Day Sixteen

We woke exactly when they started the motorcycles.  My poor son went from sound asleep to disaster position in an instant. He was balled up covering his ears and trembling. It was actually adorable. I told him everything was ok and it was just the big motorcycles and did he want to see the motorcycles. Of course he did. He peeked out the window and went straight back to sleep. It was about 7 and I knew that was when “the dude” had said they started coffee service so I went to the office to get a coffee and scope out the laundry facility. 
“Facility” may have been a bit generous. It’s a washer and a dryer outside the office inside a fenced in area. It’ll work though. I brought over my first of what I thought was 4 loads and poured in half the bag. The machine wasn’t even half full, so I dumped the rest in and tossed in a tide pod, they’re delicious by the way. Now I only have two loads.  Even better. 
The girls wanted to go swimming and I wanted them to have as much fun as they could.  

The dryer took way longer than it should so I just took the damp clothes out and put them on the picnic table that was by the pool.  I was able to do the laundry and watch the girls swim. It’s warm here and dry enough that the hot damp laundry actually dried faster out there on the table than it did in the dryer.  It was fun doing laundry outside, I may make a habit of it.  “The dude” asked me if we could stay the night. He said we we’re great guests and they have a Cowboy singer that comes on Sunday nights and their son lets people ride their (some kind of huge beautiful horse I pretended like I had heard of) around their loop in the parking lot. It truly sounded awesome and I knew Carlea would love it but we had to make some eastward progress. He said ok well the horses are all outback and you're welcome to take the children back there to let them see them.
Uh, ok. Done!

The horse was a ham for children’s attention. Like it saw them coming and came straight to the fence to see em. It was very cool.

Carlisle loves horses and was absolutely giddy for the first ten minutes or so.

She loves them so much, it really makes me want to figure out a way to get her one.

The battery was dead on the suburban AGAIN. I had left the cell booster plugged in this time. I got a jump and it started right up.

This place was cool. I'm glad we stayed here.

After we left the Big Bear Motel we drove around Cody Wyoming for a while. We saw a mule deer casually walk through a four lane four way intersection packed with traffic, like it was his road. It was a sight nobody aside from us really seemed to be surprised by. We finally settled on "More Burger and Shakes". It was really good. Charlotte was conflicted between a burger or a salad. Well, "More Burger and Shakes" did not disappoint. They had a bacon cheeseburger salad. She was elated. 

Sooner than usual in this days trip it became apparent to me that these babies need to run, swim and play. The energy and bickering in the car was too much.  Basically they were driving me crazy. So we knock off the driving early and found a KOA Journey in Buffalo, Wyoming with a pool and a  playground. They have one cabin still available, a little pricier than I'd prefer but whatever. Side note, don't go googling the trip from Cody to Buffalo and getting all condescending on our millage for this day, we mosey. 

For dinner we hade more of the TWO POUNDS of BBQ Loralea had bought on the other side of Yellowstone with pita and hummus and the last of the delicious cherries for desert. This BBQ was a funny story that Loralea is very sensitive to…
 See, we stopped at a gas station on the way into Yellowstone and they had a BBQ food truck out front so I sent Loralea and Charlotte to get some barbecue for us to have for dinner. Well sweet girls go over there with daddy's debit card and ordered some barbecue. She wasn't clear on how much we needed when they asked her so, as the story goes the person working asked how many people it needed to feed. To which Loralea replied, five. She didn't specify that it was only one adult four children that eat like birds OR that we would like any sides, you know AN ACTUAL MEAL. Sweet girls came back with something like two solid pounds of pulled pork. No sides, no utensils, no bread, no hushpuppies, no Brunswick stew, no mac and cheese  just two pounds of meat wrapped in tinfoil in a grocery bag. Then they handed me a receipt for fittyTwo dollahs. Loralea could tell I was somewhere past surprised and she felt way more sheepish about it than necessary. Of course every time we'd break out the barbecue with another meal I'd say something about how the elder girls must really like it cause we had so much of it, wow they must really love it. They had about enough of that joke by now, well Loralea had actually, Charlotte was just like whatever dad we're kids and you gave us a debit card this is on you. She's not wrong which is why I ain't mad, but it is funny to me. We are all tired of the BBQ at this point though so we finished it off here at the KOA. 
A little tv, Gunsmoke. After the Medora Musical, I’ve decided I’m going to start watching westerns more and I'm taking the children with me. For now it puts them strait to sleep. 
This day is a wrap.