Days 34 & 35 - Buffalo Bill & The Rodeo

We made it to Cody, WY after the beautiful drive through Yellowstone and checked into the RV park on top of the bluff overlooking Cody. Cody is a big, small town with a lot to do, mostly centered around Buffalo Bill Cody. We managed to squeeze in a dinner at Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel, thorough tour of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, visit to Old Trail Town and topped it off with an evening at the Rodeo!

Cody was founded in 1896 by William Frederick Cody, 1846-1917, better known as Buffalo Bill. He held many positions during his lifetime, Pony Express rider, wagon train driver, town developer, railroad contractor, soldier in the Civil War, civilian scout for the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars, receiving the Medal of Honor in 1872, a bison hunter, and showman. He is one of the most famous

and well-known figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill's legend began to spread when he was only 23. Shortly thereafter he started performing in shows that displayed cowboy themes and episodes from the frontier and Indian Wars. He founded Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the United States and, beginning in 1887, in Great Britain and continental Europe.

Cody’s main street still has a number of buildings from the early 1900’s including the Irma Hotel, built by Buffalo Bill in 1902 and named after his daughter. We had dinner at the hotel, the restaurant has the original bar and lots of memorabilia, including a photo of that room in 1924 with a ghost in the corner as Sharon, our waitress, was kind enough to point out, you can see his feet and part of his head but nothing else. We

passed on their famous Roast Beef and had the local trout, very good. After a nice walk around town, back to the rig where we felt the Wyoming winds, never knew they had such strong winds but even the RV park had a sign warning not to leave you awnings out due to the winds.

We started the next day at Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the reason we came to Cody, it has 5 museums as well as a research center. We explored three of the five, the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Cody Firearms Museum and the Whitney Western Art Museum, all were very well done. As you would expect, the Buffalo Bill Museum focused on his life story, both personal and his various careers and the American West he loved. The Cody Firearms Museum is one of the most comprehensive collections of firearms in America with 4,000 firearms, some dating back to the 1400’s to present day pieces. There is an additional 6,000 associated pieces. Per the Museum, they “explore the “101” of firearms knowledge and safety, science, and artistry. Engaging displays look at the many roles' firearms have played through history.” Look close at the photos regarding The Gun Cornicles: A Story of America and the accompanying picture. The Whitney Western Art Museum was very comprehensive with pieces from Remington

to Russell as well as pieces from Indian artists. They had a particular interesting section that highlighted sculptor Alexander Proctor where they showed how the Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Rider sculpture as designed, fabricated and finally cast in bronze.

Time to get outside, we headed to Old Trail Town, “The Old West as it Really Was”. It has a collection of 28 historic buildings and thousands of artifacts from the late 1800’s that preserve the lifestyle and history of the Frontier West, including original cabins used by Old West outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and a Wyoming saloon frequented by Cassidy’s “Hole-in-the-Wall Gang”. There is also a historic cemetery where they have relocated several notable Western figures. Among them is the grave of mountain man John Johnston, who was portrayed by the actor Robert Redford in the 1972 motion picture “Jeremiah Johnson”. Redford acted as a pallbearer when they reburied Jeremiah Johnson.

After a quick dinner back at the rig we headed to Cody Nite Rodeo, the rodeo has been going strong for 84 years, the only rodeo with nightly shows June thru August. It was a lot of fun and had all the events you would expect, bareback riding, only

one rider stayed on and qualified; tie down roping ,it only took 8.9 seconds for the rider to lasso the calf, jump off the horse, flip the calf on its side and tie 3 feet together; bull riding, no thank you, I hurt just watch them and then they had to escape the bull when bucked off; barrel racing including a junior division as well as other events. As the announcer said, the bulls won as the stock the regional cowboys rode were going to the Rodeo Championships. Also impressive was the Junior bronco riding event, a 12 yrs. got on a bucking bronco and rode him, see the picture of the blue checkered rider and cowboy in the purple shirt. The best part was the kids 12 and under calf scramble, every kid under 12 raced into the ring, they released two calves with red ribbons on their tails, the winners who grabbed the ribbons’ won a prize. Hysterical to watch and even funnier when the rodeo clown had to run a little girl, maybe 5 yrs. old, to her Mama across the ring because she went out the wrong way. The calf scramble brought back childhood memories of the Franklin Valley Picnic greased pig contest. We enjoyed Cody but off to Arches National Park and Canyonlands in the morning.
Stats: 148 miles, 65 gal gas
Weather: Sunny, windy, back to triple digits, low mid 70’s
Photos: Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Old Trail Town and Cody Nite Rodeo