3 days on the road and we ain't gonna make it home tonight

Finished Montana and Wyoming today.   Got lucky with the weather.  All the storms along I-90 went through just ahead or just after we did.  Certainly glad we took the middle route since 94 & 80 have been slammed with violent storms.

Saw Pictoglyph state park outside Billings and toured the Little Bigfoot Battlefield on the way to Rapid City.  The caves above the Yellowstone River valley were occupied over 10,000 years ago.  Many images are still visible.  Interestingly, more show up when the cave walls are damp, which wasn't the case today.

A visit to the Little Bighorn battlefield is enlightening.  White markers have been placed where the soldiers fell during the battle.  Brown markers, far fewer, are placed where the warriors fell.  Most of the 7th Cavalry markers are unknown, while the Sioux and Cheyenne markers have the warriors identified.  What I found most striking was how the white markers are distributed across the site.  Strongly showing that the fight was a running battle.  You gain the sense of the desperation of the soldiers as they tried to find somewhere that they could defend.  I felt a strong disdain for Custer.  His hubris,  arrogance, and drive for fame doomed his troops.  Similar to some current politicians.  This battle did not need to happen.

The recent revisions have been excellent.  The warriors circle adds to the impact of the site.  I could only take one photo, just for the bozo shot.  It is something anyone traveling through on I-90 should stop to experience.

As we entered Wyoming the low hills and ravines were green with new growth.  From the highway they looked to be covered in green velvet.  With all the convolutions though, they could serve as the Devil's pool table or hell's bocce court.  We saw LOTS of pronghorns today.  Good sized herds near the freeway.

Travel notes for today:

Lots of work being done on I-90 so there are several places where it's one lane.  Since school is not out yet, and it was mid-week, the travel times were not affected.  Give it a few weeks and it'll be bad.

We chose the Days Inn in West Rapid City.   A nice place.  I'd request a 2nd floor room to avoid POS cars running outside in the lot.  It ain't too far west, though.  It's maybe 3 minutes by car from downtown, which is actually kind of nice.  Compact, quite a few small restaurants and bars.  We chose a small locally owned place, Botticelli'sItalian (I know, we fell into our rut).  Actually a pretty good place.  Food was excellent.  The specials showed some skill and they have a fairly large wine list.  I'd fault it for being real heavy on California wines and having little from Italy, in relative selections.