Note: Photos are not completely loaded for August 8th.
Changing Plans
The plan today was to visit Bighorn Canyon National Park and spend most of the day there. It has interesting rock formations like Makoshika State Park and I anticipated it would be a great opportunity for photographs. Unfortunately, the weather report indicated isolated thunderstorms and heavy rains at times. This park is a long way from any interstate and I was a bit nervous about the local roads.
When planning the trip, I miscalculated the distances. I was calculating everything based on Crow Agency rather than Fort Smith, which is the actual entrance to the park. I would be starting from Miles City, MT. That is about three hours away from Fort Smith. Then I would be spending the night in Bozeman, MT. That is four hours from Fort Smith. So, after hiking around a huge national park all day, a four hour drive in the dark was not the best idea. Add to that the chance for storms and that was enought to shift my plans for the day. Perhaps I'll get to Bighorn Canyon another time.
Range Riders Museum
Now that I had time for something else, I decided to check out the Range Riders Museum. This had been advertised on I-94 as I was going to Miles City. The Range Riders Museum is a huge collection of almost anything western or pioneer related. They have arrowheads, other Native American pictures and artifacts, horse saddles, tools of every kind, photos, cowboy awards, a wild west "main street" inside, a number of buildings such as a pioneer home, old schoolhouse, etc. In the barn they have lots of vehicles including wagons, tractors, and old cars. It's nice but almost too much to take in at once. Space is an issue but it almost seems like too much is too close together. See the photos.
After the Range Riders Museum, I decided to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield. This was "Custer's Last Stand." It was a long ride and basically was going in the wrong direction from Bozeman. I took photos at two different rest stops along I-94. See the second rest stop photos.
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Beautiful Scenery
This was the first time I had traveled the interstates during the day. Conventional wisdom says that if you drive mostly interstates on a trip, you miss a lot of beautiful scenery. That wisdom doesn't work in Montana. There is absolutely gorgeous scenery along the interstates. Montana is so varied between flat land, buttes, mesas, etc., and many of the variations can be seen from I-94 and I-90. Going off the interstate will also show some nice scenery, but there seems to be even more from the interstates.
The route to the battlefield included taking a lengthy road that ran between I-94 and I-90. I passed quite a few farms. The non-interstate road was 70 at times. Finally, I got into a town near the I-90 entrance. Casinos were in every gas station and just about every other business. Gas was a bit weird in this area. The lowest was 85.5 (not E85). Then there was 88 and 92. The 85.5 was $3.95/gallon or therabouts. Most places have 87, 89, and 93. Since I knew the car needed at least 87, I had to get 88. That was about $4.11/gallon. All of the gas stations in the general area (including the ones just outside the park) were like this.
The Little Bighorn Battlefield
Finally, I got to the battlefield. The first thing is a large national cemetery. Soldiers from the Battle of Little Bighorn and even the Civil War are buried here. There are other soldiers and their wives from WWI and WWII.
Major Marcus Reno
I'm distantly related to Major Marcus Reno. He's not one of the best historical figures but I'm related to him nonetheless. I knew he was buried here (he was reinterred here in 1967 from Washington). But, I wasn't even thinking about him. As I was just walking around, I glanced down. Suddenly, I found myself looking right at Reno's grave. It has a flag to identify it. Few of the other graves in this huge cemetery, despite mostly being soldiers, had a flag next to theirs. It was definitely an interesting coincidence how I just suddenly found the grave.
Past the visitor center, there is a large monument and another small cemetery area. The monument honors the soldiers for their attempts to "remove hostile Indians." The quote is a bit offensive. These Indians were defending their land which was being taken away from them. While the soldiers were following orders, those giving the orders were stealing land. The small cemetery around the monument includes Custer's grave.
There are many kiosks throughout the battlefield which explain various points. They try to give both perspectives. There is also a Native American monument to honor the Native Americans who died there.
Throughout the battlefield, there are headstones identifying where a solider or Native American warrior fell. Sometimes, the names are listed. Other times it is just a generic marker.
The land has huge hills. It's beautiful to look at but I imagine it would be very difficult to fight a battle. There are many places where troops could hide and wait to do an ambush.
People are allowed to walk through the battlefield rather than just sticking to the main road. But, there are warning signs indicating that snakes may be in the area.
Drive to Bozeman
The ride to Bozeman was long. It was dusk and I still had some time to see the area as I drove through. There was also lightening to the south of me. I was able to watch the bolts directly hit the ground. I kept getting nervous anout things getting too close to I-90.
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Billings
I-94 merges into I-90 here just after Billings, MT. Billings is Montana's largest city. I didn't have time to actually go into the city. From what I could see, they definitely celebrate their old west heritage. Many of the advertisements focused on cowboys such as "Cowboy Connections," which was a cell phone dealer.
Entering Western Montana
Bozeman, MT was the beginning of my Western Montana experience. I could see the silhouettes of much larger mountains as I got closer. I-90 began to twist quite a bit. It reminded me of the interstates in West Virginia, which is called the Mountain State.
The interstates in MT are at 75 unless there is construction going on. I drove at about 72 or 73 because I wanted to get to my hotel in a reasonable time. Suddenly, I came up to a person doing no more than around 40...in a 75 mph area. While MT does not list minimum speed limits, common sense would dictate that at least the individual should have turned on his or her flashers.
Better Temperatures
The last two days in Eastern Montana were very hot, even in the evening. When I got to Bozeman at night, it was cool. The temperature was much more pleasant and seemed to be in the mid to low 60s.
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