Wild Rides

Driving across Wyoming involved the expected: cattle, ranch land, small towns, and a great deal of the unexpected.

We pulled out of our South Dakota campsite around 8 a.m. with the goal of grabbing coffee and second breakfast on the road.  Miles and miles and MILES later, still no coffee.  The people of Wyoming seem to be kind, big-hearted folk, but apparently there's a THING about making your own coffee at home, not buying it like some slacker. 

Finally, after 82 MILES, Remy's cafe in Upton Wyoming came to the rescue.  Huge cups of coffee, very friendly waitress.  Oh, and Julia really enjoyed the special pancake.  She buttered it (liberally) and ate the whole thing!

Our drive continued along WY 16 amid considerable traffic--cyclists and pedestrians!  We probably passed 50+ cyclists along the route.  We never found out what event caused all the traffic, so if you know why cyclists stormed Wyoming on July 4, let us know!

It was a good thing we fueled up on a huge meal, because the Bighorn Mountains were coming up.  The research I had done on the Bighorns suggested that the area was beautiful, but didn't even scratch the surface.  Highway 16 parallels the mountains (south to north) for several miles, before turning west and tackling them head-on. The road snakes back and forth, up and up and up.  At the top of the first peak, the view is breathtaking.  The view point here is very large, with plenty of room for eastbound and westbound traffic.  There is also a hang-glider launch pad, and we were lucky enough to watch flyers prep and take off.

The landscape is striking. The eastern slopes are blanketed with wildflowers and forest.  The western slopes lead down to the Western Wyoming high desert.  We crossed through several thousand feet and 35 degrees of temperature within an hour.

Descending into western Wyoming, our next stop was Cody.  Named for Wild Bill Cody, it seemed a fitting roost for the Motorcade for Independence Day. We celebrated by attending the Cody Stampede Rodeo.  Rodeos move very quickly through several events and everyone had a fun time.  Just like I did when I was a kid, Jason cheered primarily for the livestock.

As you can see from the rodeo video, the weather in Cody was rather ominous. Mother Nature provided some nice fireworks, but the scheduled Cody pyrotechnics show was a bit of a bust.  Locals filled the gap with a wide variety of colorful bangs, pops, and zooms.

All in all, Independence Day 2013 was an amazing adventure and a chance to glimpse a side of the USA we often miss.