DAY 24
Week 4
BILLINGS (Montana, USA) to CODY (Wyoming, USA)
Friday July 14th, 2006
TODAYS MILEAGE – 101 miles or 163 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 2712 miles or 4365 kilometres
You're in cowboy country now, saddle up, save a horse - ride a Fitzy!!! 
Today was just one of those day you travel with the highs, lows and frustrations.
I had every intention of leaving Billings early and spending a couple of hours in Cody (Wyoming) at the Buffalo Bill Museum and heading up towards the Little Bighorn Battlefield.
One of the highs for the day was that I've accomplished my goal of owning a Harley Davidson motorbike before I was 40. I "got 'er done" 4 months early with the purchase of one of my best mates Midnight black 2000 Night Train or FXSTB for you technical nuts out there.
I do want to ride a bull, doesn't even have to be 8 seconds, before I'm 40 and Cody is the rodeo place. So I might end up killing two birds with one stone this weekend - or more like killing two balls with one bull????
The low was that my best mate, is giving up a big part of his life, to concentrate on other ventures. He knows that it's his ride to throw his leg over anytime he wants to and it's couldn't be going to a better home. Those who ride know exactly what I mean. Sorting all that out took a bit of time, as you could well imagine. This saw me hitting the frog & toad around 10:30.
Funny story - it was around lunchtime and I stopped at the local diner Trader Bob's in Belfry (Montana). I ordered a hamburger with the lot with an egg. I could hear the cook say what kind of person has egg on a burger. As I'm being served, the diner went kind of quiet as I picked up the burger. Before I took a bite, I looked around and every pair of eyes were on me, including the cook, waitresses and even the bloody campdogs were waiting to see if I'd eat a burger with egg on it.
The cook then asks were I'm from. Australia I say. He says "We don't serve to many Australians round here" I said "That's OK, I'm not ordering one".
The local Sheriff, who was sitting next to me, bull snorted the sip of coke straight out of his nose and near fell off his perch laughing. Well, the floodgates opened then, I got asked all sorts of questions about Australia from near everyone in the diner. It was one of those spontaneous moments that makes travel so much fun.
Nearly an hour and a half later, I was on my way again. If I would have stayed any longer I'm thinking the locals may have made me Mayor or at least given the keys to the city.
20 minutes later I notice that the Man Pad wasn't pulling real well. THe fuel gauge was moving faster than normal, yeah I know, hard to believe the needle can move towards E (for economic ruin) any faster. I call it my "Happy Arab Gauge"!!! The temperature gauge was moving as well, which it's never done and the fan clutch was working it's arse off. All signs that the motor is working way too hard - for no apparent reason.
I get into Cody around 2PM and check the RV out. I've torched the end of the plug lead again, so I need to replace the exhaust manifold. I look around the parts stores here and no manifold match the poxy ones I have. The only option I have is to repair the manifold. I got hold of a name of a local welding shop, so off I went real sharpish as they close at 5 and are not open on weekends.
The best option would have been to remove the manifold, weld it and then crack test the repair. Not a good option as we had no gaskets available and heaven forbid if I broke a manifold bolt. The guys around C & C Welding were absolutely fantastic. 3 o'clock on a Friday afternoon is not the best time to see a "Tommy Tourist" lob up with their own diagnosis on an issue. I quickly established my credentials as a former diesel fitter with the owner and we on like Donkey Kong. Having a carton of piss (24 pack of beer) under my wing didn't hurt the cause either.
After removing the steer tires, we welded up the manifold and then found 3 plug leads were burnt and shorting to where they were leaning up against the manifold. I was there for nearly 3 hours getting everything all mickey duck. As soon as I fired up the RV I could hear the difference. C & C Welding only charged me $27.50 for everything, which was so cheap. The carton of piss must have worked in more ways than one. You wouldn't read about it, but the bloody replacement plug leads cost me more than the welding job.
So that was it for today. On the way to my camp, I went and bought a ticket for the Cody Night Rodeo tomorrow night. This should be fun after I get done sticky beaking around at the Buffalo Bill Museum.
Goin' rope me some yonder buckle bunnies tomorrow.
Check ya later.
• CODY (Wyoming, USA)