We got up this morning at 6 and were out by 7. The loneliest roads so far were those today as we crossed Wyoming. There was a big valley and as we came to the top of a rolling hill we could see the Rockies for the first time on the horizon. Our first pass--Bighorn National Park--took us to 9,666 feet. We came out of that park into another long, dry, valley. There was some agriculture, but mostly dry grass, cows, and horses. By about 3 we got into Cody, the last (and only) big town we saw in Wyoming before Yellowstone. It is a circus trap for tourists heading into or out of Yellowstone. We tried to grab some bear spray so we could camp in the park, but the store didn't have it. We headed another 60 miles to the east entrance to the park, and they said we could not camp without spray. They sold it at the visitors center, an hour into the park. Between that and the campgrounds filling up rapidly, we decided to turn around and find a little cabin. The first one we went to was booked up, and the woman said that if we wanted to camp we'd have to go back at least 20 miles because all the campgrounds nearby only allow hard-sided RVs because of the grizzly bears. Further from the park they let you camp in tents, but we decided to find a cabin so we didn't have to deal with finding bear spray and worrying about bears.
We ended up at a lodge back toward Cody about 10 miles outside the park. It sits on top of a hill with a steep, deep gravel road leading up to it. Naomi did her best to ride up, but started sliding pretty bad. She kept it upright, but Mike had to come to her rescue. Also there was a snake. A small snake (Naomi is more afraid of these). Mike accidentally ran over the small snake during the rescue mission, though the snake seemed relatively unscathed and bolted into the grass.
The place we found is cute and fairly rustic (no TV, wifi, cell service, or laundry), but it has a shower which we both needed pretty badly (each for the other's sake). It turns out it is a bona fide dude ranch!
The place we found is cute and fairly rustic (no TV, wifi, cell service, or laundry), but it has a shower which we both needed pretty badly (each for the other's sake). It turns out it is a bona fide dude ranch!