Cody by myself

Mike is in Western Washington to see grandsons without me, visit firends, oh and of course go to a doctor's appointment.  So, I have had a couple days alone in Cody.  I have tried to get into trouble.  I went to a gun fight, and I didn't get shot.  I went to a ghost town, and saw no ghosts, and I spent six hours in a museum with five different branches in one building and I didn't get lost (but I got sore feet!).

The museum is incredible.  It has seperate collections on Yellowstone, western art, plains indians, guns, and of course, Buffalo Bill Cody.  The western art section has many Charles Russell and Frederic Remington paintings and sculptures.  Remington's sculptures are mystifying in their gravity defying postures.  Several displays interestingly grouped different artists portraying the same events.  The many paintings of Custer's last stand were disturbingly gruesome.  The plains indian section gave me a new respect for the way of life experienced by the indeginous people before we screwed it up and murdered as many as we could.  I am  devastated that my country has participated in this genocide.  The gun section is the largest monument to death that I have ever seen.  There are guns from the 1500s to the present.  Guns from every war, guns for every purpose ( all involving death, just different targets) guns that shoot one bullet, guns that shoot thousands of bullets.  I don't need to see any more guns for a long time.  The section on Buffalo Bill Cody was very interesting and entertaining.  He was an artist at self-promotionand  and his costumes rivaled Liberace's!  I enjoyed learning a little more about Annie Oakly, Calamity Jane and other participants in his Wild West Show.  I am bewildered by the fact that Cody served as a scout for Custer, and then later employed up to eighty natives at a time in his show (the maximum number allowed by the US government)  and advocated for better treatment of "indians".

After the museum, I went to a gun battle enactment that takes place at the Irma Hotel (built by Bill Cody) every evening at 6 p.m.  The actors are volunteers, and they rent seats and sell posters to earn money for local non-profits.  Truthfully, the show was a little lame.  Before the show they gave a free poster to the oldest person in the crowd and I was delighted to see that Rick, our neighbor from Thermopolis "won" the poster.  I said hello to he and his wife after the show, and I believe he was actually a little embarrassed about the poster. The MC( Buffalo Bill Cody of course) promised that rocky mountain oysters were available in the Irma Hotel.  I was very disappointed to find that they aren't actually available.  I have always wanted to try them.  I even went to a local meat store to see if I could find some, but to no avail. (Do you think that they would agravate my nut allergies?)

Today I went to a recreated ghost town named Trail Town.  The buildings are authentic old buildings, but most of them have been moved to the sight.  There are several graves of people that have been re-interred on site.  The people all died by being murdered or mauled by grizzlies.  One woman, Belle, was murdered after two of her lovers fought over her, leaving one lover and his friend dead.  I am wishing I could meet some of these early western women.  I bet I would like them!  The most incredible thing about this town is the extensive collection of buildings, wagons and other equipment that is not being protected from the weather and subsequent deterioration.  While in one cabin I heard an animal chewing on the back.  I went to the back and saw a rabbit come from underneath the cabin.  I am sure there are plenty of rats and other critters that are also residents.

Graves

Original sandstone grave marker

Belle caused a lot of trouble in her 30 years!

Livery stable

Trail Town resident

It was a fun place to take pictures!  After Trail Town, I drove out by Heart Mountain to see if I could locate any of the old grounds of the Heart Mountain Internment Camp from World War II.  I was very disappointed to see that only two roads headed in that direction, both of them dirt and marked "no tresspassing".  I know that the land was released for homesteading after the war, and that it is now part of several ranches.  It is hard to imagine that a place that housed 5000 prisoners could disappear so quickly.  Another chapter from our insidious national wisdom.

The last week or so the roads and campgrounds have been full of motorcycles going to Sturgis.  Two nights ago the tenting areas of RV parks were packed solid with the bikers.  But the noise is dying down as Sturgis is ready to begin.  I expect a quiet weekend (the rally is this weekend) followed by the crowd heading home.  From what I have seen, I think the average age of attendees will be 55.  Not the young and rebellious group of yesteryear!

Mike is heading back tomorrow and I will be very glad to see him.  I am getting lonely here in the west.