Saturday, June 11th---Texarkana, TX-Clinton, MS

We leave our very nice park and hit the road early...we really want to get home.   It's been a long time and packing up and moving each day is wearing on both of us.  Leaving Texas we're into Arkansas headed for Clinton, Mississippi.

 We cross the Mississippi at Vicksburg...pretty good size town with lots of traffic and construction

I'm not sure whether we're tired of taking pictures, tired in general or there wasn't anything to take pictures of, but there are no more from this day.  I do know that had we not been towing the behemoth we would have been able to stop and get some really cool pictures.  So many really neat things came up so quickly, you just couldn't get the camera up in time....street signs, people doing crazy stuff, funny billboards, silly restaurant names..... 

best picture I could get of the Mighty River...

officially in Mississippi and on to Clinton we went...

Do you remember how awful the RV park was in Casper, WY?  Well we found one that was worse.  Again, we learned not to believe everything you read on the Internet.  Most reviews mentioned that it was a little tight maneuvering, but they forgot to mention that the sites were all located on blacktop...like a parking lot with electrical and sewer lines every 20'.  Plus there was about a 5 degree grade, which made it real difficult to level the trailer...Dan actually asked to move from the first spot because along with the grade the spot listed to the right.  And there were these big pot holes everywhere from previous rigs putting down stabilizing jacks that settled in the hot tar...it's summer and the temps are in the upper 90's....duh!

We left as soon as we could get ready, not any place we wanted to hang around.  On to DeFuniak Springs, FL and then home...YEAH!!!!

Friday, June 10th, Duncan, OK-Texarkana, TX

Today was our 11th anniversary and it started off really crappy.  We got up at the usual time...5:30 CDT and I started the coffee only to realize that Charlie the cat was not present begging for breakfast.  He knows he doesn't get fed until 8am, but he always tries to get something when ever he can.  A quick search and you know it's quick because there's only, let say, maybe 200sf inside the trailer.  No Charlie.  Dan have you seen Charlie?  He was on the bed last night, I heard him jump down.  Well he's not here now.  So Dan gets out of bed and does the same check I just did.  OK, I'm starting to get a little panicky.  Dan had gone out to check on something with the trailer about 10pm and we're both thinking Charlie slipped past him to explore the outdoors.  So outside we go trying to be quite since quite time in most parks is 10pm-8am and it's only 6am.  It's real hard to call for a cat in a whisper.  Now this park is surrounded by woods and grassy fields with all kinds of critters.  We talk with some of the neighbors and no one has seen him.  Dan puts on jeans and heads to the woods to search further, while I walk around the park looking under all the trucks and RVs, no luck on either front.  Finally, it's 8:00am and we can make more racquet in hopes he'll show himself.  No luck again.

I proceed to get things ready to go, just knowing Charlie will come slinking out from the woods at any time.  Dan is unhooking the wires and tubes that connect us to some semblance of civilization and decides he'll go look one more time since there's a lake that Charlie might have headed toward.  By now I've about used up an entire box of kleenex...damn allergies.  While Dan's gone I'm supposed to think about whether we should go or stay another night.  Yeah right, I'm gonna make that decision....I don't think so.  Off Dan goes for a couple of hours while I go through every cabinet and open every door looking for this crazy black cat.  No luck for either of us...so Dan says lets finish packing and go.  I can tell this is killing him, he really, really likes Charlie cat....after all he is his shadow, follows Dan every where.

Did I tell you what a crappy day this was.  Well, that didn't change.  With heavy hearts we finished stowing stuff and pulled out at Noon.  Yeah, I know it's only a cat, but he's been part of our home for 14 years.  It wasn't so much the fact that he was gone, it was the not knowing what had happened to him.  I didn't want him to be in the woods hunkered down in the brush scared wondering why we didn't rescue him.  Needless to say I bawled like a baby every time I thought about it.

I'm not sure Dan and I said a dozen words for the first couple of hours except that it was a really awful day.  There were a few times throughout the day where we saw something that caused a little levity, but for the most part it was very somber, plus it was odd with just Max.  I think he knew something was wrong, because he was on his best or should I say the best for Max, behavior.  We're driving US 82, which is a fairly decent road as back roads go and 6 hours later we're just outside Texarkana, TX headed for the RV park.  We pull off the road in a church parking lot so Dan can check out the trailer facilities.  By this time it's hot and I've about had all I can take of the day and Max is starting to be obnoxious...I'm in a fairly pissy mood.  There's a tap on my window and when I turn around, OMGosh!!! there's Dan holding Charlie, who's panting like crazy.  Seems he was wedged in behind the bottom panel under the sink in the bathroom.  How?? I said.  I looked there twice and took a shower and how???  Not a sound did I hear while Dan was in the woods looking for him and I was sitting on the couch staring into my coffee cup.  Stupid cat, stupid, stupid cat!!!

Our day suddenly got sooooooo much better and the fact that we were staying in one of the nicest RV parks didn't hurt matters.  Most parks leave their laundry rooms open 24/7, this one closed at 7pm, but there were nice enough to leave it open for me, just said lock up when you're done.  Super, now we'll have clean clothes to wear and will be able to stand each other in the truck for the next few days. 

 Shady Pines RV Park, Texarkana, TX...best RV park we stayed in

 The trailer we wish we had....lol

 Paris...I've always wanted to go to Paris...oh thank you Dan for taking me to Paris for our anniversary, it was so unexpected.  Hey, I thought Clarksville was on the east coast and weren't we there the first part of this trip??

 You were expecting the Eiffel Tower??  Well I got a car wash and Paris' finest at that, so there to all you who spend big bucks to fly across the ocean!

A loving and understanding husband, a great park, clean clothes, 2 cats and Paris....what better way to spend an anniversary!!

 

Stay tuned....

Thursday, June 9th---Dodge City, KS-Duncan, OK

 A fairly uneventful day.  Winds were still stellar and the roads were under construction, but what's new in this part of the country.  Oh yeah, someone was having fun with their name...Hawleywood.....Hollywood, get it!!!  Sorry for the blur, it's not so easy taking pictures from a moving vehicle with cats trying to escape the open window..

 an apparition coming toward us as we left town..Dodge City is a strange place

We were expecting it to be a little flatter, so the truck didn't like it so much.  We'd promised the poor thing a day of no uphill climbs, guess we lied, maybe Oklahoma will be better.  We did see some spectacular wind farms....go figure.  We're fighting 30mph head winds, gettin' 7mpg mileage and they're just harnessing that stuff to beat the band.

 at least the gas prices were better than home

OK, so we're just cruising along minding our own business rolling into small town after small town...some with no stop lights, just a bank and a Subway, when we get close to the Oklahoma border and the city of Sitka....thought that place was in Alaska???  Anyway, we're driving down Main Street at the mind boggeling speed of 20mph taking in the sites.  Sitka had one of the more developed downtown areas with many buildings and a mural painted on one of them.  So here we are driving south and I notice that one of the store fronts on my right has a lot of cars (4....that's quite a few for a town with a population of 10) and a small truck going north swings into an open spot.  I'm thinking it's gotta be a pretty good restaurant, with that many cars and new ones arriving.  All of a sudden that small truck starts to back up and I swear, came within 2 inches of smacking our front side, my front side!  I'm freeking...ohohohohohoh!!!!!  the words just won't come out to alert Dan to the potential problem at hand.  He finally figures somethings wrong when he sees me bracing against the dash and he swerves left to avoid the perp.  I'm really surprised and very grateful that the trailer didn't end up on two wheels pulling the truck over with it.  Had to pull over to regain composure and the guy just drove right past us like nothing happened!!  Guess he changed his mind about eating breakfast or was making a U turn and cut it too short...we'll never know, but everyone came out OK, a little rattled but OK.  If you look closely in the picture below you'll see the little son of gun...

 he's the black bed next to the white SUV...taken from our windshield just after he pulled in

the area of town that needs some help

So now that we're composed, we continue to our destination of Duncan.  We make a stop in Woodward to visit the local Wal-Mart, we need lunch and I lost my sunglasses.  Did you know that almost every Wal-Mart has a Subway inside their store....a life saver for us since we really didn't want Micky D's or Burger King all the time and we could kill two bird with one stop.  Did I mention that their parking lots are a lot easier to get into than most fast food places...they just don't cater to travel trailers, I don't get it.  

I digress, upon arriving at Duncan and our lovely campground I open the trailer door and find the most awful mess you can imagine.  The pantry door has come open, probably due to our little almost mishap in Sitka, and there is food from one end to the other.  The worst was the container of Nutella that had come open.  There was melted hazelnut chocolate goo everywhere....on the rug, on all the boxes that had fallen from the pantry, plus the floor, fire extinguisher, cabinet doors...you get the picture, IT WAS A MESS!!!  I spent most of the evening cleaning that up...note to self, DON'T BRING NUTELLA ON ROAD TRIPS, you don't need the chocolate anyway!

Tomorrow will be a better day....stay tuned

Wednesday, June 8th--Sterling, CO-Dodge City, KS

Same stuff different day.....wheat fields as far as the eye can see and I mean that literally.  We stopped in a small town called Bird City, KS to get gas.  OMGosh...this is the definition of a small metropolis, sorta like the metropolis of Riverton just on a smaller basis.  A small metropolis is a gas station, car wash, automotive repair shop, and Subway in the same building right across the 2 lane road  from the 40 story high grain elevators and 2 banks.  All within 2 city blocks!

 let me tell ya, those grain elevators are HUGE and they're everywhere

On we went...wheat field after wheat field, for EVER.  Finally we come to this small community of Atwood, KS.  At first glace it didn't look much different than the rest of the little towns we had driven through......roads in need of repair, a few churches, a gas station, you get the picture, rural America.  Well, it's lunch time and we're hungry so Dan heads down what we think is Main St, but we see nothing that will pass as a restaurant / convenience store and there's a very steep hill looming, so to the left we go.  WOW, there's water and what seems to be a park.  After further inspection we realize it is an RV park on the river..Atwood RV Park run by the Lions Club of Atwood...how cool!  Right in the middle of an otherwise dreary little place sits this oasis.  We pull in, situate the RV under some trees and the short order cook (me) goes to work fixin' hotdogs for lunch. It was a very pleasant respite from the grueling, torturous winds and hills.

Atwood RV Park run by the Lions Club of Atwood, KS

looking back at the town of Atwood, KS

our home on wheels.....

the short order cook makin' hot dogs

another view of the gorgeous park

and yet another view...

YEAH!!!!, we're out of the wheat fields and into the pasture land....not such a good thing.  Did you know that in Kansas there are stinkin' and I mean stinkin' in the literal sense...feedlots on every corner.  In Florida there's a McDonalds on every corner, in Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming there's a Subway on every corner and in Colorado there's an Expresso stand on every corner.  I kid you not Expresso stands the size of a small shed and the cars are lined up down the street...go figure!

 one of many feed lots along the way

Unfortunately the road was under construction and we were stopped not too far from this lot for about 10 minutes....I think they were working on a 5 mile stretch and it took forever for the cars to pass. Something I haven't seen in Florida...they use pilot cars that say "Follow Me" on the back.  No speedin' in their construction zones!  

We finally make it to Dodge City and the Gunsmoke RV Park...pretty nice place.

 One of our neighbors...and we thought our trailer was small.  That one weighed half what ours weighed and didn't get any better gas mileage.

Big statue just outside Dodge City

 Oh great!!! loose another hour..this time zone thing is killing me!

 oil wells all over....

and storage tanks for that oil

Stay tuned for the adventures to Duncan, OK....

Tuesday June 7th---Rawlins, WY-Sterling, CO

Whew...what a windy day.  We left real early to try and beat the winds but it didn't work.  Started out with a tail wind and then we got the mother of all crosswinds on a two lane road in the mountains.  Do ya think the truckers behind us while we're doing maybe 30mph were a little pissed??  We stopped at a rest stop in Worland.  Not sure who planned the location, probably the WYDOT people.  They put this facility on top of a butte, mesa, hill what ever you want to call it.  There were winds coming from the west about 35-40 sustained and 50 or more gusts.  We parked next to a couple a big rigs, you know those 18 wheelers and proceeded to get out of the truck...I couldn't get my door open.  Was it locked?  No, Hmm what's going on?  All of a sudden it flung open almost ripping my arm off in the process. Geez that was awful, so I look over at Dan and he's hangin' on to the truck for dear life so as not to get blown into South Dakota.  Finally, we head to the facility running (not by choice) in front of one of the big rigs.  Glance up and see an arm hanging over the steering wheel and then a pillow and finally a head, sound asleep face down in the pillow....a really tired trucker if you ask me.  According to Dan if he's been fighting those crosswinds like we have he should be exhausted!   Note to self...get out on the down wind side and park closer to building!  Better yet, lets not have 50mph winds.

 mini glaciers along the Interstate

 another mini glacier

 snow topped mountain with miles and miles of snow fence

 Some serious snow fence...

 wind farms as far as the eye can see...believe me there is wind out west!

OMG...what a difference between Wyoming and Colorado.  Over one ridge in the span of about 2 miles we went from rolling hills to craggy rock face mountains.  Stunning scenery, but so different.  We get smacked around by the winds for another few hours and get into Sterling, CO.  Tonight we get a reprieve...we're staying in a hotel (one that's pet friendly) 'cause there are no campgrounds close or at least ones that got more than a 1 star rating.  It's really rather nice to be able to take a shower with water pressure and enough room to get dried without going outside...aaahhhh!

Entering Colorado....look past the truck antenna

OK, you have to look past the map reflection and finger to see the beautiful rock formations, but it is gorgeous country!

 sheep, sheep, freshly shorn or sheared (your choice) sheep everywhere in Colorado???

Out of no where there appeared to my wondering eyes....can you guess???

 a motocross track or atv track or dune buggy track...take your pick right in the middle of Colorado

on the stop light at our hotel in Sterling, CO....remind me not to stay there again!!!

Stay tuned for more fun and games....

A Day of Contrasts---Monday, June 6th

OK, our day didn't get off to the best of starts.  We were running a bit ahead of schedule, which is great however, we ran into a little snag.  I won't regal you with the details, all I'll say is it was a plumbing issue.  Not able to solve it before we left, hope it solves itself along the way.

If was a hazy day on the 6th of June in a land that seems so far away.  Despite the haze you could still see for miles.  We drove through some of the most beautiful countryside and the most desolate countryside.  The thing, one was on the right and the other was on the left.  It still amazes us what nature does and has done over the years...the mountain shapes and colors and rock striations.  I'm so glad that we decided to drive the back roads.  It hasn't always been easy, but it's always been interesting!

We arrived in the metropolis of Riverton, WY around noon.  I know that it's a metropolis because there's a Wal-Mart, K-Mart, excuse me a Big K, a DQ and just about any other fast food establishment that you can name.  Out here in the west that constitutes a metropolis. So we decide to pull into the Wal-Mart to get lunch and supplies needed to fix the afore mentioned plumbing problem.  That done we hit the road again and no sooner make what was supposed to be the correct turn, which turned out to be the wrong turn.  Now the most exciting part was turning the trailer around on a 2 lane road with no shoulders and really crappy blacktop.  Dan spies a driveway and starts backing....there's broken glass and lots of potholes..yikes, he's really, really, really good at doing this.  Now we're on the proper road and the next thing we see is a sign that says steep grade 21 miles...double yikes!  So on we trek, just before the steep grade, there's one of those signs that says "Road Closed if Flashing, return to Riverton"  thank goodness it's not flashing, 'cause that would really put a crimp in our plans.  By now we can see the steep grade (wish I could show you the picture, stay tuned for that) and we're still several miles away.  By the time we get there and start up the "hill" Dan has the truck floored and we're slowing loosing speed, switch to 2nd gear and it's gets a little better, then to 1st gear and we actually get up to 25mph.  The poor truck is sputtering and gasping wonder what kind of torture this is.  We even turned off the A/C to make it a little easier.  Fortunately there weren't any cars following or I'm sure they would have been uttering some choice words.  Thank goodness the down hill ride was spread out and not straight down, which was what I was envisioning.

On we went crossing the Continental Divide at 6404' which wasn't the highest we had been, but close.  When we crossed it on the other side we were at 7174', now that's the highest we've been.  Me, Dan, the truck and the cats DO NOT LIKE ALTITUDE!  It does funny things to you, dries you out big time, makes you breath hard....no wait that's something else, makes your nose bleed and so much more.  I'm sure your body will adjust over time, but we're both looking forward to tomorrow when we hit some lower elevations.

Arrived in Rawlins about 3:30pm MDT and the wind hasn't stopped since we started.  It's blowing 35-40 with gusts to 50.  Thank goodness there's a big Class A next to us to block some of the gusts or we really might be in Kansas tomorrow.  Plumbing problem fixed in about 30 minutes...everyone relieved (no pun intended).  Bought a seedless watermelon at Wal-Mart for $2.00, wish I'd bought 2 or 3.  It was absolutely delicious...we had that and sandwiches for dinner...yum!

Up early tomorrow for another day of driving in the wind....heading to Sterling, CO and then Dodge City, KS.  Stay tuned for more adventures....

Leaving Cody--June 6th

Well, it's time to head home after a glorious stay in Cody.  The weather cooperated starting Tuesday and it was danged hot today, had to turn the air on!!  We leave in the morning headed to Rawlins, WY then to Sterling, CO and not sure where after that.  Expect it will take about 10 day to get back...wish us luck and no flooding, tornadoes or any other force of nature.

Dan had one match to shoot on Saturday with his new slug gun and he placed 3rd, pretty darn good for a new gun and a very short practice to become one with the gun.  There were about 8 guys in that match.  They had to postpone Friday's shoot because the wind was blowin' sooo hard.  That made Saturday a very long day, finished up around 4:30 and found out the banquet was changed to 6:30 Saturday instead of Sunday.  So home we went to shower and make ourselves presentable for dinner at the Irma.  We did it with a few minutes to spare.  The evening was great, we laughed so hard everyone's jaws hurt.  You have to understand, there were 5 women and about 18 middle aged men.  OK, the women were middle aged too, but we looked a whole lot better than the men. 

Now, some of these men have been shooting together for a number of years and even though they don't live in the same towns stay in touch through shooting matches across the country.  The stories they tell, oh, did I mention they'd been drinking two fers, yes it was happy hour.  So you can only imagine...it was a hoot.  I truly had to wipe tears from my eyes the entire night and Dan almost shot coffee out his nose.  A great time was had by all.

Dan had another match today, Sunday.  He placed second in this one against about 12 others.  He had a fabulous time connecting in real time with the guys he usually Internets with.  Me, the domestic diva did laundry---$13.50 worth.  I'm tellin' ya, with all the money we've spent cleaning our clothes we could have bought a new wardrobe.  Thinking we're gonna be hitting some warmer weather, so we'll be wearing clothes we haven't had a chance to wear.  If I'm lucky and we play our cards right, I mean alternate what we wear properly and don't sweat too much, I won't have to pay to do laundry again!

About this blog...I'll continue to post on our travels home, however there won't be any pictures.  The Internet connectivity at RV Campgrounds is spotty at best...I've been kicked off 3 times since I started writing this tonight.  So as I said, I'll continue to post WORDS but no PICTURES until we get home and I can upload without continued frustration.  Somewhere along the way I've lost my sense of humor about such things.  I'll let you know once we're home when the pictures will be up....Dan is up to 908 pictures on his phone, so it'll be a great show when we're done.

More tomorrow as we go where no Hilliard has gone....stay tuned....

Cody---continued, May 31st-June 3rd

Tuesday, May 31^st

Dan went to the Wyoming Armory, aka a gun store, to drop off guns for some work and pick up one that he had built to shoot in the matches this weekend.  Me, I stayed back at the ranch and did laundry, $11.50 worth.  At least we’ll smell nice.

Wednesday, June 1^st

Dan met with the guy who built his slug gun for a trip to the range to get the low down on how to make it shoot straight...always a good thing when you’re in competition.  One thing led to another and the day was gone.  As for me I loved being able to do nothing, get caught up on computer stuff and my TV intake.

Thursday, June 2^nd

It’s site in day at the range from 8am-4pm, so Dan headed out around 7:45am while I finished reading the paper and doing crosswords.  Now I know I’m not real good at judging time, but the next thing I know Dan is back...wow that day went way too fast I think.  I’m relieved to find out the he got half way to the range and remembered that the spotting scope wasn’t in the truck, another good thing to have when you’re shooting at 200 yards.  So off he goes for the 2^nd time.  Dan reminded me he would be back around 1pm so I could go on my big excursion...shopping at K-Mart and Walgreens.  OH BOY!!!

Phone rings about 12:30, just know it’s Dan saying he’s been delayed, but it’s a 307 area code...it’s Brenda from the RV park in Thermopolis.  When they were cleaning up they found some sort of controller or sensor by our site.  I started to laugh and asked was it crushed to pieces, no she said it was in perfect shape.  Now that’s something really amazing.  I bought a clock with an indoor and outdoor thermometer so we could keep track of the cold weather here in WY.  In order to do that the  above mentioned sensor has to be outside, bet you already figured that out.  In order to keep it dry during the rain Sunday and snow Monday, Dan put it on the wheel of the trailer.  Well, both of us thought several times about bringing it in before we left but obviously we didn’t.  Dan thought about it half way to Cody and just wasn’t going to turn around...I don’t understand, I mean it was only 40 miles and it wasn’t snowing so bad now.  But he insisted it wasn’t necessary, we could just guess how cold it was outside.  So it was just plain weird that Brenda would call...she’s mailing it to us so we’ll be back in business for our next trip.

A short while later Dan called to say he would be another 30 minutes, but, there’s always a but these days...  He would have to go back to the range for a couple of hours, because he forgot the bullets to one of the guns he needed to site in.  Kinda hard to shoot without bullets.  I dropped him off at the range and had my big adventure to Walgreens for Claritin-D and K-Mart for nothing...not a very big store even thought it said BIG K on the sign outside.  I guess when you have a population of 8800 and BIG mountains you don’t need other big things.  I headed back to the range to get Dan and he still had one more shot to take, “hopefully” he said.  An hour and a half later we were leaving.  I’m sitting in the building behind the shooting line.  Granted it’s not  meant to be a Taj Mahal, it’s your very basic man cave....big square room with OBS tables, big wood burning stove for those really cold days, they didn’t think today was a cold day, in my opinion it was FREEZING in there.  There's the requisite coffee pot and a couple of windows to watch the guys and gals shooting.  You guessed it, the windows weren’t double paned so you could hear all the guys gabbing about this, that and the other and oh yeah....THE GUNS BEING SHOT!!!  If you’ve never had the privilege of being near a shooting line when a slug gun goes off, it’s something special...it’s a wonder any of these guys can hear at all, even wearing ear protection, which is a must, it’s still LOUD.  I probably lifted several inches off the seat each time...glad I was the only one in the room....lol

I thought my real big adventure for the day would be going to Wal-Mart to get dinner, fried chicken and baked beans and $90 worth of “stuff” that I just know we’re gonna need for the next 2 weeks until we get home.  Boy was I mistaken, as the sun started to go down the winds started to pick up and when I say pick up I mean blowing 55 mph steady.  That continued through the night, needless to say I didn’t get any sleep.  I felt like we were going to end up in Kansas before we should...maybe we will be home by the 10^th!

Friday, June 3rd

The winds continued pretty much all day.  I mean the trailer was rocking back and forth and making the most horrible creaking noises, I really thought we were going to bust a seam or something.  It was quite eerie.  Dan ran (well not literally) to the range to see how the matches were going or if they were even going to shoot.  Turns out  the winds were just too much for the manly men to conquer, so they postponed until tomorrow.  That means there'll be 3 matches Saturday...."we'll shoot until we puke if necessary" words from the head honcho, Steve.  The rest of the day was rather boring, Dan loaded powder for the shoot and I finally got caught up on this blog....FINALLY!!!  Didn't think it would ever happen.  We walked to the Sunset House for dinner and both had a great meal then to the DQ for dessert, that's why I had a nice salad for dinner.  The Carmel Toffee Cookie Blizzard was soooo good.  Working on Manhattan..,,.will walk into town tomorrow to browse the stores and hopefully get rid of the blizzard!

I'm afraid the rest of our stay here will be somewhat boring, but on the oft chance that one of us does something worth mentioning I'll be sure to let you know.

Stay tuned...

Thermopolis, WY to Cody, WY—Monday, May 30th

We only had 85 miles to drive, so the usual 8:30am departure was changed to 10 am and that even got pushed back due to the SNOW.  This time is was real snow, the kind that accumulates...3” worth at least!  The owner of the RV park was giving everyone some leeway with the 11am check out time.  What a nice couple.  They had just purchased the park about a month ago and according to Brenda were “still in training”.  They have 33 spots and they were all full for the long weekend.  There was a group of 4 Rv’s that come there every year to celebrate Memorial Day....they were having way toooo much fun!!  There were 9 adults, 6 or more kids and I never could get a count on the dogs. 

I really think Dan was taking pictures of all the different types of RV's sorting out the differences so he knows what we should buy next...just my thoughts...

But I digress.  As usual Dan was out in the weather doing his thing with the trailer, he had to change clothes twice...snow can wreck havoc with staying dry.  I know what you’re thinking, he doesn’t want a rain coat or poncho, believe me I’ve tried.

The cats weren’t too sure about the white fluffy stuff falling from the sky.  Both had eyes the size of saucers when I carried them to the truck.  Off we went, the Floridians driving in snow, slush and wind.  We made it through town and to WY 120 north to Cody.  As we climb it’s evident that the snow was sticking quite well as you can see...

Sorry for the melting snow on the window

the front of the trailer from the back of the truck

Once we stopped climbing, there was no evidence of snow anywhere except on the highest peaks..a nice thing for the driver.

We stopped in the town of Meeteetse—“Meeting place” according to the Indians, to get a cup of coffee, of course, and some beef jerky.  We found out that the cats just love, love, love jerky.  Onward we go another 32 miles to our ultimate destination, Cody, WY..... 

We make our way through town, past the Irma Hotel, Buffalo Bill built it for his daughter Irma, the Buffalo Bill Historic Center, guess what that has inside.  Beside the obvious it has the largest gun collection on display.  I just know that’s the only reason Dan wanted to come here.  Not much has changed, past the DQ, one block to the Ponderosa Campground, right on the Shoshone River...did you notice the DQ is only 1 block away.  I’ll probably be the size of Manhattan when we get back...can’t resist those Blizzards!

Cabins at the Ponderosa

A look at Heart Mountain from the trailer

ditto...

We set up camp and headed to the Irma for lunch then to Wal-Mart (OH BOY) and "home" for a much needed rest.

Stay tuned for more adventures in Cody...