On the way to our next wonderfully named destination in Yellowstone Park - the Fountain Paint Pots - it seemed as though all of the region's wildlife had come out to greet us. First, we saw a herd of elk wandering nonchalantly across a field into the forest, then we were held up by a bison strolling down the middle of the road, and finally we came to a screeching halt next to an entire field of them. Actually, should I be saying bison or buffalo - I really can't remember which is which? I think one of them has an extra pair of ribs, but I wasn't about to go up to one and start prodding at his belly in order to make the distinction. Our guide was by now just about having multiple orgasms, telling us how lucky we were and that this was the most active she had seen the wildlife in Yellowstone for a long time. She then launched into a lecture, in that way that guides like to do, on how this was both the mating and calving seasons - can that be right? - and that they would charge us if we got too close and they thought that their territory was being invaded or their young threatened. Charge at us, I should say, not charge us - they weren't likely to demand payment for looking at them or anything. The guide might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the notice we took of her - most of us were already off the coach and jostling for the best position on the bank to get the best shots. Luckily for the bison, only with our cameras.

The Fountain Paint Pots are a group of bubbling geysers which take their name from the multicoloured deposits on the ground surrounding them. The reds, browns and yellows that make the geysers look a little like children's painting pots get their colour from the iron in the mud, which is at different stages of oxidisation throughout the area. Yellowstone is famous for its geysers, but the Paint Pots stand out for me as they can be seen for miles around as great plumes of smoke rising up into the sky - pretty much what I had expected from a geyser. The pots bubble away in a rather sinister manner as you watch, and occasionally the pressure will get too much for one of them and it will disgorge a huge amount of mud into the area before settling down into a steady bubbling once again. From time to time, there will be a sudden build up of steam and the Paint Pots can be heard to start rumbling quite dramatically, and then one of them will erupt with a huge fountain of water, mud and steam which will leap several feet up into the air. A path leads visitors around the area - with stern signs warning that you will be prosecuted if you dare to leave the walkway. This is always assuming that they can still get you to court, having scraped up all of your remains and put them in a bottle after you've been melted by the boiling mud. I found it particularly amusing when one guy in the party chose to light up a cigarette and was immediately pounced upon by a ranger who gave him a stern lecture on the park's policy on pollution - just a little odd, considering the amount of sulphur and other noxious gases in the air all around us already.

My stop for the night is in the small town of Cody, Wyoming, a place named after William Frederick Cody, or Buffalo Bill. The wildlife on the way here this afternoon just got better and better - we had to stop several times along the way to take photos of deer, elk, bison and the odd moose, but unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to see any more bears, despite keeping our eyes peeled. This really does seem to be wild west country, and I'm starting to notice more and more small towns with links to characters or situations portrayed in westerns. The strange thing is that I've never been a massive fan of those types of films, perhaps because I have no respect for the way the "Indians" are always shown as murderous savages rather than rightful land owners defending their territory from the "white man" who has decided to stomp all over it and build towns on top of their most sacred sites - but also because, as something of a pacifist, the whole concept of getting excited over a bunch of guys in hats whose entire life seems to be concerned with riding from town to town engaging in gun fights and murdering each other doesn't exactly appeal. Of course, the way the wild west is shown in films is nothing like the way it was in reality, and I'm finding myself becoming quite fascinated by the characters and stories as I actually visit the places shown in westerns. This doesn't mean, of course, that I'm likely to go home at the end of all this and hire out three hundred films with Clint Eastwood in them, but I think I can safely say that coming to the wild west has given me a different, historical, perspective on the whole thing which I've never had before.

I only have a single night in town before heading further north tomorrow, but the streets seemed fairly quiet this evening so I don't think I'll be missing much by not staying here for longer. Cody claims to be the rodeo capital of the United States, staging a huge stampede rodeo every night for three months of the year - people come from all around to sample a taste of the old west and watch people with an obvious death wish sitting on the back of wild horses and being thrown around like rag dolls. To be honest, I wouldn't have minded being in town during a rodeo just to see what it's all about, but as usual I never seem to be able to turn up anywhere at the right time of year. Still, I certainly can't complain about the scenery around the town and I could probably write pages on the National Parks alone, so it's not as though I can say I haven't seen anything. What would really make things complete, though, as I head further north, would be if somebody could arrange for the coach to be ambushed by Indians and cowboys to appear from the mountains to rescue us - Americans are known for putting on big shows for tourists, so perhaps that's something they should think about for my next visit...

About Simon and Burfords Travels:

Simon Burford is a UK based travel writer. He will be re-publishing his travel blogs, chapters from his books and other miscellaneous rantings on these pages over the coming weeks and months, and the entry on this page may not necessarily reflect todays date.