Howdy y’all, we’re the Happy group! Our members are Alyssa Adams, Peyton Ballard,
Mary Charles Burke, Graycie Bustle, Brooke Coggins, Emma Davis, Whitley
Dockery, London Fleming, John Ford, Elizabeth Levine, Katy Shillingburg,
Grayson Tucker, and Drew Zink. We arrived at the wonderful Ponderosa Campsite
in Cody, Wyoming at 11:30pm. In the dark and cold we rushed to unpack the bus
and trailer and got our stuff laid out before waking up early to go white water
rafting. And we did wake up really early
because at 4am a storm rolled in, soaking many people’s bags and sleeping gear.
(It’s okay though because the bathroom floor turned out to be really warm and
comfortable.) After the initial rain jolt, we were woken up 6:45am to bundle up
for our river adventure. The buses picked us up at 7:30 and we were on our way
to the Shoshone River.
After suiting up in some life jackets, we were on our
way. The water was cold and of course we all got soaked (except for Rachel
which was kind of suspicious), but we had the time of our lives floating down
the river in a big yellow raft. We arrived back at the campsite about 10:30am where a warm brunch prepared by the staff: Grant, Heather, Vickie and Tim,was waiting for us. We ate a healthy meal
of scrambled eggs, grits, “toast” and sausage links. Today was also laundry
day!! The cooks and dishwashers stayed behind to wash their clothes, but the
rest of us traveled downtown to one of two Laundromats. Grant and the
counselors dropped off three separate groups but didn’t arrive to pick us up
until 2 HOURS LATER. It’s okay, we lived and our clothes were clean. In between
washing clothes everyone was busy channeling their inner cowboy for the rodeo
tonight.
The lines to the showers were long and makeup was flying everywhere. While
we were getting ready we were allowed to call home to let our parents know that
we had indeed fallen in love with a cowboy/girl in Wyoming and weren’t coming
home. Soon enough though, we had a fantastic dinner of pasta with Alfredo or
meat sauce, salad, bread, and cake. This was all courtesy of our new cooks, the
SLEEPYS!
After a long wait, we all ventured back into town at 6pm for one last
minute shopping trip. Many people went looking for cowboy hats and boots to
complete their western getup. The majority ended up taking advantage of a
2-for-$20 deal at the gift shop in town, while some spent upwards of $100 on
boots and hats! We then went straight to the rodeo to get a group picture and
find our seats before the show started at 8pm.
Many people, including Drew and
Brooke from our group, tried their hand at riding the mechanical bull! Others spent time buying sweatshirts and blankets to brave the chill that was bearing
down on Cody. The rodeo was unlike anything the majority of us have ever seen!
There were riders trying to stay on bucking horses, trying to wrestle with cattle,
and teams working together to lasso and bring down calves. But nothing was more
exciting than watching the bull riding competition.
Rain was starting to come
down hard at that point, so it was harder to stay on the bull and score. Only 2
riders out of the 10 in that division were able to stay on for the full 8
seconds to score points, which goes to show how bad the rain truly was. Then
came the process of moving indoors. We had recently agreed to move our sleeping
gear inside the Bear Den (for the girls) and the laundry room (for the guys),
thanks to the generosity of the Ponderosa Camp Ground. The quarters would be cramped, but
it would be better than sleeping outside in the cold rain. This meant we had to
hurry and pack up our bags and store them underneath the bus, as well as fold
up our tarps we were sleeping on, before the rain started up again. Thanks to
everyone working as a unit, we got our work done quickly. Our new bus packers,
the Grumpys, were also a great help getting everything squared away. Tomorrow,
we visit Mount Rushmore to celebrate the 4th of July, so stay tuned!
