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.
Travel from Yellowstone to Cody, Wyoming
We drove our coach 80 miles, about 2.5 hours of very scenic driving, from Yellowstone, Wyoming to Cody, Wyoming.
Here’s the map route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops; we had lunch at Newton Spring Picnic Site, and got some fuel at the Sinclair station:
We paused bringing in the slide to let the pooled rain drain off:
A GIF of checking the brake controller; the air brakes of the coach triggers this piston that pushes the brake pedal in our truck for proportional braking assistance:
Checking the truck lights:
Another check, moving the coach forward a couple of feet to engage the tow bar and make sure the truck wheels turn freely (reversing GIF):
Leaving the campground; starting the Bluefire app for coach info:
The coach GPS mistakenly said “No Recreational Vehicles Allowed” again inside the park:
Yellowstone Lake:
One of the last glimpses of a geyser:
And a bison:
And deer:
A very scenic drive on the way out of the park:
Leaving from the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park:
The scenic drive continues outside the park; rather Utah-like:
We stopped at Newton Spring Picnic Area for lunch:
Lunch:
Paladin sitting on upturned dining chairs:
Onward:
Three tunnels by Buffalo Bill Reservoir:
Cody:
A fuel stop at a Sinclair station; not needed, since only down a third of a tank, but gives us peace of mind, since there are no truck stops along this route, other than stations like this:
Unexpectedly, the fuel pump stopped at $75; 16 gallons doesn’t help much. So we did two of these to get mostly full:
Buffalo Bill Center of the West museum:
Downtown Cody:
Our destination:
Pulling in to our site:
SnapPads
When we park our coach on an unlevel site, typically high in the back, our front hydraulic jacks sometimes can’t cope, so we need to add extra blocks between the jacks and jack pad:
To help with that, I purchased a couple of SnapPads, just for the front jacks. We can’t get them for the back jacks, as the jacks are too close to the rear wheels. SnapPads are permanently-attached pads that expand the footprint of the jack a little, and add an extra inch of height, so I hoped that’d help with unlevel sites.
(If you’re in the market for them, you can save 10% off SnapPads with the discount code: DAVID08638.)
Here’s a SnapPad before installation:
It’s simple to install a SnapPad; just squirt a little dish soap around the inner rim, to make it easier to get it on, then line it up below the jack, and lower the jack into place (it helps to have two people, one to control the jack, one to tweak the alignment. Here’s a SnapPad after attaching and lifting up a bit:
Two SnapPads:
Retracted jacks (fun fact: that big box between the jacks is our 150 gallon fuel tank):
The jacks on top of my usual jack pads, which I use on all surfaces other than concrete:
A nice addition.
Video: Alpine Valley RV Resort timelapse
Bonus: a timelapse of our stay at Alpine Valley RV Resort.
Video: LL Stub Stewart State Park timelapse
Bonus: a timelapse of our stay at LL Stub Stewart State Park.
Yellowstone old west cookout and wagon ride
We did an old west cookout and wagon ride while in Yellowstone.
Horse riders, and wagon riders waiting:
Wagon ride:
Horse riders:
Horses and wagons:
A wagon used for bathroom handwashing:
Cowboy coffee:
Buffet:
More cowboy coffee:
Horses and wagons:
Chuckwagon:
Music:
Wagon ride back:
Taking the horses back:
A fun experience.
Video: Yellowstone Canyon area
Some video footage of the Canyon area of Yellowstone National Park, from our visit in 2023. See the accompanying blog post for lots of photos.
Yellowstone Canyon area
The Canyon area of Yellowstone National Park includes a village of shops and lodges, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and Hayden Valley:
Canyon Visitor Education Center:
We saw these stickers, and (later) bought the Grand Teton and Yellowstone ones for the back of our truck canopy:
Otter Creek picnic area:
We found our initials carved on the table — no, we didn’t do that:
Reversing GIF of a bison having a dust bath:
Chittenden Bridge view of Yellowstone River:
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:
Bison in Hayden Valley:
Bison on the road:
Mud Volcano area:
Bison on the road:
Check out the video from this area, including some cute otters.