Cody Decoded!

Heading north to Cody

Travelling new places should be a lot of fun! That's what I used to think... then for a while I had a change of mind...

 

I had big plans for summer... my parents were visiting my sister, my niece was due to arrive, and I wished to spend some time with them down in Denver... but then my MBA school had some other plans. Summer Projects!

 

I don't have any problem doing summer projects as it meant that I would have 3 less credits for my Fall and final semester... but the timing was wrong or it ended up going too long. I was assigned with my two other friends Austin and Christina to do a benchmarking study for five oil companies based in the Big Horn Basin in north-west Wyoming. At first going by the study the previous year, I thought we could be done with the project as early as June... I wish, I wish, I wish... but it was never to happen that way... it lasted till the very end of July!

The First Trip

I had never been to Cody before. Whenever I referred to Google Maps, I would see the green patches of Yellowstone next to it. I was hoping it to be a small town along the hills. But this was no Nepal. 6 hour long drive from Laramie and I got to discover Wyoming. Dry lands as if this place was bombed sometimes in close past... barren, rocky with little wild bushes, and grasses just because it was summer!

Statue of Chief Washakie, Cody

Cody turned out to be surrounded by hills, but that was it. With population of just around 10,000 it was a small beautiful town. And as it was May, tourists have just started arriving to this gateway to the Yellowstone, the first national park in the world. Our summer project was called 'Marathon Oil Benchmarking Project', and 'marathon'  in the name sounds kind of sarcastic, the project went on and on for three months, and then there was our marathon drive from Laramie to Cody!

It was a three-day affair. We had dinner with Bob, one of the representetive of a participating company, I won;t tell which one... his hospitality is awesome! The best so far throughtout the project and add to that the wonderful human being he was and a commanding voice and height. He was staying at Irma and we were at Super 8. And Dr. Cook, our professor for the project did some research why it is called Super 8! You tell him anything and he will do research on his smartphone. I bet if any other group had such a cool advisor.

At Riverton we stopped to have our lunch at The Depot, a mexican place. There salsa is incredably good. And one of thier hostess/waitress hilarious. When Christina asked her opinion whether she should get a big one or smaller one, her reply was 'whether it is for your ex-boyfriend or current boyfriend!' Everyone of use just cracked up. She expained that was how they explained her to describe at work!

Day two, we visited the Little Buffalo Basin. I always thought oil to be pumped out from the well like the normal water wells around the world, turns out it's different. The fields are not nasty as I had imagined. It looks like normal place, no smell, no greasy land, nothing... Then we had an office visit... and that evening we decided to go fly-fishing in East Newton Lake. Our advisor is a big fly-fish enthusiast, and turns out so was Bob. When we reached the lake, it was raining and hailing at the same time... and the wind was strong. After half an hour or so, the rain and hail stopped, but the wind was still blowing. Our advisor, who brought 4 fishing rods along, taught us how to fly-fish. Meanwhile Bob was busy catching fish before we actually came, he was busy even when it hailed or rained. So far he had caught like 6 fishes. Luck wasn't on our side... and our advisor broke his rod due to the wind. That cost him $50 to repair, he told later on.

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody

On the last day of the trip, we visited Oregon Basin. Was surprised to see Lindasy, a Texan, working in an oil company in the wild west! And add more to that, she knew everything... every single details. Then we headed back to Cody, had lunch at Ivy's Inn with Thomas and Co. and around noon headed back to Laradise.

Post Site Visit
Done with the site visit... now was the time to wait for the companies to turn on thier spreadsheet before a pre-set deadline. We had nothing else to do, not much... so just worked on the outlines, graphs, charts, etc. Since my parents were to arrive during the second week of June, with nothing much to do, I was hoping I could join them when they arrive. Went to Denver for a week... my sister was moving in to her new home... helped her with that. I was hoping to do my part of project via net, but there was no internet connection in the new place. My bad. Received my parents and after spending a couple of days with them had to return back to Laramie.

As time passed by, we had random meetings... and as the deadline for final presentation approached the schedule became hectic. I couldn;t be next to my sister when Siya arrived. I only got to make a day trip to see her after a week she arrived. 

The Second Trip
During my first trip, I took some pictures on the way to Cody, but when we reached there, my camera failed... even the charger won;t work. So this time I made sure I won't take any pictures on the way. Did I tell you how much I liked the name Shoshoni and the church out there? It was beautiful.

Rocking chair in Room 16, Hotel Irma

Same long trip again... this time it hailed and rained so heavy on the canyon near Cody that we could hardly see anything in front. Austin drove us safe. I wasn;t scared but it all happened all of a sudden... unexpected. We stayed at Hotel Irma this time, named after Buffalo Bill Cody's daughter, Irma. We then heard quiet a bit story about the hotel being haunted. Every room had kind of story associated with it. Dr. Cook was in room 20, Christina in room 16 which has a story of the rocking chair rolling by itself. Austin and I were in room 17.

They had a street gun fight show everyday, you can hear the sound of gunshot from your room. Tired on the first day we decided to see it the next day. That night we just rehersed for the presentation for the next day. No one was haunted that day. Presentations went well. Steve, our MBA Director was there as well. He was in Denver the day before for other teams presentation, flew to Cody last night and was heading back to Denver that evening for another presentation.

As his plane was delayed and he arrived late night, he called a car rental. They told him that they have last one left. He was expecting it to be kind of ok, maybe truck or something. Guess what? To everyone's surprise he was riding a sexy red sports car! What on earth! Given his personality, I bet no one can carry that better than him!

That evening it hailed and rained hard for a while when we were watching the gun show outside Irma. I was kind of worried if I won;t be able to take pictures again. I didn;t wanted to miss it this time. Luckily, the rain stopped after a while. 3 of us just strolled around. Given the size of the town, I am really impressed with the number of statues that they have in Cody... I was like click, click, click... this time we didn;t go fishing though... LOL, no more spare rods to break.

Finally, the summer was over... with only 15 free days before the NOLS begins. I don;t know what to expect from that but for a while I want to enjoy my freedom, go to Denver... spend some time with my family and niece. Nothing much.