A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 179 miles from Cody, Wyoming to Buffalo, Wyoming.
Travel from Cody to Buffalo, Wyoming
We drove our coach 179 miles, about 3 hours of scenic driving, from Cody, Wyoming to Buffalo, Wyoming.
Here’s the map route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops:
But before we could leave, I had to ask the driver of this truck to move, as they where blocking the exit (sure, just park across the road and no-parking markings; your convenience is more important than anyone else):
Underway, with a flat and curvy highway:
Pump jack:
We stopped for lunch in the Washakie County Visitor’s Council parking lot, since it has some RV spots just barely big enough for us (and was pretty much empty, being closed). They have a mammoth sculpture out front:
Fun hills:
The cute town of Ten Sleep:
Heading through the Bighorn mountains:
Paladin chilling on the floor between us:
Snow fences:
Roadworks:
Rain:
One of several 8% downgrades:
Mandatory brake check turnout for trucks, RVs, and vehicles with trailers; Jenn hardly touched the brakes, though; she’s great at using gears and engine braking on downhills:
More curves and slopes:
The runaway truck ramp was closed for repairs or updates:
Our destination:
Our coach just before pulling into our site:
Replacing wiper blades
An easy and necessary maintenance item for our coach is to replace the windshield wiper blades on occasion.
Our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome takes a pair of 40-inch frame- or saddle-style blades. I previously ordered some from etrailer.com, but most recently got some from Amazon.
New and old blades:
They are each attached to their arm via a bolt; I have the bolt inserted from the top, so even if the nut comes off, the bolt won’t fall out:
Mounting nut:
The new blades installed (with one obscured by a Magne-Shade cover):
Easy!
Bighorn scenic drive
We did a scenic drive loop from Cody, Wyoming to the Bighorn mountains, with a detour into Montana:
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area:
45th parallel:
Shell Falls:
Butterfly:
A nice drive.
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
We visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming — five museums in one, on western topics.
Map in the foyer:
Natural history museum:
Library:
Gallery of gunfighters:
Buffalo Bill museum:
AR:
Plains Indian museum:
Buffalo Bill’s house:
Bald eagle:
Art museum:
Gift store:
Some interesting exhibits.
Buffalo Bill Dam
We visited the Buffalo Bill Dam, west of Cody, Wyoming.
Three tunnels to get there:
The Buffalo Bill reservoir:
Exhibits in the parking lot:
Drift wood:
Visitor center:
Exhibits:
Scenic drive routes:
The dam:
Chief Joseph Scenic Byway
We took a drive along the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway in northwest Wyoming.
Here’s an interactive map of our route:
Info sign:
Interesting rocks:
A screenshot of my map, showing lots of switchbacks:
Switchback gravel road:
A picnic spot by a river, which was rather flooded:
Flume trail:
Cooke City:
Video: Cody KOA Holiday flooding timelapse
A timelapse of some impressive rain, hail, lightning, and flooding during our stay at Cody KOA Holiday.
Cody KOA Holiday
We stayed at Cody KOA Holiday in Cody, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A busy KOA, especially with lots of motorcycles from people heading to or from the big Sturgis rally.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-08-05
- Check out: 2023-08-13
- 8 nights
Weather:
- One day with hail, a couple of days with thunderstorms, mostly clear after that
- High temps ranging between 70-85°F, lows around 51-59°F
- Some wind, up to 20 MPH gusts
Noise:
- Some road noise
- No train noise
- Lots of neighbor noise (kids and motorcycles)
Site:
- #59, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- Unlevel, side-to-side slope, but jacks coped
- Gravel driveway about 102 feet long by about 12 feet wide
- Grass between sites about 12 feet wide
- No trees
- Concrete patio with table and chairs
- Fire pit
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, inconveniently located
- 45 PSI water, inconveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 29 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 250 ms ping
- Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 18-21 Mbps up, 60-120 ms ping
- AT&T: 33-38 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 130 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: 3-7 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 110 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Swimming pool
- Free pancakes for breakfast
- Package delivery to office
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Convenient to Pancakes
The campground was convenient for exploring Cody and the area. Our site was right next to the office and pancake area, which was nice. The angle to get our big rig out when we left was a little hairy, however. The trailers and smaller rigs in the site next to us usually backed out of their site to avoid the hard left turn around the dump station and propane fill area. Some of the turns in the park were also a bit difficult in a big rig, especially when folks at the ends parked their big trucks into the road. The site itself was level, and all the hookups worked. We camped at Cody KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a must-do. Head over to the Bighorn Canyon and Chief Joseph Scenic Highway for some amazing scenery. The Buffalo Bill Dam is also pretty cool.
The campground map:
Our site:
We went out for a scenic drive one day (see forthcoming post), but as we arrived back in town it started to rain heavily, with lightning in the area. When we arrived back at our site, we waited in our truck for several minutes while it rained and hailed heavily, before making a run for it when it eased up briefly:
The campground experienced some ground flooding:
Video of heavy rain, campground flooding, and lightning:
A screenshot of several nearby lightning strikes via the handy LightningMaps.org website:
Flooding:
All that water washed away the landscaping gravel:
Hail residue:
The campground entrance:
Gazebo by the entrance:
Office:
Pools:
Playground:
Jump pad:
Family room:
A nice feature of this KOA is free pancakes for breakfast every day, with sausages and other food available for purchase:
Speaking of food, some samples of other places we patronized in Cody; first up, More Burgers and Shakes:
A close-up of that bear decoration:
There are bears on the back of the bear:
Not overly impressive:
We had a lot of BBQ in Texas, so it was interesting to try Wyoming’s edition at Bubba’s Bar-B-Que; a bit different, but not bad:
Finally, some pizza at Tossers Pizza and Beer; decent pan-style pizza, but not the best:
We were planning to attend the famous Cody Nite Rodeo, but after reading the reviews on Yelp and elsewhere, we decided it wasn’t for us — overly religious, political jokes, sexist jokes, etc. It would have been painful. And apparently not good rodeo anyway.
But they kept trying to drum up customers, driving though the campground every day offering discount coupons:
And a bus to pick up people:
One of several occupants of our driver-side neighboring site, a small toy hauler trailer:
One section of the park has tight buddy sites:
Other sites:
A newer section, where it looked like a couple was shoveling the gravel to make it somewhat level for parking after the flooding:
Tent sites:
Teepees:
Cabins:
Our site again, preparing to leave:
Video: Yellowstone to Cody, Wyoming motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 80 miles from Yellowstone, Wyoming to Cody, Wyoming.