We had a swim and left Keystone this morning, stopping in Rapid City for breakfast at McDonald's. Jeremy thought this water park built on a hill looked grand, but it wasn't open, and wasn't on our agenda.
We knew we had a 6-7 hour drive to Cody, and didn't have time to go to Custer State Park. In fact, there are a lot of things around Keystone we could come back to do--caves, gold mines, gold panning, indian outposts and forts, battles, geology, paleontology, archeology sites, a maze, shops, underground waterfall, "retired fish" hatchery, and scenic drives.
We did decide to visit Fort Meade and the Cavalry Museum along I-90, since we didn't have any visits planned for Cody in the evening.
This remarkable but uneffacing outpost had a rich history that surprised us. It was named for General Meade, the Union Commander at Gettysburg. There are four forts that were named for him--quite an honor.
In the cavalry museum, we finally got to see a big rock with indian petroglyphs on it.
Colonel Caleb Carlton, at the suggestion of his wife, in 1892 began requiring the Star Spangled Banner to be played at retreat and during parades and concerts at Fort Meade.
He passed this custom around, and eventually it was ordered by the Secretary of War to be played for retreat at every outpost. Colonel Carlton also required his troops to rise and remove their hats when it was played.
As a result of this tradition which started at Fort Meade, the Adjutant General designated "The Star Spangled Banner" as the National Air, and Congress followed up with a bill in 1931 making it our national anthem.
Fort Meade was the headquarters of the Stratosphere balloon in 1935, which rose 13.71 miles with two men in the gondola, a new record. A crew of 75 cavalrymen from Fort Meade had the job of balloon duty.
During the depression, Fort Meade was converted to a "boot camp" for the Civilian Conservation Corps.
This World War II Harley Davidson was on loan from the Motorcycle Museum in Sturgis, which we stopped at briefly on our way through. Sturgis is a motorcycle town, with biker bars, a biker church, yearly bike rallies, bike museums and stores, and lots of motorcycles! We thought of Pastor Dan, of course.
These hills are just south of Belle Fourche, which is the geographic center of the 50 United States (Lebanon, Kansas is the center of the contiguous states).
We left South Dakota behind, surprised at the number of touristy things to do there. We were also relieved, as severe storms were moving in behind us. Wyoming looked different almost from the beginning. We noticed red soil and the beginnings of sage brush in the grassy prairies.
Jeremy noticed the lack of trees on the prairie, and the fact you can see the highway for 10 miles! Ian didn't notice much. He got a book on Custer's life before Little Big Horn, and was deep in it for most of our travels along this route.
We stopped at a rest stop in Moorcroft to eat a picnic lunch. It was a pleasant and dry 78 degrees there. What a relief from the humidity of the east coast!
Moorcroft is the site of the Texas Trail, which was the series of trails and routes that were the site of cattle drives from Texas to the plains in the 19th century. From 1866-1897, almost 500,000 cattle were brought north to replace the depleted buffalo herd. Eventually, trains took on this task--a reason for the importance of the town of Cody, as we found out later.
The Big Horn range is the prelude to the Rockies. We began seeing it faintly on the horizon, and would eventually cross these mountains today.
Sherry took this picture of a typical roadside "redneck residence," marveling at all the stuff that seemed unnecessary to her. 
We crossed the Power River pass, elevation 9666. This has to be one of the highest highway passes in America. It was a pleasant 64 degrees here, but the mosquitos were fierce!
We took time to play in the SNOW on the pass. A passerby took this rare family picture. Forrest sampled a little, and declared it cold and refreshing.
On the other side of the pass, we saw some magnificent palisades. This is one of many pictures we took. Overall, we have taken more than 2000 pictures this vacation.
As we descended back to the prairie, the landscape was dramatically different. Dry and arid, with hill formations that looked like the badlands. Also, the east side of the pass was all pine trees, while the west side was mostly firs.
We passed formations of pre-cambrian rocks, some of which were more than 3 billion years old.
Along the Big Horn river, we saw familiar irrigation systems, with the dry mountains in the background. One cornfield had a deer wandering through it.
We enjoyed passing Graybull Alliance Church in Graybull.
Apparently, Graybull is a retirement home for airplanes, including what Ian identified as Lancaster Bombers flown by the Canadians and British during World War 2.
We had a late dinner at The Irma, Buffalo Bill (William) Cody's grand hotel that he built and operated in Cody. These are pictures of dignitaries that attended the Wild West Show in London, including the Queen of England on the upper right, and several minor kings and princesses, as well as other royalty.
The red cherry bar of this hotel is touted as the most photographed site in Cody. The boys each had a 1/2 pound buffalo burger, and pronounced it very satisfying.
This is the outside of the Irma, all lit up at night. We finished our evening in a souvenir store on the way back to our hotel, and picked up a few trinkets for trading later with the indians.
