The Devil made us do it- Coming home

 Heading home from Cody, Wyoming we stopped at Devil's Tower. No Close Encounters Of the Third Kind, but we did camp within sight of it for $6 at the National Park. This photo was taken from outside our trailer just before a thunder storm. DO De do dum do.

This 850 ft volcanic tower is a huge rock climber destination! The first climbers did it in the late 1800's by pounding wooden sticks into cracks in the rock. The third climber was the wife of one of the first two. We saw 8 climbers in various states of ascent and descent and decided that it is a sport for people with a death wish.
 From Devil's Tower we traveled to Mitchell, SD to see the famous Corn Palace. The Corn Palace is a large event center that is redecorated in intricate detail every year using different colored corn cobs. We didn't stay long- it was forgetable and this years design had never been completed ( no money?). We did, however end up in a great restaurant for dinner which saved the day.

The next day we stopped just short of Chicago at an  Illinois state park. The following morning we had a wonderful visit with Michael's mom, sister, and her two really cute children Clara and Cormac.

We continued another 11 hours  to a campground on the Erie canal, where we are spending a day relaxing, and then we head home tomorrow. Another 12 hours. Thank you Janet Evanovich for your delightful, easy to listen to and entertaining books on tape. ( no- we did not take this opportunity to listen to War and Peace.)
 So, this is our last blog for this trip. Stay tuned for a new blog next winter when we are off to Southeast Asia to visit Bonnye and Greg and tour that part of the world. Thanks for joining us on our first, but not last, cross country trip.

Cody, Wyoming- Too busy to blog!!!

 We decided to go for a bike ride and 5 minutes out of town ( just above our campground) we were out in the country and up high . Well, we did actually have to bike up a slightly tortuous hill.  Several pickups with 4 wheelers in the bed told us the locals use the  area for some fun.

 Saturday night we went to the first night of three nights of professional rodeo. Finals are tonight ( the 4th, with big prizes. We happened to sit next to a Mom whose 18 year old son (and bareback bucking horse contender) had just become a member of the professional organization so she had lots of interesting stories to tell. You think Hockey Moms have a crazy life- this kid was traveling 8 hours a day just in Montana and Wyoming to compete. She has two sons, both compete  and by the way, both have Hemophilia. She has a medical background and travels with the younger one. That, our friends is how big the rodeo thing is in Wyoming. He expects to get a college athletic scholarship in bareback riding next year.

 We spent two days at the Buffalo Bill Cody Historic Center. Five amazing museums with five differnt themes. We couldn't begin to absorb it all. One of the museums was a gun museum. Who would think the gun museum would be worth mentioning- especially by the non gun owning Cohens? But WOW!  Look at the intricate mechanical works of the pre-flintlock mechanism above!

This one was a booby trap gun for melon patches. In the 1800's someone built this one. they stretched strings in four directions. Someone who pulled a string caused the gun to turn towards them and then shoot! Seems people have always had a fascination with guns. P.S. Joy liked the Plains Indian Museum and the Western Art Museums  more.

 Cody is filled with bronze statues. This is of a Pony Express Rider outside the Cody Historical Center.

 One afternoon we went to Trail Town which had a collection of historic buildings and graves moved to a site near Cody. Joy is standing in the doorway of the actual cabin Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stayed in at Hole-In-The-Wall.

 We both tried to lasoo the practice steer. We didn't get invited to the rodeo.

 This is the grave of the real mountain man, Jeramiah Johnson--played by Robert Redford in the movie Jerimiah Johnson. The real guy was 6'plus and weighed 260.

 Cody has a big parade every day during "Rodeo Stampede". We skipped the first day ( kids parade) and went to the next two days. It was a 11/2 hour parade each day- very patriotic in tone ( as was the crowd). It  started with the Pledge of Allegiance- EVERYONE removed hats and placed  hand over heart EVERY time a flag went by. Lots of horses, bands, floats. candy for the kids- the whole shebang. Here are a few pics.

 These Mini pack mules are cute!

The full sized ones are used to transport materials for trail maintenance  and even rescue at times.
 Well, tonight are the fireworks and tomorrow we are off to Devil's Tower National Park. Yes, we re-watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind again.