Little Big Horn Batlefield

Wednesday was a travel day as we headed further west. It was one of the longest driving days, something over 300 miles.
We got to Rapid City and the Rogers were going to Walmart to pick up some meds for Ted. He has developed a cold and wanted some relief. As they were exit ting, our coach started handling funny. I was sure we had a flat in the rear as I had to completely fill the outside left rear tire that morning. It turned out to be the left front tire and it was @ 40#. It is supposed to be @85#. I watched it drop another 10# in just a few moments but then it stopped leaking after we stopped in this restaurant's parking lot..

Brenda tried to get AAA to come to our rescue, but they seemed confused and were unable to help us with our problem.

We have had lots of trouble with these tires since we put them on 2 years ago. It has always been the valve stem that was leaking. This episode was no exception. I filled the tire with the compressor that we carry, checked several times to see if any air was lost then proceeded to Flying J to see if there was help available. Brenda was given directions to a tire shop that was totally inaccurate. While she was getting directions I added more air to the tire. It did not lose any more air.

Due to the poor directions to the tire shop, we did not find it. I checked the tire one more time without any loss of air, so we decided to proceed on towards the flying J in Gillette, WY.
There we met up with Ted & Donna as they had gone ahead and waited for us in Gillette.
I checked the tire again there in Gillette with no more loss of air, so we proceeded onto Garryowen, Mt.

We arrived in 7th Ranch Campground which is just south of the Little Big Horn Battlefield.
The park was nice, no shade as it was in the high 90's. We had had heat on that morning as it was 39 degrees in Custer, SD.
It was in a great location on the Crow Indian Reservation, but this is deeded land, and the Crow have no claim to it.

Thursday we drove over to The Custer Battlefield and took the driving tour. The campground lent us a CD that narrates the tour, tells you when to stop and point out areas of interest. It also tells the story leading up to and to the conclusion of the demise of George Custer and his regiment.

It seems that Col. Custer was not only arrogant, but was stupid as well. The archaeological evidence of the battle proves that Custer was not a victim of this debacle, but was the aggressor. He under estimated his enemy, not only in their numbers, but also their determination not to change their way of life.
The battle took less than 2 hours, not the 2 or 3 days that has been told to us for so many years.
This is such an interesting place to visit. We have learned so much about our history during this trip.

After we left the battleground, we went to the Big Horn County Museum. It is a cluster of buildings and exhibits spread over several acres. We had a picnic lunch under a large tree. It was hot in the sun but cool under that tree. (Very little humidity).
There is a railway station with track and a caboose. There is couple of cabins from the 1940's or 50's. complete with old fridge, bed, old time stove. There is a barn with old cars, 2 stage coaches, old tractors and all kinds of old farm equipment. a very interesting time and a great price, FREE.

Today was another travel day. We stopped in Billings, MT for a Walmart run. We are going to be away from any appreciable size grocery store for the next 15 or 16 days, so we needed to stock up.
I have not had a haircut since leaving Memphis on June 10th, so Brenda, Donna and I got haircuts. We all look and feel a lot better.

We are in Reed Point, MT tonight and will head for Ennis, MT in the morning. It is about 80 miles from Valley View RV park where we will spend the next 2 weeks. There is a Catholic church in Ennis and we can go to mass there tomorrow night. As much traveling as we have done, we don't feel that we can skip mass because of distance.


Ta ta for now