Day 5

Rules for KOA Campground:

Campground Etiquette
Common sense rules of etiquette prevail when you check into any campground. You will be expected not to make excessive noise.  If you arrive at the campground late, keep your lights dim and make as little noise as possible. 
We probably should have read this BEFORE we started this trip! 

We were up by 7:00am, unhooked the PV and headed out by 8:00am to Cody with coffee in hand for the three hour journey. We have decided by now that the coffee we have every morning made in the PV is the best we have ever had! The kids wake up along the way and have Fruit Loops and Pop Tarts for breakfast.     Arrived in Cody by 11:00.  To the grocery store we go.  We all still have on our matching (Eeyore for the girls and Mountain Dew for the boys) pajamas.  Beki, BB and Halee head into the store.  We are quite the sight. 
We check into the KOA and have the kids make their own sandwiches for lunch.  We then had the kids do all the prep work for dinner.  Cowboy stew was on the menu.  Peter and Bricker put together the grill and Nora, Tim and Halee cut up veggies, potatoes and marinated the meat.  Mostly Tim just instructed how everything was supposed to go.  We let them work it out - pretty fun to watch.  Beki and BB tried to clean the PV and put away clothes and blankets. 
 Beki and BB made the mistake of saying how smooth everything was going and our blog today was going to be uneventful.......
The kids coming running and beg us to go horseback riding.  We agree to go and head over around 2:45 for our adventure. 
Jeff Smith, our riding tour guide, walks up to greet us.  He is smoking and drinking something that looks like mud or Guinness - we cannot decide.  He proceeds to tell us how he has broken ribs from riding last night at the Cody rodeo.  Not to worry, he was 3rd in the world, has a ranch in Texas and was shot twice in the war.  REALLY??????  We decide to ignore all the stories and go anyway - bad decision!  Beki loves to tell a story and tells Jeff Smith that BB is a professional rider and that she is the Northern Illinois barrel rider champion and rodeo queen.  He believed it which was quite scary.  So Jeff Smith puts BB as the lead rider!  At 3:00, Jeff starts to saddle the horses and at 4:00, he is still not done.  Nora, Halee and BB all know how to saddle a horse and offer to help.  He says no - he has got it.  We finally head out.  All goes okay in the beginning.  Peter's horse can barely walk and he is 1/2 miles behind us.  We decide that the horse is dead but just does not know it yet!  Beki is so scared - did we mention that she is deathly afraid of horses???.  The first to fall off is Halee and her horse runs.  Mr. Cowboy, Jeff Smith, yells at BB to catch the horse.  BB aka: Calamity Jane,  catches the horse, hands it off the Nora and heads back to get Halee.  She is fine and gets back on.  Tim is then bucked off his horse and that horse heads for the hills.  Tim is on the ground and like a wild man, Jeff Smith heads off to catch that horse .  BB then tried to turn her horse around to get Tim.  Her horse has now decided to go back to the barn.  She finally gets the horse to go back - Tim is okay.  Tim now tries to get back on the horse and is immediately thrown off and the horse again takes off.   Meanwhile, Jeff Smith starts to slump over holding his ribs in pain.  Nora takes over the remaining riders to lead them back in.  BB is with Tim and Jeff Smith.  Tim's horse is now running down highway 14 stopping cars and people getting out trying to corral the horse.  This goes on for the longest 15 minutes ever!  Tim walks back to the barn.  Nora has the group at the barn helping everyone off their horses.  Someone from the KOA has gotten the horse off the highway and walking him back in.  BB is walking with Tim and where is Jeff Smith???  He arrives back at the barn to collapse on the ground in the fetal position.  Beki and BB look at each other in total shock!   We now have an audience from the other KOA campers.  The owners of the barn are called to come get Jeff Smith.  Nora turns to Beki and BB to exclaim ' Horseback riding is awesome'! 
We regroup, still no showers, and head to Cody to the boot barn.  Now it starts to rain and the wind starts to blow and we are all over the road.  Clears up and we go to the Buffalo Bill museum.  We arrive 30 minutes before closing and do not have to pay.  Thank goodness.  Tim, Bricker and Peter are running around to see all the guns while Nora and Halee are laying on the benches bored to tears!  The only time we were all interested was seeing the animal exhibits.   Big signs everywhere not to touch and our kids are in trouble right away for touching.  It was extremely cool, close up and educational.  We finally head back to the KOA to shower and get ready for the Cody rodeo.  We eat our Cowboy stew at the picnic table, re cap our riding experience, clean up and head to the rodeo.  We loved the rodeo!  Come home and bed by 11:00 pm. We are all safe and sound another day!