0802 - A bit of this and that - Rejuvenation? Or Last Hurrah?

August 2, 2022

0802 - A bit of this and that

Not a bad day, really

LOOKING OUT THE PICTURE WINDOW of my hotel room in Cody, I could see a curtain of rain crossing the mountain peak and headed my way. The wind was rising, to the point where it whistled and moaned in the window frame and around the door. I was quite happy to have splashed out for a hotel room rather than the KOA on the far side of town. Sometimes $27 isn't such a bargain. Comparatively cheap, sure, but not necessarily a bargain. The rain was a brief passing thing; it was also the first I've encountered since ten minutes of light showers on my first night out, a month ago.

However, I'll be denied a repeat of last night's novelty: warm ground to sleep on. By warm I mean feels-like-hot-pavement-in-strong-sun kind of warm. In fact, when I first lay down last night that was my thought: "Gee it must've really been hotter than I realized today. This ground is really warm, especially for this late in the evening."

When it stayed warm to the touch well after midnight, I concluded that there was something else at work. It's not really that far from Yellowstone, and there are also (now-extinct) geysers and thermal phenomena in Cody, so I suspect that the same heat source that powers Old Faithful is at work farther afield. I've never slept on what amounts to a heated camp sleeping pad before. No wonder that bison likes it here.

After packing up camp this morning, I had a look at the back wheel. Bad. Very Bad. Not Good.

At least this one wasn't brand new; it was the one I had trained on and removed before leaving home.

There was an obvious bulge in the sidewall, and a bulge plus deviation in the tread area. I was lucky, once again, that the thing had held together during yesterday's long, sometimes rapid descent from Sylvan Pass, but now it's clearly toast.

The culprit: a split (failure) in the inner casing and, I think, the tire's inner structure as well. I have *no* idea how that could have happened, unless it was the aftermath of my having hit a nasty edge on a poorly-maintained bridge expansion joint.

Thank goodness I had had BOTH of my spares sent out during the first tire failure back in Idaho; I'd been lugging the remaining spare along in hopes that it would not be needed but man was I glad to have it on hand today.

It didn't take terribly long to do the swap, so I was on my way by a little after 0800 hours. Continuing yesterday's trend, U.S. 14/16/20 follows the Shoshone River pretty much all the way into Cody.

This was the very first Ranger Station in the country.

It's a pretty scenic sort of place for an office, though in the early days office work wasn't a big fraction of the job. Rangers also had to furnish their own animals, tools, and all other equipment. They were paid $60 per month.

The gall of some people is simply breathtaking.

I liked the Forest Service finial at the top of the flag pole. Nice touch.

Along the way it passes by Buffalo Bill State Park and the associated dam, which when it was completed in 1910 was the tallest dam in the world.

The dam is very tall, but also pretty narrow.

I arrived at the Visitor's Center, next to the entrance to the Cody Tunnel, and was immediately greeted by a woman driving the golf cart / shuttle from the parking area into the Visitor's Center proper. "You want to see Ada or Annie about unlocking the gate.", she told me. "You DON'T want to ride through the tunnel." On that point we were in complete agreement.

There's a "secret passageway" between the river and the mountainside that contains the tunnel. It's a gated road, opened only for cyclists and other Special Persons, and it pitches down at between seven and ten percent. It is one lane, has no guard rail and few retaining walls, and in spots has a several hundred foot drop immediately next to the edge of the "pavement". Needless to say I took it VERY carefully.

Another view of the dam. The gorge is very, very narrow, steep-sided, and DEEP.

This was all the tunnel I wanted to deal with.

From the tunnel (or tunnel bypass in my case) it's just a few easy miles into Cody.

Calgarians, among others, may dispute this claim but there's no doubt that Cody is *serious* about rodeo.

Lucky with the weather: it's nearly noon on the 2nd of August and not yet 80 degrees. I had lots of days with similarly fortuitous and pleasant conditions, though very few of them were as overcast as today.

A handsome entry portal to the rodeo grounds.

A bit after I checked in to the hotel, a 1970s vintage Ford pulled into the parking lot. It sported an enormous pair of steer horns on the hood, was covered in Cody Rodeo signage, and had a pair of loudspeakers on the trunk lid. It's a mobile advertisement for the rodeo, and definitely gets your attention. Sadly I couldn't get the camera out in time, so I missed what might well have been the photo of the day.

"Old Cody" on the outskirts of modern Cody, could be a set for a Western. For all I know, it has been.

Since I was in early (booked into the hotel right around noon) I had time to poke around town for a bit after showering. There's a lot going on, mostly seeming to be related to the hospitality industry: many hotels, fitting nearly every pocketbook, restaurants, etc. There's a bike shop too, but alas they don't stock 20 inch road tires suitable for touring. No surprise there; virtually all of their stock is mountain bikes or some descendent thereof. Still, I had to check.

The hotel had live music in the courtyard from 1800 hours to 1930; I didn't have to leave my room to hear it. The wind's once again whistling in the grillwork of the room's air conditioner, but the rain has stopped (it didn't last terribly long to begin with) and they've queued up a saddle horse in case anyone wants to go for a short ride. It's a mammoth animal- almost draft horse proportions, and is grazing contentedly on the grass near the swimming pool. I'm tempted to give it a try.

I was right: Hank is a Belgian draft horse.

He's very docile and well-mannered, which is good since he weighs in at around 2,500 pounds.

[LATER] Well, I didn't mount up but Hank the Horse has been busy giving rides for the kiddies. Once around the swimming pool, per ride, max two rides per rider. This is, evidently, an every day routine during the summer, as is the live musician performing under the hotel's portico.

These two together don't get close to the 200 pound weight limit.

Sunset over the hills, somewhat muted by the clouds. This is what I see from my room- not bad, eh? It's quite windy, though, and that coupled with a temperature drop makes me glad once again to be in a building and not in my tent.

Also happening in the courtyard, I can see a couple early teenagers horsing around with lariats, trying to rope one another. I'm in a rodeo town, for sure. I kinda like it.

Okay, *one more* sunset shot. I just can't help myself.

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Consecutive days without a tire inflation issue: 1 (* - I'm counting yesterday as the reset because that's when the problem manifested. The fact that I didn't get around to investigating and fixing it until this morning should not count against today.)

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 1,175 miles (1,891 km)

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