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Cody, Wyoming is one of my favorite places to come and visit.  Named after Buffalo Bill Cody, the man, the myth, the legend, the town makes sure to keep his memory alive… and make a living.  Lots of history to see, there is a free “shoot ‘em up” western show outside the Irma Hotel which used to be owned by Buffalo Bill and a center in town that is dedicated to him and the history of the area.  In the summer they also have a nightly rodeo and on Thursday nights they have free concerts in the park in town.  Lots of things to do and see here.

Considering the population is a little under 10,000 people they have some really nice facilities.  The high school looks to be fairly large and new, the library is really beautiful and large for this size town and they have an aquatic center, which is basically like a YMCA.  I’ve been going to places like these now where you can pay a day rate, use the gym, shower and grab some wifi.  This facility has a  couple of pools, three basketball courts, racketball courts, indoor track and a nice workout area with free weights and all sorts of machines.  Prosperity seems to be alive and well in Cody, WY.  So as the tourists are mingling around the Main Street areas, the town folk seem to be living well in the residential areas. 

There was a Winchester gun show in the exhibit hall connected to the Aquatic center so I paid the admission and went to my first gun show.  As you can easily get guns around Wyoming, this wasn’t for pedestrian shoppers this was for collectors. Being new to this, it was kind of amazing how many guns were on display, I’m guessing several thousand, but whatever the number it was surely more guns than I have ever seen in one place.  There were a lot of interesting old guns there, a few in particular were priced for tens of thousands of dollars if they were a rarity or had belonged to someone famous.  The most expensive gun there was around $150,000 that once belonged to Teddy Roosevelt.  The show is three days long and well attended by a lot of people wearing cowboy hats.  Admission was $8.00 to get in and the money box was just sitting out on a folding table by the door protected by the smallish woman taking the money.  I laughed to myself that there was no signs of security anywhere in the building even with these very expensive collector pieces and the money box out in the open.  I have a feeling that no one here was much concerned about getting robbed and whoever might try it would make for some good target practice out in the parking lot.

What I especially like about Cody besides is its homey feel, nice neighborhoods and great facilities is that it’s the gateway into Yellowstone National Park’s east gate.  It’s about a 45 mile drive to get to the park entrance, but in these parts that’s not a long drive.  Lots of space out here.  I found a spot a couple of years ago about 5 miles outside of Yellowstone, where I still park, throw out the anchor and unleash the Fat Boy to go riding in the park for the day. It works out great.  You can kind of push yourself on the bike and not have to worry about an additional hour on two wheels to get back to town, just relax on the way back in the cab of the truck. 

Yellowstone is probably my favorite park and I’ve been here 5 times already.  Only issue is at times there’s a little traffic inside the park.  Sometimes it’s due to some road construction, sometimes it’s a few too many slow driving gawking tourists or the occasional buffalo herd crossing the road.  Although the Buffalo don’t really classify as a traffic tie up as much as a photo op.  All in all a there is a lot of nice road in the park and it’s beautiful.  The park basically sits on top of a huge simmering volcano and it makes for some interesting viewing.  There are numerous spots to pull over and watch steam and sulfur coming out of the earth and simmering cauldrons of water.  Then there are beautiful views of meadows where the Buffalo roam.  There is a beautiful huge lake to ride around and picturesque river views.  Its also the home of Old Faithful.  Riding around this place is flat out great viewing.

This year I again got fairly close to some Buffalo, maybe within about 40 yards.  They are large formidable creatures for sure.  Last year I actually had to pass by a couple of Buffalo that were still in the road, but walking towards me in the oncoming lane.  Traffic started moving on my side so I needed to go.  I held up and made sure that the cars ahead of me were not going to be in my way if I needed to gun the bike.  I took it nice and slow passing these big fellers with my left hand on the clutch and the right hand with the throttle at the ready in case the noise of the bike spooked these beasts.  It was kind of adrenalin pumping for me, but the Buffalo were not impressed and didn’t even even give me a glancing look. This particular Buffalo is a picture from a from a previous trip.  I’ve been in a lot of beautiful awe inspiring parks over the past few years, so I’m getting a bit used to them, however, a few miles after entering the park I crested this mountain and this particular awesome view put a chill up my spine.  You can easily spend a few days in this park taking in the views and natural attractions. 

So back to Cody.  I know there are a lot of dispersed camping spots in the area closer to Yellowstone, but I really like being in the town of Cody itself and don’t mind making the extra drive to get to Yellowstone to ride the Fat Boy.  So as I often do, I used “Camp Walmart” as my fall back position.  This Walmart is very supportive of RV stays and the view is actually pretty darn good too.  When evening comes around it looks more like an RV Park then a Walmart.  There were people on the side of the lot by the grassy areas sitting around in lawn chairs, some were firing up the BBQ, it was a real camping atmosphere.  Plus the Walmart put out plenty of garbage cans and also had a recycle trailer in the lot so you can even sort out your stuff when you throw it away.  Tell you what, a lot of campers were using this place as a stop before Yellowstone and stocking up with supplies from Walmart, so it appears to be smart business. 

If you’re ever get a hankering to learn about Buffalo Bill Cody, enjoy a great little town, see an amazing national park in Yellowstone and if you ride a motorcycle have a solid riding experience, big thumbs up to Cody, MT. 

So as I sign off and bid Cody a fond farewell, here’s a picture of the beautiful sunset over Camp Walmart.