, and ran. Several cowboys got hurt on this event, more than on the bull riding event. Really something to see.

What a fantastic day here in Wyoming. Being outside in the cool dry air, warm sun, crystal clear skies, with good people watching one of the West’s most valued traditions. Yes, it was a great day.

A Lazy Day with Buffalo Bill

A low key day was in store for us today. We had a lazy start this morning and when we got moving we went to a coffee shop to get caught up on Email and of course update blog posts. After that we headed to the Buffalo Bill Cody museum for day 2 of this huge and wonderful museum. Today was the gun exhibit. It took up half of the museum. Two floors! There were riffles, pistols, machine guns, big guns, small guns, tini tiny guns, & guns that didn’t look like guns. You name it, they had it. Some of the guns dated back to the 1400s! Some were so ornate they looked like they were a work of art, and I guess they really are. There were many mounts in the exhibit as well and guns were used to get them. LOL Even though Tommy is not a big gun kind of guy, he does love looking at them, seeing how they have evolved through the years and the different type of guns there are. We met an Australian couple, Suzy and Lawrie, she was on the hunt for Clint Eastwood’s “make my day” gun. Funny how an American movie is known all over the world and how some lines stay etched in our minds.

We were going to have a fish fry tonight, with the Halibut we caught in Alaska, and a campfire but when we came out of the museum this evening the wind was blowing and it was 25 degrees colder than when we went in. Plan change – we will have fish tomorrow night after the rodeo.

Shows, Shows, and More Shows

I do love this town Cody. Tommy and I went uptown, walked through the shops. The custom saddle shops with hand tooled leather saddles, belts, and boots were my favorites stores. The buckles with heavily etched sliver, yes sterling sliver,  were to die for. The $7000 pair of boots weren’t shabby either! Hey Cowgirls need to look good!

The Buffalo Bill Historical Museum was next. The museum gives you a 2 day admission because it takes at least 4 days to go through. It’s huge and very well done. The museum is not all about Buffalo Bill. One portion was on nature and animals and then on to the section of Buffalo Bill. I am not sure what other sections are there since we only made it through those two. Buffalo Bill was something else. Just with the gifts he received from nobility he needed a warehouse the size of the museum to keep his things. A very interesting character and, at the time, the most famous person in the world.  The above pic is of the cast of the Wild Bill Show.

After the museum we padded down to the Irma Hotel for dinner and to see a gunfight on the street. These volunteer actors gather 6 nights a week to perform a cute little skit with guns a blazing. The crowd were booing the bad guys and cheering for the good.            The money they collect all goes to charity. What a nice thing to do. I told you I love this town. I have to show you this gorgeous original cherry bar that is in the Irma Hotel. Beautiful!

After dinner and the gunfight we ran across the street for Dan Miller’s Cowboy Music Revue. What a nice show. Dan Miller was funny, Wendy, his back up singer and bass player, well, she should have a record deal with a voice like that. His guitar and mandolin player Tim –whoa- he was good. Dan brought his daughter up to play the fiddle for a few songs. Oh yeah she has a career ahead of her and she’s only just starting the 7th grade.

What a great day here in Cody.

Heading to Cody

Left Billings, MT and are back tracking to Cody,WY. When we left Yellowstone to go to Billings to have our generator fixed, we were bummed we didn’t go to Cody. So, we said what the heck, we have no solid plans, let’s turn around. Our kids don’t think we are ever coming home anyway, so let's go back West. The drive was so cool. We were fantasying about the old Wild Wild West days where the cowboys were roaming the West in search of the bad guys. The bad guys would try, that’s right try, to take the good guys out. We saw the hills and rocks they would hide behind to take cover, waiting for the right time to attack. We saw where they would make camp for the night in the low areas next to a lonely tree near a stream. In the distance, dust flying in the air, Indians! Indians were on the way. Luckily, they were friendly warriors. The Cowboys and the Indians smoked a peace pipe and together they would go forth in search of the bad men who would try to hurt this land of ours. They knew it would be a long hard ride to the East, to Washington, DC. But they knew the just would concur over the unjust. For this is the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, governed for the People by the People, and Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness would forever reign!

Oh Yeah – Cody. We quickly got set up at the Buffalo Bill State Park directly on the Buffalo Bill Reservoir where we are surrounded by mountains.         Oh this place is gorgeous – mountains, water, a town near by, dry air, and open spaces.  This is one of only a few places on this trip that I thought I could live. I felt that immediately up arrival to the area. A few houses nestled in at the base of a mountain overlooking the water.         I could see my house there. A campfire was in order when the sun was setting.   This was a beautiful night. The stars, oh the stars and the Milky Way!  It is so dark here. Not like dark at home where there are street lights burning and lights shinning through windows of homes.  No, dark, real dark. Where the only light is from the moon. The stars shined and twinkled, down to the horizon, filling the sky with light. Truly filling the sky. I never saw as many stars as I did on this clear, cool September night in Wyoming. 

Little Big Horn – Custer’s Last Stand

I thought yesterday would be my last stand, I was so sick. But I am rallying back and going to the Little Big Horn Battlefield where Custer had his last stand.

We walked the National Cemetery and looked at the dates  on the tombstones.        Many buried here were from WW II and some were recipients of the Medal of Honor.                             Rangers gave talks about the Battle of Little Big Horn and we saw the marker where Custer fell to his death. Custer is actually buried back East at West Point. The large marker is the mass grave of his soldiers but the small markers are where they actually fell during the battle.       Nice day and the sky was so pretty.  

We decided to go back to Billings, MT and head to Cody in the am.  We stayed at Cabela’s parking lot and only out here in the West will you see this.        A corral to put your horses in while you shop!

What Hit Me

I don’t know what hit me but a tractor trailer would have been better. Wake up with a headache so bad that you pray you’d just die and get it over with. Then the double “P”s. I’m down and out for the day.