Cody was founded by a man who understood the value of a story. William F. Cody, Buffalo Bill, the scout and showman whose Wild West show toured America and Europe in the late nineteenth century, helped establish the town in 1896 on the Shoshone River in north-west Wyoming, and he built a hotel here, the Irma, named after his daughter. The cherry-wood bar in the Irma was a gift from Queen Victoria, so the story goes. Today Cody has about ten thousand people and calls itself the Rodeo Capital of the World, with a rodeo every night in summer.
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a collection of five museums under one roof, covering Plains Indian cultures, Western art, natural history, firearms and Cody's life, and it is one of the best museums in the region. The Shoshone River runs through a red-rock canyon just west of town, near a huge concrete dam that was the tallest in the world when it was built in 1910, and the road to Yellowstone follows it through tunnels in the rock.
The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway heads north-west from the area, following a route taken by the Nez Perce in 1877, when about eight hundred men, women and children fled from the US Army across Idaho, Montana and Wyoming in an attempt to reach Canada. Chief Joseph, their principal spokesman, became famous for his dignity and eloquence. The road climbs over Dead Indian Pass, at over eight thousand feet, with a view into the canyon of the Clarks Fork, a deep, narrow gorge, then runs along a high plateau to Sunlight Basin.
You should fill the tank in Cody, since services on the byway are few and far between, and the nearest fuel beyond is a long way north-west. Take warm clothing, as mountain weather is changeable, and watch for wildlife: moose, elk, deer and bears all live here. Summer is the best time, with wildflowers in the meadows, but the road may close in winter. Cody has a good selection of restaurants and steak houses, and a plate of local beef, grilled over an open fire, is well deserved.