After leaving Gillette, WY, I headed to the Battle of Little Big Horn site. Once you cross into MT, you are on the Crow Reservation for more than 30 miles --reservation housing visible from I-90 makes the trailer parks outside SD & WY cities seem rather plush. Good preliminary for the battle site where Custer had his last stand. Bio on Custer [last in his class at WP, etc, along with numerous other problems makes him a rather controversial officer--I didn't realize he fought against JEB Stuart - our local hero, which Tom's high school is named for -- at Gettysburg ].
The Indians certainly has reasons to fight. Battlefield is a bit like Gettysburg - big open fields with graves marked. Horses roam around -- right on the driving route of the battlefield. It was appropriate to see Crazy Horse's battle after having visited the Crazy Horse monument.
I stayed in Billings, MT Friday evening. Busy town with all the usual big box stores. Walmart is everywhere including Gillette and Cody, WY but Best Buy, Lowes and Borders not. I headed to Cody, WY today -- named after Buffalo Bill Cody. Billings in the nearest real city -- not a single traffic light for 120 miles in between. 2 lane road posted at 70 miles/hr but mostly good road.
Cody has a great museum -- on a par with Smithsonian quality -- really 5 separate museums - Buffalo Bill Cody gets his own, Plains Indians another, western art, natural history and I passed on the Cody Fire Arms museum. Sitting Bull of Little Bighorn Fame was in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show at one point. If I had come in the summer, there is a daily rodeo show from June to August -- this town must be packed with tourists then. Billings is also a big rodeo town.
Trivia: Carnegie Library here in Cody. Peak dinner hour seems to be as early as 5:30 on Sat night. Local restaurant - not for tourists, based on who was there - was packed at 5:30, plenty of empty tables when I was leaving at 7:45. I asked the waitress - she said 'this is Wyoming' -- you can't get food after 10'. Best Western has a full service laundromat - with 8 washers and dryers in Cody. One possible route to Yellowstone is already closed for the winter. Snow predicted for the high altitudes tonight but unlikely where I am. Many locals know I am not from around here - just by looking however the drive thru latte guy admired my audi and wanted to know where I got it serviced in Billings -- he is looking to upgrade from his Saab.
Radio coverage of the WY-NM game on 3 different channels today, with WY players interviewed [NM trounced WY]. Preceded by the high school sports report where individual players get recognized. HS teams must travel big time all over the state-- Rock Spring played Casper -- over 200 miles away.
Paul thinks the gps idea is a good one and has volunteered to select a model at a Phil Best Buy and bring it with him on the plane.
Yellowstone alert: bear mawling of elk hunter with north east corner of park closed, temporarily.
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I flew down to SW Oregon and went to a local 3A Highschool football game which was also covered on tv and in the newspaper the next morning. The team we were rooting for Illinois Valley trounced the other team apparently they are THE force in the division and have outscored opponents by 350 points in 7 games. State Title Hopes abound. 15000 people live in Illinois Valley and apparently this is the best team they've fielded in 27 years that our friends had lived there.
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