8.08.2012

Little Bighorn Battlefield


Being passed by many Harley's headed to the Sturgis rally. Thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts descend on this small SD town every August.













Parking is SEVERELY limited. Not having a towed allowed me to parallel park Serenity.


Great diorama of Reno's retreat















And Custer on Last Stand Hill








Was not build for comfort











After the battle, Lakota and Cheyenne families removed their dead, estimated between 60-100, and placed them in tipis and on scaffolds and hillsides. On June 28, 1876 the bodies of Custer and his command are hastily buried in shallow graves at or near where they fell. In 1877 the remains of 11 officers and two civilians are transferred to eastern cemeteries. Custer's remains are reinterred at West Point. In 1881 the remains of the rest of the command are buried in a mass grave around the base of the memorial shaft. In 1890 the Army erects 249 headstone markers across the battlefield to show where Custer's men had fallen. In 1999 the National Park Service began erecting red granite markers at known Cheyenne and Lakota warrior casualty sites. 


 Looking up at Last Stand Hill




Looking down at the Little Big Horn river where the Lakota & Cheyenne encampment would have been. Today hwy 90 run through it. 


Last Stand Hill. Custer's marker is the one with the prominent black writing on it. (map)


The ranger told me that the coins on the indian markers just started showing up. They think it is a tribute to the fallen warriors. 


The Indian monument.  (map)












8.06.2012

Museum of the Rockies

WOW!  What a great museum. The exhibits are excellent and so informative. This was a great precursor to the dino dig next week.

Bozeman traffic jam.


Big Mike






The real thing


The close up



The egg clutches that Dr. Jack Horner found, evidence that some dinos lived in herds and cared for their young.







Model of the bones


And the flip side


Madison River

After the museum I went out to the Madison River for a couple of relaxing days. (45.59764, -111.57072) Tubing is very popular. But these are your dad's tubes. I think some of them have wet bars in them. 



Old school




8.04.2012

Picking up the Pace

The peaches are in season and soooo good.  I picked up a flat peaches and headed east.




The AC is intermittently blowing a circuit breaker, probably a short. Repair facility in Missoula first appointment was two weeks out. No good because I have to been in Newcastle, WY on the 8th. I have an appointment in Billings, MT for the 7th. I hope it is a easy fix.

Stopped at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. Though not as spectacular as the cave videos I showed  my students, they were interesting. It is a two hour tour, one hour in the cave. The cave is vertical. You hike to the top and then descend down through it.

Trail up to entrance from the distant visitors center. Below is the return trail


Looking down on the campground (45.82278, -111.85635) where I spent the night. Lewis and Clark camped here in 1805. Ever since I entered the Lolo Pass in Idaho I have been traveling the same country they did over 200 years ago.   


Cave entrance






Bat calcited in the rock that died thirty years ago 


The calcite is beautiful when polished smooth.

























I am in Bozeman and headed for the Museum of the Rockies.