We hit the road early this morning for the 350+ mile ride from Deadwood, SD to Cody, Wyoming. Our goal was to see the famous Cody Rodeo, which I had read about in just about every travel book/website. Plus, really, when you're in Wyoming, you kind of have to go to a rodeo.
We stopped at Devil's Tower national landmark, which, for those of you who might not recognize the name, is the incredible rock formation featured in the movie "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind." It was a worthy stop, albeit, short, as we wanted to have time to get to Cody, find a hotel, wash the road dust off, and make the rodeo, which is held at 8PM every single night from June-Aug. It was also a very exciting stop in that it was the first chance that we got us our National Parks pass!
The ride to Cody is very scenic, winding through the mountains. Ours was even a bit more interesting than expected, as we wound up through the Blackhorn Nat'l Forest, up, and up and up a road that YD named the "intestine rd" because of how it looked on Lucille, our GPS. It was so windy that the image on Lucille resembled intestines). The views were beyond description, however, YD, who is extremely acrophobic, couldn't really enjoy the ride, or the view of the amazing landscaping revealing itself just beyond the edge of the road, with only a metal road barrier between her and who knows how many feet down.
The interesting part came as we were cresting the top of the mountain to ride across and begin our descent. At that point there was road construction. Wyoming road construction is not like East Coast construction, we discovered. When they repair a road here, they totally destroy it and start from scratch. So, we find ourselves on the top of a mountain without a paved road. We had joked about off-roading, well, now we were. There was such a lack of evident road in the construction zone that at one point we actually had to be led by a little tractor labeled "pilot car. Follow me." And follow him we did, through dirt and mud, and eventually after 10 miles or so, back to a real road.
We roll into Cody at about 5PM, just enough time to find a room, shower, change into Cowboy gear, and head on out to the rodeo. It starts out very patriotic, that's fine. Then progressed to the prayer and thanks to Jesus. Hmmmm....not many Jews out here I see. Then, the first event was calf roping. This was more than YD, an animal lover, could take. Seeing the tears in her eyes, OM offered to leave, but she said no, she would handle it. Then, the Jr. competition started. 5-year-olds came out riding bucking steer, getting thrown and almost trampled on. This was more than OD, a child lover, could take. Seeing the tears in her eyes, YD offered to leave, but she said no, she would handle it. Then the rodeo clown, who had been telling jokes all night, started with the Obama jokes. Let's just say they are not big fans in Wyoming. We looked at each other, ordered another beer, and toasted to the diversity in this great country of ours.
Tomorrow, onward to Yellowstone!
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