CODY-WY~Big Horn National Forest & Rural America

We left Buffalo-WY this morning, for Cody-WY: from there, Holland wants to canvas Yellowstone again from a different angle; then turn towards Glacier National Park.

But, first he had planned a little {bending} surprise for me :-)

And I, in turn, spent a little extra time getting dolled up for him - it's a good thing we both like a colorful life ;-)

Sparkling in a bold way, today ;-)

88-degree weather calls for low-key eye color, short daisy-dukes & a light gauzy top.

Sparkly from head to toe: glittery eyes, glittered glasses, and sparkling sequins.

Holland rerouted his original route …

MAP Sheridan-WY from Buffalo-WY; 37 min (35.3 mi) via I-90 W

While we were mainly passing thru on the freeway, it was interesting to finally see this place.

Back on track …

Most of the drive today went through rural areas. I liked that.

We stopped in Ranchester-WY (a little rural community) to read a roadside plaque, and watched a man and two boys target shooting; it reminded both of us of the America we grew up in. We both felt a bit sorrowful that those days are long gone - but for this one brief moment, we relished watching our Constitutional freedoms in action.

A rural American Dad showing his boys how to line up a shot for protection - life, land, family, neighbors.

Historical Landmark Plaque; Ranchester-WY

Arapaho:(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arapaho)

Rural America still believes in God-Country-Family; I love seeing giant crosses in towns we pass thru.

A short distance down the road, we came to Dayton-WY; and old west cow town that still had a comforting throw-back vibe: I was happy to be enjoying rural America today :-)

A bit out of Dayton, we started our journey into the mountainous region of the scenic drive, which took us through the Bighorn National Forest: The Bighorn National Forest is 30 miles wide and 80 miles long, and the scenic highway has a very steep 10% grade, both ways.

Dayton-WY from Sheridan-WY; 28 min (23.2 mi) via I-90 W and US-14 W

Steady elevation incline …

I felt we were living 'The Long, Long Trailer' movie; which by the way is a favorite I do like. LOL

Our Scenic Route passed through the Bighorn National Forest.

Holland assuring me that we can safely cross - the incline was seriously 'straight up'.

Holland tried to get me to 'peek over the edge' several times~NO!

I only 'peeked over the edge' here because of the roadside Plaque.

Hogback Plaque:

(https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/bighorn/recarea/?recid=30986)

I talked for a few minutes to a couple from Sheridan who come up to this high pullout every weekend, to take a look over the valley. They've been doing this since they were dating (they are our age, now). 

The steep Scenic Byway highway was very narrow; and Holland had to use both lanes in certain hairpin corners, to get Independence through.

Very steep - very narrow road, VERY CLOSE to the edge - those rusty guardrails did not comfort me at all!

OMG … 'he's pulling over, again!'

The scenic route was very scenic - and I did really enjoy the drive when my heart wasn't in my throat.

And … road construction; always at the busiest time of the year, and in the diciest places.

The only serious complication happened around Burgess Junction and the only reason it had anything to do with us, was when we were inadvertently sucked into a dicey situation through no fault of our own.

We had just passed Burgess Junction, when a motorcycle pulled out in front of us - didn't check his sideview mirrors, turn his head or nothing - and almost came to a total stop in front of us; neither one of us were sure the pickup or RV would stop before running over them! The motorcycle was coughing and gasping - it acted like it had been flooded, or needed new spark plugs (probably why it had been on the shoulder of the road, in the first place). We managed to avoid a horrible outcome, but our hearts were in our throats before that junky thing caught a spark, jumped a few feet, and finally took off. We had 2,500 pounds pushing us from behind … and Holland was doing his best to keep us safe in the 4x.

What a scary moment!

When we came to where the junction forked, Holland veered to the left trying to stay clear of that sputtering death bike; we were so busy watching what that moron in front of us was doing, we weren't sure we had made the right move. Thankfully, we had.

Burgess Junction-WY from Dayton-WY; 1 hr 5 min (50.2 mi) via US-14 W

After that hair-raising experience, it was a comfort to know we were on the right road …

The brakes all the way around got a serious workout this afternoon; steep 10% grade incline, coming and going.

Adventuring through the Bighorn National Forest though was "interesting" at times … and there were some things we had to forego because Betsy & Independence were just too big to be accommodated :-(

Shell Canyon is worth the chaotic drive; it's ruggedly beautiful, and there are opportunities for picture taking if you are in a smaller vehicle towing a smaller RV.

Bighorn Scenic Byway~Shell-WY:

(https://www.theoutbound.com/wyoming/photography/drive-the-bighorn-scenic-byway)

Shell Falls; Shell-WY - we only got to see this in passing …

The Bighorn National Forest roadway was the toughest we've been on to date - the grade was extreme for 17 miles of kiss-ass corners and very steep grade both ways: 1st-2nd-3rd gear was as fast as we could go with a 10-speed automatic 4x; and there were times that was even dicey. But Holland did it - I have no fear as far as knowing my life is safe in his hands: he's a good driver.

Leaving Shell behind, we came to Greybull-WY, which is a fair size town of about 1,000 people. And that death-wish motorcyle moron that narrowly escaped a catastrophe a while back, came up alongside us before moving on down the road - away from us, thank God!

By now, we started thinking about someplace to hunker down for the night: we needed to relax our thoughts, muscles, bodies; and refresh our spirits. We checked several RV Parks - but always go tthe same reply: "Sorry, we're full up."

I started praying and asked Elohim to open something up and guide us to where he wanted us.

My cell phone got a text - we had a place for the night :-)

We couldn't believe it when we saw the biker that almost has us cashing in our chips earlier; Greybull-WY

Psalm 54.4

Greybull-WY:

(https://nwc.edu/about/location/bighornbasin/detail.html?id=103074)

Greybull-WY from Shell-WY; 16 min (15.3 mi) via US-14 W

YES! Thank You, Lord.

Cody-WY from Greybull-WY; 52 min (53.1 mi) via US-14 WUS-16 WUS-20 W

Nothing much to see in Emblem - but it did grab my attention …

Population TEN count - my kind of place to live ;-)

A place to hunker down for a bit.

Into downtown for Supper - then back Home; we'll be here until Tuesday afternoon.

We unhooked and set up; then drove into town to grab some tacos from Taco John's - brought them home to eat, took showers, walked the dog, and relaxed: it's now midnight, and very windy - the RV is rocking and rolling; wind gusts are slamming against the sides and lightweight debris is pelting the sides: hopefully there will be no pinging rocks :-(

Tomorrow we will explore Cody-WY.