Aug 15-18 – Heading to Pep, NM

As we left Cody, I received a call from one of my sisters informing me that my brother, Richard, had been admitted to the hospital in Fort Worth, TX. They thought it might be cancer and would be performing surgery on him the following Monday. Not a great way to start this leg of our journey.

We followed SR 14 west out of Cody and entered Yellowstone National Park through the East Entrance. Again, a beautiful drive, Bryan and I thought it was more scenic than the West Entrance. We didn’t linger in Yellowstone – stopped and had lunch near the Visitor Center and then again to walk the West Thumb Geyser Basin.





Then on through Grand Teton National Park - beautiful. We will come back one day and do a bit more exploring.

We made it into Jackson, WY around 6 PM and called it a night. We stayed at a very, very expensive and not the greatest KOA just south of Jackson. $61 a night for water & electric and it was PACKED. Beggars can’t be choosers I guess. Tomorrow Grand Junction, CO.

We left Jackson, WY on the 16th to head to Grand Junction and then on to Ourey/Silverton, CO where we planned to spend a few days touring old mines and forest service/Jeep roads. My sister called again, this time to inform me that Mom was worried about Dad’s incision area. So I called Mom and she said she was headed to the emergency room with Dad in tow. His incision area was quite bruised and had some swelling. We opted to forego the rest of our trip and just head straight on down. From Grand Junction we hit I-70 and headed to Colorado Springs. Our first time on I-70, it was a beautiful drive too. Steeper than we expected on an interstate but a nice drive. We hit snow around the Aspen/Breckenridge area and then rain into Denver – making for a horrible Sunday evening commute!! From Denver we headed to Colo Springs and the Golden Eagle Ranch RV Park.

What a nice BIG park this was, although it could definitely be dusty during a dry spell, we happened to hit it on a rainy day and it was quite muddy in some spots. The park is fairly large – having a group site with 500 spaces and a 5000 sf meeting hall. There are 200 regular sites, many with full hook-ups. The bathrooms were clean, albeit a bit older and had nice showers. As we headed out of the park to find dinner we saw a huge bobcat. It was out in group site area and paused for a photo op before trotting across the road in front of us. Then paused in the bushes for another photo op.


We pulled into Pep, NM around 4 PM on Monday, August 18th. Dad was doing well, we took him into Lubbock, TX for a check up and his doctor said his swelling and bruising was normal and could get worse before it got better. Arteries all looked good (he performed a CAT scan at this appt). So, yea! Dad’s doing well.
The next few installments will be life at the ‘ranch’… I hope all of you are doing well and life is treating you kind. Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts for Dad and now I ask you add my brother to your prayer lists. He has colon cancer, but seems to be doing well and planning on starting chemo & radiation treatments soon.

Aug 14-15 – Cody, WY

What a neat town this is. Very touristy of course but very fun. I want to go back there and explore a bit more. We were able to see most of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center – housing five museums. We saw the Winchester Gun Museum, The Plains Indian Museum, The Western Art Museum and the Bill Cody Museum, the one we missed was the Draper Museum of Natural History – maybe next time.
There is so much to see in do in and around Cody. There is the Buffalo Bill Dam Visitor Center, a nightly rodeo, gunfights, the Old West Miniature Village, and Old Trail Town that has buildings from around the west including buildings from “Hole in the Wall” – a favorite hideout of such outlaws as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And so much more. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see any of it – so I guess we’ll have to go back.

Aug 14– Beartooth Pass

What a drive! It was so incredibly beautiful! We started out from Cody, WY on SR 120 then met up with SR 212 which encompasses the Beartooth Pass. After driving the “loop” we both decided that the WY side was much more scenic than the MT side, but all in all it was a beautiful drive. Unfortunately the day of our drive it was overcast and cold! Really cold! There were several bikers (motorcycles, not bicycles) up there and all we could think was “MMMM, that looks like fun! NOT!!’ It was so cold, I can’t even imagine how they made it. Most were bundled up and had scarves over their faces but many weren’t. Brrrrr!
The loop took us about 5 hours to drive. We made several photo stops and once for gas at “The Top of the World”, a small store, gas station and campground just a few miles from the pass. Surrounded by mountains, small mountain lakes, huge boulders... it was a beautiful setting. Hopefully some of the pics will do it justice. If you ever get a chance to go – DO IT! Just don’t take an RV on the road – it is really narrow, very winding and two way traffic. There were a few RVs on the road but I wouldn’t recommend it.