Happy apple eaters, almost hesitated to cross this no nonsense cattle guard, our two track road to where the Bozeman Trail crosses Crazy Woman Creek.

Hillside of sunflowers, local spring flowers and a very talkative magpie.

Fort Phil Kearney and the Wagon box massacre site.

Scenes from the Boseman Trail

Day-33 and 4,084 miles on our trip odometer.  We'll be in Buffalo WY for one more night.  Today was busy but all our roaming was within about 20 miles of Buffalo.  First, we drove dirt roads south to a river crossing spot, way out in the cattle country boonies, where pioneers on the old Bozeman Trail crossed -- if they could avoid the Indians.  Not all did and there were battles that resulted in the deaths of some soldiers who were protecting the travellers -- as well as some unfortunate travellers.  The river - crossing area was prone to ambush attacks.  Not far away there had been a trading post at one time but frequent robberies drove it out of business.   Next, we drove north to old Fort Phil Kearny, a fort around which there had been several major Indian battles.  One, known as the Fetterman massacre, wiped out dozens of soldiers who had been guarding a contingent of wood cutters working to supply the fort.  That was in 1867.  Because of relentless attacks the fort was abandoned in 1868 and burned down by the Indians shortly thereafter.  From the fort we drove back to Buffalo to do a little antiquing.  Mom found a neat old lock for her collection of railroadiana.  Dinner tonight will probably be microwaved pizza at the hotel.   Lunch was at Papa Bino's Mexican restaurant, a little hole in the wall joint with excellent food.  Tomorrow we head east to Hulett WY, 9 miles from Devils Tower National Monument, a favorite of ours as evidenced by our 4 Tower visits over the past half-dozen years.

Views from today's drive.

Poster in Buffalo, Wyoming

Day-32, Cody to Buffalo WY over the Big Horn Mountains, 184 miles.  At 9,666 feet, the peak of the Powder River Pass was  cool (45 F) but we had no problems with snow as was the case in the South Pass several days ago.  The entire drive from Cody was on excellent roads and the portion through the mountains spectacular.  After 3.5 hours we arrived in Buffalo at noon, had lunch at a favorite, tiny Mexican restaurant, and then explored a variety of shops in the downtown district.  Buffalo is a very interesting town with many Old West buildings and other features.  In fact, Buffalo is the town upon which the Longmire TV series, a favorite of ours, is based.  It's a modern-day western lawman series with great storylines. The author of the Longmire series of books lives nearby and the town has a Longmire Days celebration every July with some of the actors in attendance.  Maybe we'll come back in July.  Probably not.  There's lots to do in the area and we haven't yet plotted out plans for tommorow.  On Thursday we expect to head to Hulett WY just a few miles from Devils Tower.

Here is where Buffalo Bill spent a good chunk of his adult working life. On the road in a tent. Note the folding bath tub.

Day-31, Cody WY for one more night.  We spent most of today in the Buffalo Bill museum complex and still haven't seen everything thoroughly.  We celebrated Mom's birthday this evening with buffalo burgers and  Buffalo Bill Beer at the old scout's restaurant in the Irma Hotel.   He spent $80,000 building the place back in the very early 1900s and that contributed heavily to his financial woes.  Cody was in debt when he died, in spite of his international fame as promoter of his Wild West shows.  It was a very nice day and now we look forward  to heading to Buffalo WY tomorrow.  We'll probably take the route that goes over the Powder River Pass at just under 10,000 feet.  Hopefully it will not be snowing as it was the other day when we went over the Continental Divide at South Pass.  We hope everyone had a very nice Memorial Day weekend.  I guess that pretty much begins the summer season!  Much to look forward to.

View from the museum.

Frederick Remington studio from New York  and some of his artwork.

Here is what a real wolverine looks like.  View from the museum.  Bill Cody ' s childhood home moved here from Le Claire, Iowa.

Day-30, Cody WY.  Today was spent in the big Buffalo Bill museum complex and in watching the last 50 or so laps of the Indy 500.  The modern museum complex -- with mule deer running around the grounds -- is composed of five major divisions:  Buffalo Bill, Western Art, American Indian, Firearms, and Natural History, all extensive and superb in quality.  It's almost impossible to do more than one or two of the divisions in one day.  It gets exhausting.  We'll go back tomorrow.

Legend rock.

This delayed report is for yesterday, Day-29, May 27, of our Utah Trip.  We traveled 184 miles, including side trips, from Lander WY to Cody WY where we will be until Tuesday.  Along the way we drove through the Wind River Canyon where there have been many recent rock slides, some with bus-size boulders that rolled right across the road.  The signs warn of rocks on the road and they really mean it.  Further along we stopped to view the hot springs in the town of Thermopolis, which also has an exciting very bouncy footbridge over the Big Horn River.  The cable bridge sways and bounces as you walk.  Fun.  Next, we drove on a small back-country road, partly dirt, to Legend Rock Petroglyphs, almost hitting deer and antelope that seemed to be playing chicken in front of the jeep.  The best of the petroglyphs, ranging in age front a few hundred years to 11,000 or so, was a "Thunder Bird", among many deer, antelope, buffalo, turtles, etc.  This archaeological site is in a very remote area and seems little visited.   After exploring around Cody during the afternoon we spent a very pleasant couple of hours having dinner at the Hotel Irma, once owned and lived in by Buffalo Bill himself..  The saloon and dining rooms there are right out of the Old West, decorated with many dozens of animal mounts and interesting Western memorabilia.  It's the most popular place in town and very lively in the evening, with live Western music and lots of folks clinking beer bottles and having a raucous good time.  Great fun.  You almost expect Buffalo Bill to come striding in with the troupe of Sioux Indians from his Wild West show.  We definitely recommend a stop for Buffalo burgers, or more, at the Hotel Irma.  (Irma was Bill's daughter.  He had no interest in naming the place after his wife...but that's another story!)  Now we're off to the huge Buffalo Bill Museum complex just down the road apiece -- a favorite of ours and one of the finest groups of museums in the country, second to none when it comes to western heritage.

My favorite carpet and it's setting.

Dad drove us carefully and safety through this mess. Very tense hour!

Day-28 marks 4 full weeks on the road...and the most "exciting" day yet but not entirely in a good way.  We left Rock Springs WY at 9 am on our 11 8-mile jaunt to Lander WY.  We had been on much of that 2-lane route before -- just last year in fact -- and knew the road was good and very scenic as it went through South Pass, the Continental Divide, at an elevation of nearly 8,000 feet.  It was raining for the first 50 or 60 miles, with temps in the mid-40s, but as we gained elevation, heading up to South Pass, the temperature steadily dropped and the rain became sleet and then snow.  Heavy snow!  Big illuminated roadside signs were warning of dangerous conditions.    By the time we reached the Divide it was getting very nasty and then it got even worse on the other side.  Turning around was not feasible or safe.  By now the temperature had dropped to 33 degrees and deep slush was building up on the road, with impressively deep snow roadside.  A big plow drove by southbound, temporarily clearing the road on that side, but we never saw a plow on our (northbound) side.  It was getting very hairy and our windshield wipers began to get clogged with ice further hindering visibility in the falling snow and developing fog.  Having spent most of my life in the north I've driven on snowy, icy roads but this, on a mountain road with some steep drop-offs and sharp curves, was as challenging and nerve-wracking as anything I could remember.  White knuckle stuff for about an hour.  During the desent on the northern side of the Divide the snow for a time got heavier but eventually the temperature edged slowly up and the snow turned to sleet and then rain.  I've never been so happy to drive in the rain.  What a relief!  Even though we had been driving at only 20-30 mph during the worst of the snow we arrived in rainy Lander shortly after 11 am, just 2 hours after leaving Rock Springs, thanks to 80 mph conditions at lower elevations.
      In Lander we quickly found the Chinese buffet we remembered from last year and decompressed over a great lunch.  Following that we spent a couple of hours at the extremely impressive Pioneer Museum with excellent exhibits detailing western history and Lander ' s important role therein.
     Tomorrow we continue heading north, about 180 miles to Cody WY.  The weather forecast -- and elevations below  4,000 feet -- hold promise of a less stressful drive.
      We hope you are all having a safe and happy holiday weekend...made especially exciting by your marathons and painting projects at the Bushongs.

Fiddlehead salad anyone?

Rain forest happy dance.

Cabins from Lincoln Highway days.