July 16 Cody to Livingston, Mt. - through Yellowstone

    Cody is a desert, having only 4-6" of rain per year.  We didn't find out how much snow they get, but Yellowstone is only 50 miles away and they get a lot each winter.  We saw unusual rock formations and craggy mountain peaks.
Everywhere we drove we saw nice homes - many log or cedar- along the rivers and up the mountainsides.  Some are so far from towns that we wonder if retirees live there, or people who work from their homes.  We love watching tree lined rivers flowing next to the highways.  Looking up we saw rocks that looked like Greek or Roman ruins and some have smaller rocks that look like they are balancing on top of another part.
    Soon we drove through the Shoshone National Forest.  Thousands of trees are brown and dead from the beetle.  We wonder how they will be stopped before they destroy all the forests in America.
    Yellowstone - the second National Park we've been in on this trip where we didn't have to pay because I bought the Senior Pass - a lifetime pass for $10.  Yellowstone costs $25 per car.  We were just sick looking at hillside after hillside and all along the roads - hundreds of thousands of dead, brown trees.
There is still snow on the mountain tops and fast waterfalls coming down hills by the road.  We had the window open and could hear birds singing.
    Passed a yellow school bus that said Redneck RV.  Saw pelicans in lakes.  It took about 3-1/2 hours to drive through the part of the park we needed to.  It was 57 degrees when we entered.  7 different times we saw lone, bull buffalo, sitting by the road, or walking by it.  The ones sitting were sure posing for all those photographers.  Further into the park some trees looked healthy!  But in the distance we could see where the back part of a stand of trees were dead.
    Found a pretty spot to set up our chairs and have lunch.  A lake and the snowy Gallatin Range behind it.  90 degrees now.
    Outside the park a highway sign says the Wyoming American Legion clubs maintain the white markers that indicate highway fatalities.
    As we approached Livingston we saw snow on the Crazy Mountains.  We left here May 2nd - where has the summer gone since we were here?  This is where I was in the hospital.  We have traveled 8300 miles since we left here - 9000 altogether!  It's 92, unusually hot for here.  Tom will skip the railroad museum here, since he has been in it a couple of times.  I remember once when he and our friend, Dave, were in it and they were standing upstairs by a telegraph display.  Directly below them a woman typed in Morse Code on a telegraph machine and was she ever surprised when Tom answered her.            There is still snow on the Beartooth Mountains here.
    We will be here several days.  Tom's mom will have cataract surgery Tuesday and we will stay a day or so after that.  Then, unfortunately, we will head home, after a stop to see Jacque's family in Idaho.