June 4, 2008

  

Barb fixed us a delicious breakfast casserole and served homemade sweet bread and fruit.  WOW it was so good we filled our tummies and then some.  We said goodbye to the Hartley’s about 9:00 and headed north on I-90.  The mountains to our left are the Big Horn Mountains and they have snow on them.  Barb said if the mountains still have snow on them July 4^th then they should have enough moisture to sustain the valley until next winter.

 

About 10:30 am we crossed the border into Montana. 

 

Our first stop for the day was at Crow Agency Montana site of Custer’s Last Stand and the Battle of Little Bighorn. This is the site where on June 25^th  and 26^th of 1876 Lt. Col.  George A. Custer leading the 7^th Calvary unwisely attacked several thousand Cheyenne, Lakota, Arapaho and other Indian tribes.  Custer underestimated the size of the Indian forces he would be battling. Chief Sitting Bull was the Lakota Indian’s leader.  Custer and his men killed their own horses to hide behind their dead carcasses during the battle.  More than 260 U.S. soldiers met defeat and death including Custer and every member of his immediate command.  There was a nice visitor’s center with pictures and lots of information about the battle.  We all agreed the pictures of Lt. Col. Custer reminded us of our friend Craig Percival (although Craig looks much wiser).  Outside of the visitor’s center we walked the trails around the battleground.  There are markers indicating the location where the soldiers’ fell in the battle and even where the horses died.

 

We wore jackets because it was quite cool. Aleesha wrapped a KSU blanket around her as it was warmer than the little jacket she had with her in the car.  Our heavier jackets were packed away where we couldn’t get to them.  We didn’t expect to find such cool temperatures until farther north.  We were quite the K-State fans as everyone except Chris was sporting the beautiful KSU purple. 

 

After leaving the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn, I-90 took us west for a while to Billings where we stopped for lunch and changed a tire on the camper.  It didn’t go flat but was looking worn so Tim and Chris changed the tire.  We got to briefly access the internet as we ate lunch at Subway so we updated our blogspot and called our parents.

 

The weather was cloudy with occasional sprinkles or rain.  We continued on I-90 west to highway 89 where we went north to Great Falls, Montana. We drove through varying terrains during this stretch of out trip.  The Yellowstone River followed part of I-90 and was so full it was out of its banks at places and flowing very fast.  Sometimes the lay of the land reminded us of the valley between Westcliffe, CO and Horn Creek Ranch; lush green grass with full to overflowing creeks running through the grasses.  Other times it was arid and dessert-like with buttes.  There were areas that looked like the flint hills of Kansas with rolling hills and not a tree in site.

 

Highway 89 was a small highway and it seemed at times that God was giving us a private tour of this area.  We saw lots of wildlife on highway 89 including mule deer, white geese, horses, cows, prong horn antelope, and 2 moose.  This road also took us by Snowshoe ski and through Lewis and Clark National Forest. There was a lot of snow on the ground but not on the road or coming from the sky.  It was raining and occasionally there was a little ice in the rain drops. A creek followed the highway meandering from one side of the road to the other.  It was beautiful even though it was cloudy and rainy.  When we drove out of the forest there was a stark contrast because right after the sign saying we were leaving the national forest, there were not hardly any trees.

 

About 8:30 pm we pulled into Great Falls, Montana and camped at Dick’s Campground.  It looked clean and the only campground available other than KOA which would cost more than $60 for our family to camp there.  We chose a primitive campsite with no services since we were going to go eat supper, shower and then go to sleep.  We set up the camper and then went to Taco Bell for supper.

 

Our campsite was right next to a stoplight on the highway.  During the night we thought maybe they were having semi-truck drag races as many, many big loud trucks accelerated just outside our camper.  There must have been a airport of some kind close by too because we also heard a helicopter that sounded like it was landing beside us.  We didn’t feel any wind so it must not have landed as close as it sounded.

 

Mileage for the day: 450 miles

Temperature high: 38 degrees in Lewis and Clark National Forest; 50’s elsewhere

Camping fee: $22.00

Price for gasoline: $3.89