Day 6: Breaking the 2000-Mile Mark and Making It to Wyoming!

We left Custer State Park, and South Dakota, first thing this morning – but not before waving to all the bison, deer and antelopes with which we’ve kind of become used to co-existing. From there we took the comparatively boring ride through Rapid City and then up to a planned stop at “Devil’s Tower” – a giant rock formation that was formed by magma that cooled before it reached the surface, and then was eventually pushed up hundreds of feet above the ground by some process I need to learn more about. Or not. Anyway, in my experience it looked like a much, much larger Zimmer Power Plant with a faux-bamboo decorative finish, which was then painted various shades of brown for a weathered look.

We stopped for lunch at a little KOA Restaurant / General Store just outside the entrance to Devil’s Tower National Monument, and were stopped on our way out by a couple of guys wearing shirts embroidered with “Wyoming Tourism” and standing near a van bearing the same insignia. They asked if they could take a picture of our adorable children for some of their promotional materials, and then proceeded to haul out their huge camera and tripod as we were both shrugging, “Sure.” In spite of the initial flattery, this experience was neither the harbinger for their modeling careers, nor an endorsement of the features of our gene pool…. They composed the shot by asking the kids to keep their cowboy hats on, line up tallest to shortest and then TURN AROUND to face Devil’s tower with one of them pointing up to it. Ha! So, not to brag butt, you may see the back sides of our 10-gallon-hat-wearing children at www.WyomingTourism.org. Regardless, they all hopped back in the RV thrilled with their fame and notoriety… so that’s all good…

Passing through the entrance gate to the Devil’s Tower National Monument was a bit of a surreal experience, as the first park ranger we encountered was as exaggeratedly friendly as he was quirky – so much so that I would have sworn that this one-front-toothed happy camper was actually Will Ferrell and we were unwittingly cast as some token extras in his next movie. We pulled away exchanging “does anybody know what just happened???”- looks amongst ourselves, and then pulled off to speak with the second park ranger once we spotted him to see if he could help us translate what the first guy was trying to tell us about parking our RV in his “teeny tiny parking lot” (his words). But, wouldn’t you know it, as this second guy began to answer us, I found myself having to resist the strong urge to crane my neck around to look for the candid cameras… With his authoritative Wyoming rancher manner of speaking, he started off with, “Well… this is how this is gonna work folks…” Again, Hollywood just doesn’t cast ANYTHING this well.

So we made it up to Devils Tower, and hiked all the way around the beautiful path encircling it. Because Devil’s Tower is a sacred place to Native Americans, we saw evidence of prayerful acts at various places along the path including colorful “prayer cloths” hanging from various trees and some tightly wrapped little bundles of herbs lying beneath them. We also counted 5 climbers making their way up the tower (with all manner of roping and related gear), but we were happy to continue on with our feet on the ground…. Looking for prairie dogs, admiring flowers, and asking lots of questions -- like whether the piece of bark one of us discovered was an ancient Native American arrowhead. The weather was perfectly sunny and comfortable, and so this nice long hike was the perfect break in what would otherwise be a long day of driving. Plus, of course, yet another opportunity to earn a gold-toned plastic Jr. Ranger badge and Devil’s Tower patch! No, this concept is not wearing thin… Not even close.

And so then back in the RV we go to endure another 5 hour drive to Cody, Wyoming. Or so we thought. As soon as we turned on our GPS, we were disappointed to learn that it was in violent disagreement with the Google maps estimate of our drive time -- upping it from 5 hours to 7! Oh no! If that were the case, we would definitely miss the Cody Nite Rodeo!!! But we decided to persevere, nonetheless, in the hopes that Google happened to be the more accurate source of information.

Then we ended up hitting road construction a couple of different times on the way too -- doesn’t it just figure? And in Wyoming “road construction” means that you have to wait for the lead car that shuttles one lane to the guy standing guard with a stop sign on one end of the road work, and then back to the other stop-sign-wielding guy on the other side of it. We also found that, in some cases, you have to wait for the lead car driver to get out of the lead car, get her dog out of another truck, pet her dog a few times, exchange a few words with stop sign guy, put her dog in the lead car, and then do that back-and-forth thing to turn around that you would do if you were trying to turn around on a dead-end street in town… EXCEPT THAT YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE IN WYOMING!!! LOL. Seriously, you got room here, babe…. And turning around relatively efficiently would appear to be part of the job description here?

Then, wouldn’t you know it, a little more bad luck -- we hit foul weather. Shucks. Wind, rain, harder rain and more wind. Ugh! We’ll never make the rodeo now… Oh well.

But wait, somehow and someway, we found ourselves pulling into Cody, Wyoming at 7:43pm… just in time for the 8:pm rodeo extravaganza. Sweet… the GPS was way wrong. Giddy-up and grab those cowboy hats, kids, ‘cuz here we go! Sure, we may have been the only RV pulling into that parking lot on 2 wheels, with 4 kids jumping out of the back door before the gear shift was officially in “Park”… But gosh golly darn it, we made it! Yahoo!


The rodeo was much more authentic than we expected… definitely the real deal. Cowboys riding bucking broncos, calf lasso-ing and tying races (you start on your horse, lasso the calf and then jump down to tie the calf’s feet together), steer wrestling (again, start on that horse, but this time jump from your saddle directly onto the steer and bring ‘im down with ya), cowgirl barrel racing (horseback riding’s answer to slalom skiing), and last – but not least – bull riding (I seriously was fearful we were going to witness a stomped or gored cowboy… kind of a terrifying experience, really). These guys were awesome, and completely nuts! And they were real competitors with scores and standings in an official league and everything. Other indicia of authenticity included the vast acreage of livestock sectioned off into various “gated communities” around the arena, a press box with a professional commentator, a rodeo clown inside the arena who was continually interacting with the commentator, a grand stand of fans on both sides (but we sat in the “Buzzards Roost” where you could see the cowboys saddling up), and adorable young women wearing paper hats shaped to look just like popcorn containers marching and calling up and down the grand stands to sell food and drinks to the fans. The fans, on the other hand, were either equally authentic looking or, well, looked like us.

So the rodeo clown. Who takes him seriously, right? He’s goof-balling it up all night long, and then about half-way through the rodeo he invites all of the children in the stands between the ages of 6 and 12 (which covers the full range of ages of the Hieatt buckaroos) to come down to the arena floor to have a look. OK, what a great opportunity, right? So, like all the rest of them, our kids excitedly run down there. Then, the next thing we hear that crazy little rodeo clown say is that they are going to release three calves into the ring with them, that these calves will have red little bows tied to their tails, AND that the kids should try to catch up to one of the calves and grab that little red bow to win a prize. Very funny…. Ha! I just sat back and waited for all of the kids to believe him, and just run back out of the arena…

Oh, but wait! Here come the calves… What?!!!! Why do they look so big all of the sudden, and why are they charging at my children… kids who have never been to the library without first having to have a permission slip signed by me? Wow, these people really are crazy!!! I’m learning the hard way that people who risk being stomped on and gored senseless by angry bulls on a daily basis just don’t have it in their DNA to be afraid of silly little things like lawyers and their propensity to sue you when you maim their children. Oh my!

So the 50 kids and 3 calves created a complete melee in the arena, but it was all over inside a minute when a little girl dressed very much like one of my own started sprinting up to that rodeo clown with one of the coveted red ribbons in her hand. And the next thing I know, she’s holding the clown’s microphone and introducing herself, “I’m Emily Hieatt, and I’m from Ohio!” What?!!!! And with that, my second born is handsomely congratulated for winning the be-the-first-to-grab-a-red-bow-off-of-the-tail-of-a-charging-calf contest, and is presented with her big winnings…. Gift certificates for a Dairy Queen sundae and a free horse ride (which by now I’m just assuming will be on one of those bucking bronco ones… because, heck, it’s not like she’s still in diapers, right?).

Minutes later all of the kids are back in the grandstand, unscathed and completely exuberant about the “Big Win”, so it’s just the most exciting thing ever! Time to celebrate! There’s just nothing quite like being officially named the best cowgirl out at the rodeo on your first night in the great state of Wyoming. Awesome!!!!