This morning a trip to the Cody
Post Office and an ATM. While at the ATM
we saw a young mule deer nibbling on the bushes at the bank. At first we thought it was a buck but then
realized from the angle we saw it we were looking at those big ears.
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| Our home in Cody |
We drove up and down Sheridan
Street taking videos. Cody has put a
soft spot in our hearts. The town is
clean and the people friendly. Yes, it is
a tourist trap but not with the usual tacky T-shirt shops. Almost every store is well maintained and
does not distract from the western flavor.
This is a place one could put down roots in. (No…Don’t jump to conclusions we are not
planning on pulling up stakes.) Then we drove about 20 miles north of Cody is
Powell, WY.
Some of the landscape along Alt US-14
Powell was the home of the Heart Mountain
internment camp for Japanese people during WWII. It was one of eighteen such sites. This place leaves you with many mixed
thoughts. Did the government do the
right thing in the interest of national security? Was it really necessary to encamp 120,000
people because for their ethnic background; forcing them to sell or desert
their homes and businesses?
This is what they moved into:
Using scrap wood they made the rooms livable. There was no privacy.
Bathrooms were rows of outhouse seats with no partitions. They sat shoulder to shoulder with strangers.
Many went willing at first with
the idea that they were loyal proving that they would follow their
governments wishes. But reality set in
that even though they were American citizens (2/3 of the detainees) they were
being discriminated due to their race.
Interesting fact: Of the thousands of detainees not one of them, that
were American citizens, were ever charged with espionage.
When the Japanese were released in 1945 they were each given $25 and a train ticket to wherever they wanted to go. Starting over from scratch with less than they had when they came to America.
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| Heart Mountain in the distance as seen from the Camp |
After the Heart Mountain visit we
headed down WY-120 South to Lander WY.
Lander is the closest place to find a campground near Fort Washakie
(Wash'-akey) the burial place of Sacagawea.
Linda loves to read stories about Sacagawea and wanted to see her grave
site.
We were only on WY-120 about one
mile and we came upon a cattle drive.
About another 30 miles we came to the town of Meeteetse. Population less than 400.
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| Graybull River |
There are gates along the roadway to shut down the road for deep snows. The signs tell you to return to the town you just passed.
The trip brought us through the
Wind River Indian Reservation , Wind River State Park and the Wind River Canyon.
Excuse the bugs on the windshield but if I would have any idea what was around
that curve in the road I would have stopped and gave it a good scrubbing. Wind River Canyon is 11 miles long and descending almost the whole time.
We arrive at Sleeping Bear RV Park and got settled in. I set up the computer on the picnic table to type this but now the pesky skeeters are sampling my wares. Tonight is to be the Blood Moon. This is the first cloudy evening Lander has had in weeks. We missed the first 15 minutes of the Blood Moon.
