Cody to Riverton

My first couple pictures are a catch-up from the past few days.  First, a shot of Big Ernie exercising his First Amendment rights at the restaurant he and KC and I dined at in Kalispell...

Next, a shot of KC relaxing at lunch in Cody yesterday...clearly enjoying his Corona, watching the people go by this nice outdoor Mexican restaurant..

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Last night I slept like a dead man, but still felt tired this morning.  Could be 9 straight days on a motorcycle.  Ya think?  But the good news is that today is a very short day...a mere 150 miles or so, to Riverton, WY.  The terrain was high desert all the way and we passed miles of cattle grazing, irrigated alfalfa and wheat operations.

A mile north of Kirby, WY we both spotted an old truck parked on a hill side just off to one side of the road.  In unison, we U-turned and went back for a closer look.  It turned out to be advertising for  Butch's Place just ahead, so we decided to have a look.

Imagine our disappointment to learn that Butch's was closed...in fact, it looked like Butch closed in about 1987.

 However, it did provide an opportunity to take some railroad pics and I am, as KC loves to point out, a train queer.  Here's what I shot....

To my great surprise, Kirby, WY (pop...not worth counting) is home to what appears to be a first rate distillery...say hello to Wyoming Whiskey, Kirby, Wyoming.  They offered tours but their sign warned of possible explosions.  Guess they make a pretty strong concoction in there.

At this point we agreed that we'd worked Kirby for all it was worth and decided to push on to Thermopolis, home to Thermopolis Hot Springs and State Park Bath House.  I should mention that The Big Horn River runs along side Hwy 20 and we got lots of views of my favorite river in the world.  I looked closely for rising fish, but could see none.  The river was full of "salad" (aquatic vegetation) so it looked like a real bug factory (big food=big fish).  But, it is possible that the Bighorn in Thermopolis is a warm water fishery (no trout)...my favorite location on this river is in Ft. Smith, MT where it is most definitely is a trout fishery.

The State Park sits along the Big Horn River and Hwy 20.  It is a surprisingly nice and well developed facility with two hotels, a huge hot springs pool and a large bath house but I'm struggling to identify with who in the hell pays to come here.  Its a mystery I tell ya.

The hot springs come from deep inside the earth and give off a strong sulfur odor...KC tells me that the actual chemical in the water is hydrogen sulfide.  Like the springs in Yellowstone, they stain things an odd color and have an other worldly look about them.  See here...

This is a swinging walking bridge over the Big Horn River.

After a relaxing lunch in an air conditioned restaurant in Thermopolis and listening to a young man who worked in the restaurant tell of his winter job...shoveling snow and ice off people's roofs (I can't make this shit up)...we made our last push for the day down the Wind River Canyon to Shoshoni and on to Riverton, WY.  This was our second trip through the Wind River Canyon and this time I spotted a drift boat on the river.  This probably confirms my suspicion that the river is a trout fishery.  I never did figure out where the "put-in" and "take-out" is for the drift boats...the canyon stretch we rode through looked pretty much inaccessible.

I'm pooped.