Bozeman, MT

On Thursday (July 5th) we left eastern Montana for the Yellowstone area. It's been a long time since we've seen Yellowstone and it seemed crazy to be this close and not visit. We spent a whole day cruising the northern loop including the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. What a place!! The rocks, waterfalls, and dramatic scenes wouldn't do justice to any photographs we could take. Didn't see too many animals since it was so warm but we did get to see a small black bear and a buffalo sitting in the shade. The bear brought traffic to a complete stop as you might imagine. This is a complete violation of what they want you to do but I completely understood it having never seen a bear outside of a zoo.
Our camp spot in Bozeman gave us a spectacular view of the mountains. Loved it so much we camped there  three nights and took a day to golf with a couple of women. Usually we're paired with a couple of men, so this was a nice switch for me! Bob can play with anyone so we had a great afternoon. One of the women had just lost her husband six days prior to cancer, having only been diagnosed a month before that. That will make you feel grateful for what you have - or have NOT had in life. Bob has been trying to get in touch with an old high school buddy who now lives south of Missoula, MT. Hoping to get to make that connection next.

Little Big Horn

I would have never thought we'd spend  so much time at the battlefield monument, but what a great visit we had. The highlight was the storytelling of the whole battle and circumstances leading up to it done by (of course) a retired high school history teacher. He made the whole visit for me. He broke down the entire battle, describing the tactics used by both the Sioux and the 7th cavalry and where things went wrong - or right depending on your point of view! We also bought a CD that provided a self-paced tour. All in all we spent six hours there! There is a lot more to the story than "Little Big Man"!
At lunchtime we took ourselves over to a cafe and had a salad made with Indian fry bread. Loved it! If you've ever had a Mexican sopapilla, this would be very much like that. Great day for trying new things.

...and we're off!

After what seems like our entire household stuffed into our trailer, we finally shoved off - on time!! The heat was unbelievable, up to 102 on Monday in South Dakota. I actually felt bad for the Toyota. The first day we slogged it out to Wall, SD and just fell into camp. Of course we had to walk over to Wall Drug after seeing a bazillion ads for it on the way. On Tuesday we were headed to Gerryowen, MT near the Little Big Horn river, but then we decided to swing by Devil's Tower Monument since we were so close. Hadn't been there since the 80s. They wouldn't let us into the park due to lack of parking space for trailers, but we were able to get a great look at it and took a few photos. People always thought Devil's Tower was the remnants of an old volcano, but they've discovered recently that it not that: just the remains of erosion. We pushed off after that in the intense heat and made our way to the Little Big Horn river. Found a nice spot to camp overlooking the valley. Mercifully, the night cooled off due to the altitude. Poor Bob figured he'd driven about 500 miles himself in a 30-hour period after a trip north to Cambridge to attend a family funeral and then to wall. I have to do more of a share of driving.
Looking forward to the National Park tomorrow.