Ahoy there, Mateys! // Howdy, Pardner!

Tuesday, July 18th, 2017--Deadwood's KOA is built into a hillside and even though the sites are right on top of one another it was quite a sight to see. The boys said it felt like we were in a bowl and I'd have to agree. A 360-degree view of the campground shows tall, tree-lined hillsides, so green after all the rock and burnt grass we just left in the Badlands.

So great when they'd get along enough to sit four on the couch to watch a movie!

Some good news: Deadwood's temperature dropped to a cool 58-degrees overnight so we were fine without air conditioning! Again, odd after the over 100-degree temperatures in the Badlands.

July 18th is both Benny and Charlie's birthday and it was neat to wake up in this beautiful place and celebrate with a birthday breakfast. Mere came up with the name of "Argh-Vee" for our vehicle and so we decorated with pirate-themed decorations. We had biscuits and gravy, bacon and sausage links, scrambled eggs, bananas and grapes for this delicious meal. The boys got some fun games from the Vonder Meulens and the group immediately jumped into playing the two of them.

Cody, Wyoming, is almost six hours away from Deadwood so we had to get going fairly early to make it in time for the rodeo. We left the KOA  at Deadwood at 10am and drove through the Black Hills. We had planned on hiking some before heading out of the area, but it didn't work out. As of now, we're going to hit up the Black Hills when we go to Mount Rushmore at the end of our trip. It'll be the southern part but I'm sure it'll be just as beautiful. The drive itself through the Black Hills on Spearfish Highway (I-90/US-16) was amazing. We drove windy roads and saw thousands of trees and even ginormous snow-capped mountains.

The boys do not like Mere's name for the RV and instead call it "Pickle Bump"

The Cody KOA has a free shuttle to the rodeo which left at 7pm so we were on a tight schedule. We made sandwiches and ate in the RV while driving with sunny blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds--ideal vacation driving! We drove through the Big Horn National Forest which I wish we could have visited. They don't just name any forest a "National" one and just from the highway this was a gorgeous part of the country.

Big Horn National Forest

We had two ways to get to Cody and we chose one which was the lesser traveled and even though I typically enjoy that, this was kind of scary! The land on either side of the highway was barren--no homes, no people, and the only two cars we saw until almost hitting the next road we needed to turn on were ours and Vonder Meulens'.  One of the towns we went through had a population of 10. Yes, I said ten.

The Cody KOA has been the most enjoyable for the kids by far. They had so much to do! There was (manual) bowling, a jumping pillow, Giant Connect Four, Tipis, Giant Checkers, Wii, LEGOs, Giant Chess, and Cornhole. For dinner we made pulled pork with the fixins and jazzed it up with party plates, napkins, cups, and had m&m ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

Soon, the Rodeo bus showed up and we needed to get out of Dodge to make it on time. On the roof of the bus people autographed their names and where they're from. We couldn't get over the number of non-US people that came to Cody, Wyoming! The majority of people came from Norway and Sweden, but there were so many from Japan, China, and European countries.

The rodeos that I have been to before have been at the Cincinnati Gardens, US Bank Arena, and Hara Arena, all indoor facilities. It was fun to see this rodeo outside with mountains as the backdrop. The kids had a blast. I forgot that this wasn't anything like what they've seen before--they LOVED it. There was bareback and saddles riders, barrel racing, and of course bull riding.

Kids, 12 and under, were invited out to catch a ribbon from two calves' tails. 

It was amazing to see how many families entered themselves into all the different categories! A father would do the bareback riding and then his daughter would do the barrel racing. Wives and husbands would team up to do the roping pairs. Many of kids that were competing were so young! There was a bull rider that looked as young (if not younger!) than Louie, and there was the cutest 4-year-old girl who competed in the barrel racing! Meredith was completely mesmerized by it all and is convinced that she will be a cowgirl in the near-future.

The night was capped off with s'more around the fire!