Buffalo Bill Dam

July 22/2014  Hot 95, Night 65

the concrete arch dam

Just west of town is the Buffalo Bill Dam, previously known as the Shoshone Dam that was built for farmland irrigation in the Big Horn Basin.   The humidity is extremely low here, most days not over 15%.   The crops would fry without it.

Interestingly this concrete arch gravity dam was the pre-model for the Hoover Dam (1930's era) on the Colorado River.  At the time this was the tallest dam in the world (325 ft) when finished after 6 years of construction in 1910.  What we found fascinating was the engineer who was not an engineer at all; but only had grade 12 education and 21 years of practical experience surveying and basic construction principles.  At the time he was put in charge of a project that was the highest concrete arch gravity dam in the world!  Of course Billy found this remarkable, being an retired surveyor.  Talk about job stress!!!!

releasing water into the Shoshone Canyon

the reservoir

job stress

Cody, Wyoming

July 20 - 21/2014  Weather is 90 to 95 everyday. Dry - No humidity 15%.  Night 60
If you look at the map of potential roads from Ranchester/Sheridan/Buffalo Wyoming there are several "scenic" byways you can take to get to Cody........   Nope we only take the motorcycle on those.   So I know, even the Trucker's Atlas says you can safely take Hwy 14, Cloud Peak Skyway and hook up to some principal roads to come to Cody.  Nope.   We went back to Interstate 90 around and through Billings then dropped down on a principal road Hwy 310 to A14.  No elevations to worry about, no run offs, no drop offs the side of mountains.  A nice easy ride in the motorhome, with an extra hour or so that we are happy to take!
A great location to make base camp is at Cody Ponderosa Campground for a week of scenic riding and visiting nearby Yellowstone National Park.

Poster of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show

Cody is all about Buffalo Bill Cody.   A young pony express rider then soldier, hunter and eventual showman.  He was made famous by a novelist who used him as the heroic wild west character...  which was turned into a live show that went on the road to Europe and North America and movies.   The town and everything around here is named for him.   

Firearms at BB Center of the West

Excellent museum of Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the Indians, the wild west wildlife and Firearms!!!!   GUNS - 10,000 of them.  It is an unbelievable collection second to only the Smithsonian in Washington. They have so many that only half are on display.   As Canadians we have little knowledge about firearms so it was an overwhelming display of the last 100 years.

South Fork Road

We were chased back to Cody by a Thunderstorm

Beautiful ride on hwy 291 the South Fork  around the Buffalo Bill Reservoir  into the Shoshone National Forest.  There are many Dude ranches, this area is also the wintering ground for one of the largest herds of bighorn sheep in America. 

entrance to Dude ranch