We've been in Cheyenne for two nights now. We came here in 2009 on our first big RV road trip. Cheyenne is the state capitol of Wyoming, and just about an hour or so north of Denver. It's a pretty small city - 53,000 people. To be honest, if not for Frontier Days and the "Daddy of 'Em All" rodeo, there's not much to do in Cheyenne.
Since we had time to kill after we checked in at the campground, we drove to downtown Cheyenne and walked around a bit. It was really hot - about 97 degrees. We grabbed a late lunch at a microbrewery that was pretty good.
When we got back to the campground, we did see dark clouds overhead. We're pretty used to that by now. But instead of rain, what first fell was hail. I've seen hail on the East coast before, but nothing like this. First it came down a little, with no rain with it. The balls of ice bounced off the ground, the RV and cars. It came heavier and heavier and the banging sound was intense. Then some rain got mixed in, but it was mostly hail. The balls were the size of quarters - some bigger and some smaller.
It hailed for at least 15 minutes, probably longer. The campground owner was nice about coming around afterward to make sure people were okay and to survey the damage. (We later learned that a man was taken away from the rodeo grounds in a stretcher after being knocked out by the hail.) The hail busted some of our lights, which we'll have to replace.
On our first night in Cheyenne, we stayed at the A B Campground. We got here a day early and the KOA couldn't take us. It turned out to be a good thing. Yes, we were packed in pretty tight like when we came in 2009, but this campground had a great barbecue restaurant in it. Turns out the owners are also known for their barbecue.
After the hailstorm, Ruth and Henry went out to pick some up and clean off the Jeep. The windshield was covered. We met some of our neighbors as we all surveyed our damage. After the social hour was over, I walked over to the restaurant and got some barbecue. I got brisket and pulled pork. Both were very good, as was the sauce. We all made sandwiches for dinner.
The next morning, Jeff and Henry headed off to a RV service place to get an oil change and our broken lights fixed. I took Ruth to a doctor's office to get her stitches removed. We picked a place to meet afterward.
The wait for the oil change was 3-4 hours, so Jeff passed on it. When Ruth was done, we all met up at a Walmart across the street from the medical building, and then we drove over to get a parking spot at Frontier Park. We had pretty good parking kharma, because we got two free spots on the street pretty close to the rodeo grounds.
We got tickets for the rodeo and had a little time beforehand to get something to eat. Jeff got us great tickets, right in the center.
Cheyenne calls their rodeo "The Daddy of 'em All" because it's the largest outdoor rodeo in the U.S. They're very proud of their rodeo. In addition to the rodeo during the day, they have parades, an air show, pancake breakfasts and a carnival midway on the grounds. They have concerts or Professional Bull Riding shows every night. The Charlie Daniels Band was playing the first night we got here. Toby Keith and the Zac Brown Band will be playing here later in the week.
While we watched the rodeo, we also got to see some of the air show practice sessions. Pretty cool.
We all enjoyed the rodeo, but since we had the RV parked on the street with the gas running the refrigerator, we had to leave right after the rodeo ended to go hook the RV up to electricity at the campground. Ruth was not happy about that, since she wanted to go ride some rides. We told her she would get to ride the rides another time.
We had planned to take her to the pool now that her stitches were out, but there were dark clouds again with a little bit of thunder. We decided to dodge the storm and go out to dinner. Didn't make sense to light charcoal if it was going to rain. We found a Mexican restaurant that was pretty good called Guadalajara's.
Today, we slept in and headed to Frontier Park around 10:30 a.m. so the kids could ride the carnival rides. We got fair food - funnel cakes, lemonade, etc. We walked around the indoor vendor area, and Jeff got himself a black cowboy hat. He looks mighty fine in it.
Jeff and Henry got tickets to the Professional Bull Riders show tonight. I knew it would be too loud for me (I wore earplugs at the daytime rodeo), so Ruth and I stayed at the campground and had a Girls Night In. We played Scrabble, cleaned up the RV, made chicken marsala for dinner, did some laundry and watched tv. Jeff and Henry had a great time. They got an Old Time photo dressed up as outlaws, had dinner, loved the bull riders show, and even got a free t-shirt from someone sitting next to them who caught one thrown into the crowd.
Tomorrow morning, we head to South Dakota to continue to make our way back home.
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