Cody,WY... to.. Buffalo,WY.....to Custer,SD...3rd & 4th July....

Hitched up and on the road, we take the scenic route 16...we have done a lot of research and asked fellow campers who all say 16 is very do-able while towing.....it's the 14 to avoid....
We stop at a rest area just short of Greybull.....we hadn't realised that The Big Horn Basin is famous for it's dinosaur discoveries....us old folks shouldn't hang around here too long then !!!

At this same rest stop there is also a museum dedicated to old aircraft and especially firefighting aircraft...it was quite fascinating/.....we had time to spend to have a look around.....this is one of the things that we love about this travelling you never know what gems are to be found in the most "unusual" places....
Much like Duxford but hotter, temps in the 90's.....

An old Canadian Airforce plane....

This museum and rest stop is next to The South Big Horn County Airport .....we had noticed driving in that there were also a lot of older aircraft that appeared to be "parked/stored" in one particular area...this proved to be the case, many have been abandoned by their pilots/owners some of whom no longer live in the County...the museum is trying to contact them all to take over ownership and restoration.....

Back on the road and the landscape changes from ranch lands/farmland, cattle, horses and agriculture to  more of the Painted Desert type of landscape....

And back to farmland.....we pass through a couple of communities the smallest is Emblem with, it states, a population of 10...even less than Chicken, Alaska !

This is Ten Sleep, I had to make sure Yorkieman kept going or he may have stopped .....he can sleep for England that boy....

This was near our lunchtime sandwich spot....we do see many abandoned buildings and houses, I guess in England we don't have the space not to rebuild.......

We climbed up through the lower part of The Big Horn Mountain Range, some switchbacks and bends but lots of large pull-outs if needed... 

Up at the snow line and must find someone to ask about these fences, we have seen them since arriving in Wyoming  and assume they are to do with drifting snow as they are very robust but.....
From here it's downhill.....the last 5 miles are the steepest with a truck run-off area that has a new "net" system to catch run away trucks and RVs.......

Here we are for the night at a very nice campsite, very friendly helpful owners.....we have been trying to buy some Bison meat but only found shrink wrapped very expensive stuff in the supermarkets....the owners tell us of The Big Horn Meat Cutting place down the street, you wouldn't find it without being told where it is....we now have Bison ribeye in the freezer....:)

After setting up camp a storm blew through, thunder, rain and gusty winds...next  morning we find this sweet little birds nest made from cotton wood seed heads and blown down by the wind, we think it must have been an old one thank goodness as no signs of eggs etc....not sure if I mentioned before but the cotton wood seed heads were like snow falling when we were in Cody...

Another thing to research is the name of this plant...it is very like our Golden Rod and very prolific in this State....a lovely yellow landscape....
On the radio is Nat King Cole singing The Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer...that will be the song for today......
The first 90 miles of our journey today is along the I-90 East, very quiet as it's Independence day, roadworks and contraflows but no problem...a very pleasant drive again through farming/ranching landscape....
We stop at a rest area at our turn exit off the I-90 to head south, Yorkieman is wearing his Union Jack T-shirt and surprise surprise we meet another English couple and have a good chat with them......they have just been staying in Custer our destination and going to Cody...while talking to them we are all approached by a chap from Michigan who is worried about the reports of closures/roadworks on the 16 East, our route too, our English couple have just driven up the and say they saw several RVs and that the road is fine although gravel for 5 miles......our Michigan man is still slightly worried about the road condition but it is a 100  mile detour to avoid the 16 and as we are going that way he's up for going in a convoy !

I thought it time to wake you all up with another water-tower.......this is Upton and they say "the best town on earth" sadly we didn't find out as we blinked and missed it.....

One for me ...and yes I know this is the rear end....

Newcastle Brown Ale anyone ...

Our lunch sandwich spot.....just outside of Newcastle....

All downhill from here......cutting a long story short we ended up as the trail blazers as our chap had to stop for minor repairs to his rig...yes we did also stop and help..... 

Ummm ok, narrow  lane and gravel, no work today so  didn't have a long wait for the pilot vehicle to take us through a one lane road, steep drop off but actually not as bad as it seems apart from the very bumpy gravel road.... just as well I do a good job of packing the cupboards on the rig :)

Ah here we are at Custer....we're staying at Custer's Gulch RV Park a very nice campsite where apparently Custer camped, very spacious sites and a good base spot for the next week.....

A very happy 4th July to all our American friends and especially to our dear friends from Georgia enjoying their Independence Day celebration at Lake Burton....we might not be there this year but we're not forgotten !!!

Oh my a storm is brewing......some lightening and thunder....

Then although still stonking hot the white dots you can see are hail stones....they start at moth ball size (yes I am showing my age)  and then table tennis ball size....doesn't last long and is quite fascinating although wouldn't want to be outside and get hit by one of them !!!

They make quite a clatter on the rig's roof...luckily no damage....talking to the staff in the Custer Visitor centre large hail stones are normal and in fact they occasionally reach tennis ball size !!