As we drove down the north Fork of the Shoshone River the terrain started to change from mountainous pine forests to a drier foothills prairie environment.
Shoshone River Canyon
Bighorn Sheep migrate along the canyon cliffs but we didn't see any on this occasion.
North Fork of the Shoshone River
Buffalo Bill Reservoir
Water exploded through the dam turbines and continued down the Shoshone River.
It was not a long drive to Cody but we camped for the day as Emma had Red Fox work to complete.
In the evening, we had a nice stroll around the delightful town of Cody, Wyoming. It's flag day tomorrow so the town of Cody was getting ready to celebrate.
Preparations for Flag Day
Dogs are part of the family in the Wild West so Sonaa got to have super with us on a restaurant patio. She behaved as if she was aware of her elevated western status and enjoyed soliciting attention as people passed by our table.
June 14
Emma continued to work hard on her Red Fox grants so I wandered over to the nearby Buffalo Bill Centre of the West. This extensive facility houses five magnificent museums highlighting the history, culture, art and nature of the American west.
Buffalo Bill Centre of the West
Grizzly Bear and Wolverine
I was particularly impressed with the natural history exhibits of western flora and fauna.
Skulls: Black Bear, Kodiak Bear and Short-faced Bear
The archeology section included information on dinosaurs and ice age mammals.
I returned to the RV to convince Emma that she had to see this amazing Centre of Western facility. She had completed her work and was ready to leave Cody. It was a hard sell to convince her that she had to experience this world class repository of western heritage before we left. To convince her, I waxed eloquently about the Aboriginal heritage section.
The sections on artists of the American west and Aboriginal culture were amazing. We had a wonderful afternoon soaking up the this unique experience as we wandered through four of the five museums at the centre.
I steered her clear of the world class firearms section as this would not be Emma's cup of tea. However, for gun enthusiasts the Remington collection was outstanding.
Prairie view with Buffalo Bill off in the Distance
Late in the afternoon we hit the open road and headed toward Thermopolis. However, we didn't get far and stopped for the night beside the Greybull River near Meeteetse Wyoming.
There were quite a few birds in the campground and around the river bank.
Yellow Warbler
Western Wood Peewee
Common Nighthawk
Nighthawks were just starting to wake up after roosting all day on tree limbs. Piercing
calls alerted me to their presence but it took some searching to actually see one of these well camouflaged birds.
We decided to have super at an authentic western bar so, rifle in hand, we walked across the Greybull River to town.
Emma entering the bar with a shotgun
Okay, the gun was actually nailed to the bar door as a handle.
This bar was the real deal. It was built in 1893 and still had the original woodwork throughout the interior. Everything about the place and people was authentic.
Wild West Bar from 1886
Full Rack of Baby Back Ribs
We had a great time drinking in the ambience of this authentic experience. We partied for some time with the locals but I knew it was time to leave when I found myself under the table taking pictures of table legs and footwear.
June 15
The day started with an early morning bird walk along the banks of the Greybull River.
71) Common Grackle
House Wren
We were quite keen to see White-tailed Prairie Dogs as we had only seen Black-tailed Prairie Dogs up till now. The locals identified a prairie dog town just outside Meeteetse so off we went. Sure enough there were lots of prairie dogs in the town.
White-tailed Prairie Dogs
My ulterior motive to visiting prairie dog towns was to see a Mountain Plover. These birds like the very short grass habitat created by prairie dogs around their towns.
Prairie Dogs are a keystone species that create the environment for many other animals like the Black-footed Ferret, Burrowing Owls and Mountain Plover. As prairie dogs were decimated by hunting and habitat loss the species relying on them have come near to extinction. On this day, we saw many prairie dogs but no Burrowing Owls or Mountain Plovers.
We carried on to the hot springs at Thermopolis. It was a very hot clear day so we didn't go into the hot springs but settled for a short hike instead.
Run-off from the Thermopolis Hot Springs
Hiking up the hill overlooking Thermopolis
We were on the look-out for Bison as this was open range country with a re-introduced herd in the area. Fortunately, when we encountered them they were a few hundred yards off the trail.
Bison
Hiking trail up the Thermopolis Hill
Lizard
At the top of the rocky hill, there were some pretty wildflowers and a few lizards scurrying about. 
Moving on, we followed the upper Bighorn River through the gorge south of Thermopolis then continued east.
74) Horned Lark
About 40 miles west of Casper Wyoming, we stopped at a roadside rest stop and saw Horned Larks and Sage Thrashers foraging in the grass.
75) Sage Thrasher
June 16
It was time for Sonaa to get her Lyme Disease booster shot. You don't encounter Lyme Disease in Vancouver but where we are headed there are likely to be some ticks in the eastern USA. Surprise, the first veterinary clinic had 20+ cats in the waiting room.
At home, the neighbor's cat comes over to our bird feeders to kill them. I've trained Sonaa to chase the cat out of our yard. Smart dog that she is she remained calm among the 20 cats. Clearly, she saw the odds were not in our favour and discretion was called for on this occasion.
North Platte River by the site of Fort Fetterman
None the worse for her inoculation we took Sonaa for a walk around nearby Fort Fetterman. This fort along the North Platte River played an important role in the mid 1800 Indian Wars.
It is intriguing that the fort was named after Fetterman. Though a combination of zeal and stupidity, he got himself and all his men massacred by Red Cloud and Crazy Horse. The army's solution to this disaster was to honour Fetterman by posthumously promoting him to colonel and naming a fort after him.
Brewer's Sparrow
On the way to the Black Hills, we took a detour through the grasslands of Great Thunder Basin. We were still looking for prairie dog towns where we might see Mountain Plovers and Burrowing Owls.
We had no luck with prairie dog towns but did get close-up looks at many Pronghorn.
The grasslands of Great Thunder Basin were beautiful but there was nowhere to pull off the narrow two-lane road. This part of the country was not designed for visitors.
Within this nationally designated grasslands is one of the world's largest coal mine operations. There were multiple rail lines full of dozens of locomotives and many hundreds of coal cars cycling through the plant to be loaded. The amount of pollution being exported was on an unimaginably massive scale.
We carried on to the Black Hills in South Dakota and arrived at Jewel Cave National Monument late in the day. We had already been into the cave on a previous visit so went for a hike in the park instead.
Yellow-bellied Marmot
The hiking trail went through a section of the park that had experienced a recent forest fire. The fire removed the pine forest canopy and replaced it with open spaces and free standing dead trees. This new habitat created opportunities for species like the Red-headed Woodpecker.
Red-headed Woodpecker
The hike was quite enjoyable as we watched new life sprouting from the ashes of the old forest.
Thanks for sharing your experiences - very interesting.
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