One of the reasons we decided to travel across the northern US was to visit Yellowstone National Park, which is the world's oldest national park (1872) and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It contains more than two million acres of lakes, waterfalls, wildlife and gorgeous mountain scenery, as well as over 10,000 hydrothermal features such as hot water basins, steam and bubbling mud, and more than half of the world's geysers (200 to 250). Most of the park is in Wyoming.

Following Jay and Carol's coach from Cody to Yellowstone Park. Notice the field of yellow wildflowers.

We reached the park in a few hours and stopped to take these photos.

Our new RV friends Jay and Carol in front of their coach. They are en route to Alaska to take a guided tour.

John and I in front our our truck and trailer.

As we headed across Yellowstone Park to our campground just beyond the western boundary, we gained elevation gradually until we were above the snow line. Apparently they had four times the normal snowfall this winter so there is still a lot of it to melt. But the roads were bare and dry.

The snow on the right is about 14 feet deep. We know that because it was the same height as Jay and Carol's coach!

So much of the forest in Yellowstone was destroyed in the widespread fires of 1988 and we saw lots of dead, burned tree trunks but also some regeneration of the forest.

Remnants of the great 1988 forest fires when almost 800,000 acres burned. This is part of the natural cycle of the forest, to recycle nutrients back into the earth.

As we passed into the ancient volcanic crater that makes up the majority of the park, we started to see plumes of steam rising out of the ground. Very weird! There are also tons of bison in the park and they have right of way on the highway.

Steam rising from a vent, with a herd of bison in front.

Herd of bison grazing in Yellowstone Park. Notice the professional photographers with their tripods in the background.

We soon got tired of seeing the lumbering beasts on the pavement. Boy can they hold up traffic, as each vehicle passing them has to take a photo or two.

King of the Road! It became commonplace seeing these on the highway. Unbelievably, each year several tourists are gored because they get out of their vehicles to approach these massive animals. I was quite happy to get my shots from the passenger seat.

We got to our campground in the town of West Yellowstone, Montana by mid afternoon without too many holdups for bison on the highway. After settling into our site for a three night stay at (very!) Rustic Wagon RV park, we drove a mile or so across the village to the KOA park where Jay and Carol were staying. (We tried to get a spot there but the campground was full.) We each enjoyed one of Jay's beers (I believe it was called Buffalo Sweat but was actually not bad) and met their friends Cam and Susan who also were from Maryland and staying in a nearby motel.

Having read that it was best to see the Old Faithful geyser in the early morning or evening, to avoid the crowds, John and I headed into the park about 4:30 and drove about 40 minutes to the site.

Two elk grazing in the park.

We had just missed an eruption so filled in an hour or so exploring the boardwalks in the vicinity. We saw some very unusual features.

This boiling pool was about two feet across and bubbled constantly. The public is not allowed to walk on the crust as it is too thin and if anyone falls through he can be scalded or killed. In the background you can see the stain of the seepage from a thermal pool above the river.

Each pool was totally different from its neighbour. This one was perhaps three feet in diameter and the loveliest clear blue.

Then, along with several hundred other tourists, we took a seat on the viewing benches and waited for Old Faithful to erupt at 7:11 pm. She finally made her entrance about 7:25 and steamed for perhaps three minutes.

Old Faithful eruption is only about 30 feet high. The rest is a large plume of steam. I found it a little anticlimactic but very peaceful. I told John it should be called Old Graceful.

I was thinking the other day that many of you have not seen our new travel trailer, so I took some photos of the interior for you to see. We bought this model at the RV show in Toronto last February and we just love our new trailer. This innovative, eco-friendly RV design was built by Earthbound RV.

Our Earthbound has no wood in its construction and only weighs 4,500 lbs (compared to 10,000 for our previous fifth wheel toy hauler), so for that reason we save about $50 a day on gas. Since we are travelling in the US for the month of June and the Canadian dollar is doing well, we are saving an additional $70 a day in gas, (which costs the equivalent of $1 per litre in the US).

We generally stay 2 or 3 days in any one campground (so we have a chance to explore the area), and only tow our trailer a few days each week. John figures we will spend about $2,000 in gas in June (US travel) and $3,000 in July (Canadian travel).

View from the entry door (which is in the living room), looking at the kitchen. Here, the kitchen slide is in the 'out' position, which makes the hallway about a foot wider. The kitchen has a 3 burner propane stove and oven and a 3 way fridge (will run on 120V, 12V or propane).

Across the hall from the kitchen is our little bathroom. The shower has a built in seat (not shown).

Here I am standing in the kitchen looking back toward the open entry door. The large living room with lots of seating was what attracted us to this floorplan, which is called Copper Mountain. There are so many storage cupboards in this trailer that it holds everything that we had inside our 31 ft fifth wheel trailer (other than the motorcycles that is!). Our Earthbound is 29 ft. long including the tongue.

Our living room has this extra loveseat across the aisle. The Earthbound came with two flat screen TV's, propane furnace, air conditioner and radio sound system with three speaker zones (living room, bedroom and outdoor). John attached our satellite radio to the receiver.

Here I am standing in the kitchen looking toward our bedroom. The queen size mattress lifts up on pistons to access the huge underbed storage compartment. The extensive closet space was another plus with this floorplan.

This photo was taken standing beside the bed looking back towards the bathroom wall. I like having dresser drawers (like in our 1993 Award travel trailer). The flat screen TV is a real treat. All the windows have roll-up screens and blackout blinds and are hinged across the top for opening.

Continuing our tour of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, we were thrilled to see the historical art treasures housed in the Whitney Gallery of Western Art. (That's 'Western' as in western USA, not Western Civilization). So we're talkin' Cowboy art!

Four large paintings by N. C. Wyeth greet you when you enter the Whitney Gallery.

One of the highlights for me was this collection of large cowboy paintings by N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945), one of America's greatest illustrators. During his life he created 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books, of which 'Treasure Island' by Stevenson was his most famous.

'End of the Trail', bronze c. 1918-1923 by James Earl Fraser.

The museum had an outstanding collection of bronzes including several that I had seen photos of but never expected to see in the flesh. What a thrill!

'Kick'n Back', watercolour on paper, 1995 by Nelson Boren.

Contemporary artists working in Western subject matter were also represented in the collection. I really liked this huge watercolour of cowboy boots.

I did not see it, but John also checked out the Firearms exhibit at the Center and was amazed to see guns made as long ago as 500 AD, in a collection of 2,700 historical firearms on two floors. The Yellowstone and Plains Indians exhibits were less interesting to us but the Center as a whole was grand and highly recommended to anyone passing through Cody.

Just a block from our campground in Cody was the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, so John and I and Jay walked there on Sunday for a tour. The Center is actually five museums - Buffalo Bill, Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Yellowstone, Plains Indian Peoples and Firearms. We spent about four hours in the museums, regrouping for lunch at the on site cafe. If you ever get a chance to visit, don't miss this world class offering. This blog article will just give you a taste...

Photograph, 1873, L to R: Eugene Overton, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, Texas Jack Omohundro, Elisha Green (all frontier scouts).

The Buffalo Bill museum was my favourite and it contained an astonishing collection of his personal possessions and other historic items including photographs and I was enthralled with his story. The museum displays provided the following interesting details of his life.

Cody earned his nickname 'Buffalo Bill' from his skill as a hunter. In 1868 he earned a whopping $500 a month supplying meat to workers on the Kansas-Pacific Railway. Guiding wealthy European and American sportsment on western hunts provided substantial extra income and contributed to his fame.

Cody's Buffalo coat and stetson hat (1880) and his ivory handled bowie knife (1860).

Cody became one of the US army's finest and best known scouts. Military reports credit his knowledge of western terrain, his marksmanship, his courage and endurance and his understanding of the Indian for his success. Most scouts and guides were hired for short periods of time, usually for single expeditions, but Cody was continuously employed from 1868 to 1872.

Buffalo hide coat with beaver trim (1871) and engraved nickel and gold plated Remington rifle (1866), both belonging to Buffalo Bill Cody.

In 1873, Cody formed the Wild West performing troupe that included Wild Bill Hickok and Texas Jack Omohundro, to re-enact Cody's frontier adventures. He appeared in theatres spring through fall and returned to scouting for the army in the summers. Audiences and newspapermen saw these men as the real thing, not actors, so the melodramas provided a foundation for the wild west myth.

Across Europe and America, the Wild West trains carried the show, its tents and equipment, to thousands of towns and cities. During one period, this army of performers and crew numbered more than 600, all of whom were fed three hot meals a day prepared on portable ranges more than 20 feet long. The show carried and cared for 500 head of livestock, including bison. Up to 80 Indians at a time performed in the troupe.

Lithographed posters such as this one were the principle means of show-business advertising in the 1800's. A one-sheet poster was usually 28" by 42". The Wild West show spent as much as $100,000 per season on posters.

As the Wild West toured the country, two train cars of advance men travelled one and two weeks ahead of the show, to arrange permits and licences, to buy provisions for the staff and feed for the livestock, to publicize and rent advertising space, and to paste up thousands of posters.

24-sheet lithograph printed 1898, Cincinatti. This is made of 24 separate lithographed sheets, pasted together into two large panels and would have been posted on the side of a barn or on a billboard fence called a 'hoarding'.

The show probably purchased over 1,000 copies of this billboard poster for the 1898 season at about $4 each and spent another $4 to install each billboard. In total the Wild West show used a half million poster sheets per year. Boy did they know how to market their business!

Photograph of Annie Oakley (1860-1926) the famous markswoman who starred in the Wild West from 1885 to 1901. Chief Sitting Bull called her 'Little Sure Shot'.

By 1901, more than one billion words had been printed about Cody. In the days before television, weekly 'pulp' magazines printed fictional adventure stories that used his face and name but little else that was true. And the legend lives on today!

Selection of period books and magazines featuring Buffalo Bill.

We're glad we booked three nights at the Ponderosa Campground in Cody, Wyoming, because it is right in town and we can walk to everything. Our first full day there, after I did a fast four loads of laundry at the campground, we set out on foot to see what downtown offered.

First National Bank and Trust - Cody style! We admired this beautiful building with bronze sculptures of pronghorned antelope (shown here) and bighorn sheep (not shown). Cody must have a really strict bylaw to control the western look of the town.

The town of Cody was founded by 'Buffalo Bill' Cody and other folks in 1895. Evidently he was the best known American in the world during his lifetime. He worked for the US army as a scout and was well respected by the native people. In 1883 he created a travelling show depicting the frontier experience called 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West' which toured the US and Europe for 30 years.

Buffalo Bill built the Irma Hotel in 1902 as a rest stop for visitors to Yellowstone National Park and kept two suites and an office there for his personal use. The hotel is still in use today and we had lunch in the dining room there.

This cherrywood bar in the Irma Hotel was built in 1902 and is the most photographed spot in Cody. Notice the tin ceiling too.

Six nights a week, a mock gunfight is performed in the street outside the Irma Hotel, so of course we had to see it. The show is put on by volunteers from June to September each year and visitors can stand and watch for free or pay $2 to sit in a chair. The actors have great costumes and use real guns with blank ammo so the performance felt authentic.

First of all, the bad guys strut around and plot to rob the bank...

The the sherrif confronts the bad guys and asks them to leave town...

Then comes the obligatory poker game that goes sour and someone is accused of cheating...

And of course one of the bad guys ends up dead in the street.

All the characters pose at the end for photos. Well done!

It's Friday night in Cody, Wyoming and our new friends Jay and Carol are keen to see a rodeo. The campground staff let us know about the Cody Cattle Company, which is a dinner theatre a few blocks away, right next to the Cody Nite Rodeo. The four of us bought tickets for the whole shebang.

The evening started off with a scrumptious chuck wagon style buffet dinner (baked chicken, slow roasted beef brisket, potatoes, coleslaw, baked beans, applesauce, cornbread, salad, brownies and lemonade). We sat on long benches at trestle tables. Then the entertainment came on - three world class guitar musicians playing a selection of bluegrass, rock'n'roll and western songs. Man, could they play!

"Foot-Stompin', Hand-Clappin', Live Western Music Show starring award-winning Ryan Martin and the Everywhere West Band!"

After the concert we donned our coats and moved to the outdoor rodeo arena, where rodeos are held every night in June, July and August. First on the roster was bronc busting (trying to stay on a bucking horse longer than anyone else). Not for the faint of heart I can assure you!

Did you know Cody is the Rodeo Capitol of the World? Who's gonna argue?

Some cowboys showed good form...

Most just held on for all they were worth...

But sooner or later they all fell off.

And lost their cowboy hats too!

Then came calf-roping.

Cowboys have to tie together three of the calf's legs to complete the competition. Note the horse is trained to keep tension on the lassoo rope around the calf's neck.

This cowgirl has lasooed her calf.

You just have to admire their skill.

And that was our taste of the west in Cody!

Yellow wildflowers carpet the Bighorn Mountains.

The Wyoming tourist info centre recommended we take our trailer through the southern mountain pass from Buffalo towards Yellowstone National Park. Apparently that highway had fewer switchbacks and steep grades, so we headed through the Bighorn Pass on Hwy 16. As it turns out, the northern pass on Hwy 14 was closed due to a mudslide so we had no choice anyway.

Still snow in the mountains in mid June.

We saw some great scenery and the temperature really dropped as we gained elevation.

The outside thermometer in our truck almost got down to the freezing point as we passed the highest elevation.

As we started the big descent, we caught up with a motor coach that was following a very slow moving tanker truck. We recognized the Jeep and kayak the coach was towing - the rig belonged to the Alaska-bound couple that we met at the Buffalo campground.  Their brakes were smoking and we were concerned for them because John said if they didn't stop and let their brakes cool, they would boil off their brake fluid and lose their braking ability.

That smoke is from their brakes overheating on this long descent through Bighorn Pass.

When the coach pulled off at an overlook, we pulled off behind them and they recognized us. We really hit it off and chatted with them a half hour or so until their brake lines cooled. They happened to be booked at the Ponderosa Campground in Cody for the same 3 days as we were. Their names were Jay and Carol, they were from Maryland and we exchanged cell numbers and email addresses.

View from the overlook. Notice the switchbacks and whitewater below.

So we followed Jay and Carol all the way to Cody (no more hot brakes!)and settled in at the Ponderosa Campground, which was right in town.

Dramatic scenery of Bighorn Pass. That is Jay and Carol's coach in front of us.

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Wyoming is one of the nicest states we have visited this summer. Why you say? It has lovely rolling hills, and with the heavy rains this spring the landscape is still green, not having faded to the usual dull gold of this dry region. While we were there the weather was mostly sunny and mild. And of course, Yellowstone National Park is in Wyoming, but more on that later.

Beautiful hills of Wyoming.

There is a feeling of prosperity in this state, so it did not surprise us to learn that the energy industry is thriving here. Wyoming has the largest coal deposits in the USA, and oil rigs and giant windmills dot the landscape here and there.

Open pit coal mining operation seen from Hwy. 16. Look how rich the deposit of black coal is! They just have to shovel it out of the ground.

We left Devils Tower in the northeast corner of the state and travelled west through Gillette, where we stopped for groceries at Albertsons and were really impressed. Lots of fresh meats and produce, although a bit pricey. I selected two fresh wild halibut filets for our supper and didn't notice until we left the store that they cost a whopping $26. Oh well...

The Indian Campground in Buffalo was our home for the next two nights and it is a wonderful shady place with huge cottonwood trees and large pull through sites. The campground store had an excellent selection of native southwestern jewellery that I managed to resist. After a walk towards downtown we grilled the fish on the BBQ and finally opened the bottle of champagne that had been in our fridge since we left home. The bubbly was to celebrate our first big voyage in our new Earthbound trailer. Brownies and ice cream finished off the delicious meal that we ate on the picnic table at our site.

That evening we walked around the campground and struck up a conversation with a couple who were camping in a motor coach and towing a Jeep with a kayak strapped to the roof. Turns out they are full time RVers on their way from Florida to Alaska this summer. We always enjoy meeting full-timers as they are well travelled, have interesting stories to tell and are full of helpful tips on RVing. Little did we suspect this couple would become good friends with us later on...

The next day we walked all the way downtown to visit the Sports Lure, which takes up 3 or 4 old storefronts in the historic section. Apparently fly fishing, hunting, kayaking and hiking are popular here in the mountains and this store had all the equipment you could ask for. I finally found hiking pants to fit me (the kind where the legs zip off to make the pants into shorts).

There was a fast creek running through the old downtown and on the bridge we saw a water level marker. It measured each foot up to 8 and instead of the 9 foot mark (which would have been over street level) it said "RUN!". The water was only at the 2 foot mark but we saw sandbags on the sidewalks in front of some stores near the bridge so apparently there was a flood watch of some kind.

We discovered a hiking trail that ran from downtown Buffalo along the river to near our campground. You can see the water is moving fast. No chance of us kayaking here I can assure you!

That evening we drove north a half hour to Sheridan for their monthly street festival. There was the usual array of sidewalk sale merchandise, booths from various businesses and charities, and two live music stages. One had a folk singer and the other had a country/rock band, both of which were quite good. We bought 'chicken fried steak' sandwiches from an outdoor food vendor and they were delicious. They are very close to schnitzel in our terminology. As we left the festival to drive back to Buffalo, it started to rain. Nice planning, JFR Tours!

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On our second and third days at Devils Tower we hiked a total of 8 km on the longer trails, which gave us some new views of the mountain.

John on the Joynes Ridge Trail, Devils Tower.

All we could hear was the wind in the pines and bird song - such a peaceful place.

There were dozens of trees knocked down in yesterday's thunderstorm and several blocked the trail so we had to climb over or go around lots of massive tree trunks.

Large Ponderosa Pines felled by the storm.

We found a shallow cave near the trail, carved by rainwater over the centuries.

John checking out a cave below Devils Tower.

We were lucky to catch a glimpse of the native inhabitants here and there, as these photos show.

Below Devils Tower is a large field called Prairie Dog Town.

Dozens of Prairie Dogs chirped to each other constantly, so the field was very noisy.

Deer in the woods.

This is the view of our campground from the mountain trail.

The river beside the campground obviously was high and running fast.

Belle Fourche River.

We very much enjoyed our few days at Devils Tower and recommend it highly to everyone passing that way. The next day we packed up and headed west a few hours towards the town of Buffalo, Wyoming.

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