TWB July 13th 2019 Experience: Day 17- Cody, Wyoming

Day 17: Cody, Wyoming

HEY HEY HEY! It’s the Happy GANG (Katie Cusick, Mackenzie Hedger, Caroline Clemmer, Matthew Ferrara, Will Pattinson, Bailey McGuire, Anna Turlington, Caleb Brannock, Ethan Thrower, Jon Grigg, Carleigh Carter, Madaline Finger and Walker Perryman) starting off with an exciting day in Cody, Wyoming. This morning we hopped out of our sleeping bags at the late hour of 6:15 am to head over to the Shoshone River. Before our adventure, we were warned by Kent of the dangerous BEAVER-SHARKS! To avoid our toenails being eaten, we made sure to keep a smile on our face, and paint our toenails. While preparing for our rafting trips, a beaver shark sadly got the best of Bailey M., which resulted in four stitches later on in the day. She was such a trooper and went the whole 12-mile journey without even complaining! When we got back, counselor Julia made sure she was taken care of! While we froze our toes off rafting through the Wyoming rapids, we encountered many different types of flora and fauna, including Lyndon’s butt. Even scarier than both Lyndon’s butt and the beaver sharks was the wrath of Caleb B. Ethan T., Luke S., and Chris F.’s raft. They would splash every single raft they saw while also screaming to “assert their male dominance.” After our trip we were treated to an amazing breakfast provided by our counselors of grits, eggs, sausage, and bread. Everyone ate quick and rushed to do laundry and take the most luxurious, warm showers of the last 2 weeks!

Laundry all together took 3 hours! Many of our clothes suffered damage such as Will P. and Caleb B. who were in for an unexpected surprise when their clothes came out tie-dyed! Some had to wait a little longer than others due to Kent being late picking us up and not having enough seating on the vans. Overall, doing our laundry was not the best experience, but hey, at least we have clean clothes again!

We all slowly came back to our campsite and began to get ready for the biggest night in our TWB experience: the Cody, Wyoming Rodeo! Many girls spent a solid 2 hours trying to get ready and also helping others get ready. While we had some down time some people enjoyed Spike Ball, calling home or walking to Dairy Queen. Some people even got to enjoy a nap at our campground instead of a nap on the bus for once! For dinner, the Sleepy group cooked an amazing first meal of chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and green beans. At this point in our trip, this is quite the gourmet meal!

Around 5:30 pm, everyone loaded onto their vehicles and went into the town of Cody to do some shopping! Many took advantage of the 2 for $20 deal on cowboy hats in a local shop while others got coffee, watched the gun fight, or bought other souvenirs. Many people took advantage of the $5 clearance shirts they had! Luke S. was very flattered to find that others found him very attractive in his cowboy hat, jorts, and flannel shirt.

Then it was RODEO TIME!!!! It started around 8 pm and all were thrilled to witness what was to come. Several rode the mechanical bull, including the one and only Grant Deaton as well as our beloved bus driver, JD, and some of our counselors (Kent was quite sore after the ride). Several participants enjoyed riding the mechanical bull, including Rece Guy who rode it 8 times! Everyone enjoyed watching the show as well as showing off their patriotism! During the rodeo we got a special shout out and got to sing "Party in The USA" very loudly! We became known as the "North Carolina" group very quickly and we noticed many people taking pictures of us! We then left and went back to Ponderosa Campground for our second night in Wyoming. Right before bed, we headed over to Dairy Queen and made sure to have some late night snacks whether that be a blizzard or some French fries. All in all, today was packed full of adventure and fun and we enjoyed every second of it!