DAY ONE - Yellowstone
As usual, we left the motel at the very last minute or half an hour after the checkout time. We grasped some breakfast in a local diner (the usual eggs, ham and pancakes, from coast to coast), and prepared to leave Cody, Wyoming. Cody was founded by William S. Cody, our popular Buffalo Bill. You would say it is a very commercial little town, living on the myth of the Old West. What the heck, they do have this right. Buffalo Bill practically INVENTED the myth, and he lived on this his whole life. So, why not saloons, fake cowboy hats and everything you can do for the "dudes" (tourists)?

In our way to Yellowstone, we stopped by the Buffalo Bill Museum, and I have to admit it was pretty well done. The exhibit on the life of the Plains Indians was great, a whole culture based on the buffalo; Buffalo Bill, the story of my life was fun, but I got bit tired on the firearms collection: about one thousand. Roberto loved it. I suppose it is a "man thing", who knows.

I entered Yellowstone National Park by the Eastern Entrance, after driving through what T. Roosevelt called "the most scenic 52 miles of the United States." Well, it WAS scenic. Everything you imagine of Yellowstone, the first National Park in the world: small creeks, pines, and mountains, a feeling of eternity. Gilda (our car) was reacting well to the mountains. She had scared us a bit the day before, but it seemed that it was only a case of indigestion of bad gas. Now, only the best for our little gray lady: super gas.

We decided to camp at the Canyon Campground, about 25 miles from the entrance. Before arriving there (it was almost 4 p.m.) we saw a buffalo herd in the first Valley. After we found ourselves surrounded by bisons in the Custer National Park, we kind of feel we are experts in buffalo. These were bigger, but not so cute. I mean, there were fewer calves.

The tent was up, and Roberto went to sleep under the first reasonable tree he found. He had to fight for his space with some squirrels. I went to the Visitor Center to get all the maps I could find. Maps can become an addiction. The best time to see wildlife is at dusk or dawn, so about 6 p.m. I put a sleepy Roberto in the car and we went to the nearby valley to look for... bears, of course.

Sorry, but no bears today. Roberto had fun with his research on colors and some nice ground squirrels. We saw a bull elk (too far away for any picture) and. WE SAW A BALD EAGLE (no pictures, sorry!). There were some serious bird watchers parked close to our car, with very potent binoculars. They found the eagle and were pretty excited about it. I asked to see it and it was there. Real. As American as apple pie. I had no idea eagles are so huge. I mean, in the movies, you see then in the sky, with nothing to give you an idea of size. This eagle was on the ground, by a river, close to an old pine trunk. And again, it was huge.

 With no bear (but one eagle!), we went back to our campground. We gave a ride to two hikers from Utah, to our campground. The ranger in the visitor center had told me that it would be a talk on Yellowstone wolves, in the Roosevelt campground, 19 miles north, in the mountains. I wanted to go, but I didn't know if Gilda would agree. It turned out that the hikers were very interested in wolves, and their car (waiting in the campground) was good.  So they gave us a ride to Roosevelt campground. The information was wrong; the talk was on the park's history. Not bad at all. More 19 miles to go back to our campground for a cold night. The first snows in Yellowstone may arrive as soon as middle September and it could be a cold night.