Lincoln Highway
Day 24
Last night we decided we’d leave later in the morning and see what type of attractions Cody, WY had to offer. We discovered it has a lot to offer, actually.
What their claim to fame is, is being the Rodeo Capital of the World. Their rodeos don’t just happen during the county fair . Since 1938 from June 1 to August 31 they have Cody Nite Rodeo with bronc, bull and bareback riding and all the other events that make up a rodeo. If we were staying longer we could also have gone to the Nightly Dinner Show, the Historic Cody Mural and Museum, the Old Trail Town, or the Buffalo Bill Dam. All these things sounded so fun, but our only option was to take the Cody Trolley Tour.
Two vivacious young women were our tour guides on the trolley and they made the tour not only interesting, but fun. The tour was all about Buffalo Bill. He founded Cody in 1895 and the trolley took us all over the town pointing out various sights. We also learned he was a Pony Express Rider, an Indian Scout, Buffalo Hunter, (this is when he got his name), Military Hero, a Showman and an Entrepreneur. He is also credited with starting the modern day rodeo. After an hour we knew all about Buffalo Bill Cody and then some!
Before we left Cody, WY I browsed in a couple of gift stores. I really wanted to purchase some turquoise jewelry and a really neat looking Kachina doll, made by the Native Americans. Unfortunately, both were very expensive so I didn’t buy them.
We left Cody just before noon and took highway 14. It seemed to be a nice road to travel on until Steve decided to drive on the alt 14 aka the Scenic Byway. This 2 lane started out nice and straight until we came to the Bighorn Mountain, then the road began a gradual steep climb. As we motored up the mountain doing 17 to 20 mph in second gear, the engine began to get hot nearing 200 degrees. We pulled over on a turn out to let the car cool and after about 10 or 15 minutes we started up the mountain again. We repeated this 2 more times as we continued to climb higher. We were almost to the plateau of 9200’ when the car just died. This time we were on the shoulder of the road. Two different vehicles stopped to see if they could help, but only Steve really knows what to do.
The car acted as if it had run out of gas. Steve, not really knowing what was wrong prayed it was the carburetor. He took out the carburetor’s filter and cleaned it with the spray carburetor cleaner he had in the car. When he tried starting the car again it fired right up and we made it the rest of the way to the top! What a relief, but now we had to get down this mountain. Good thing Steve’s car has good brakes or we would have flown off the road. It was another white knuckle drive for Steve and just a little scary for me, although, the scenery was great!
Once off the mountain we both gave a sigh of relief, but we weren’t completely out of the woods, yet. We still had one more mountain, but it was a lot smaller and we didn’t have any more car trouble.
The next town we came to was Dayton, WY. Steve stopped for gas as I walked across the street to the Dayton Mercantile. This was the cutest old building. Inside was a small soda fountain/restaurant and antique store. We hadn’t eaten lunch so we ordered a couple of sandwiches and root beer. Finishing our meal with a twist ice cream cone that was only a dollar! The owner asked to take pictures of the car and loved hearing about our journey.
Tonight we’re staying in Sheridan, WY. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Custer, SD and maybe see some buffalo. On this whole trip we haven’t seen any wildlife except for 3 deer, several ground squirrels and few dead racoons on the road. Then we plan on staying over in Rapid City.
We’re getting anxious to get home and we think we should be back on Wednesday.
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