A battle over land, which they won but lost again

By -

Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana

Photo courtesy of VisitUSA

Driving along the i90, I found a note I wrote last year to remind myself about the Battle of Little Bighorn if we were travelling through Montana. It was on our way and we got there just in time for the morning Ranger talk with his rendition of what happened. He was an ex-history teacher and was very enthusiastic about delivering a history lesson that would keep us all engaged for an hour. In a nutshell, gold was found in the Black Hills which was part of the Indian reservation set up with the Fort Laramie treaty. Gold seekers rushed to the area, contravening the treaty, so the army tried to buy it from the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho for $6m. The Indians understandably weren’t interested. They wanted to preserve their way of life, which wasn’t living on reservations. The money was taken off the table and they were told to leave anyway or be treated as hostiles. They resisted and a war ensued that ended with Col. Custer’s regiment being totally wiped out. Unfortunately for the Indians they lost their land some time later; it just postponed the inevitable. But at least the Indians won! The battle ground is as it was back then, just green rolling hills with a few tombstones where soldiers died, their bodies being moved to a central location or even another states. It was an enjoyable couple of hours and I’m really glad we stopped.

We have booked two weeks in a campground just outside Waterton National Park in Canada and need to be up there on the 20th June. The bears are out and a family of red fox have been seen in the area. So we are slowly making our way up through Gillette, Billings, Great Falls, Choteau and Browning. We have made a list of food for the Canadian customs and nearly drunk all our wine. The rules must have bee! made for air flight travellers in that all bottles need to be unopened. This clearly is not practical for RV travellers but I’m sure they aren’t going to make allowances for us. We still have 3 bottles of rum left over from last year, which uses up our tax-free allowance. I’m not sure why we bought so much, it must have been a good price!
Location: Little Bighorn Battlefield, 756 Battlefield Tour Road, Crow Agency, MT 59022, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life on the road: Trip Planning

By -
Image
Being on the road requires planning, I find the following websites and apps helpful. Remember that low altitude places will be hot in summer, high altitude places will be cold in winter! Websites All Stays  - web version of the App. Shows camping, stores, free overnight camping. I use the app version. BLM lands  - shows the Bureau of Land Management areas Campendium  - shows many camping options on a map Campground Photos  - you can sort by state, area. Map or list view. Casino Camping  - list of casinos that allow RV camping Free Campgrounds  - lists by state, campgrounds are listed to nearest town, no map view Free Campsites  - click on a state and it gives you a map with colour coded spots for pay, free etc Public Lands  - map view National Parks  - check for seasonal closures, names of campgrounds National Wildlife and Refuge System  - you can search by state where wildlife refuges. Oh Ranger  - informatio...
Read more

Hot Springs in the middle of nowhere

By -
Image
Liard Hot Springs, Summit Lake, BC Canada The girl at the information desk in Fort Nelson suggested that we stay at Summit Lake on Stone Mountain. We got a campsite with a million dollar view, right on the lake and it was stunning. Talking to a couple from Fort St John, they told us they had seen some moose just up the road. So we went to investigate to find our own, but unfortunately we didn’t see any moose. They came for drinks that night; our first Canadian visitors and hopefully we inspired them with some travel stories. They want to travel but just don’t have the confidence, it seems to be a common concern amongst Americans and Canadians.  Summit Lake campground The following day we got up at 6am and went in search of our quest again, it was very foggy so the photos wouldn’t have been great, but still nothing. Later that day we went out again and saw our first Caribou. At first I didn’t know if it was a moose or a Caribou – truth be known, I still don’t really know....
Read more

The city that never sleeps

By -
Image
New York City, NY Fulton Station We nearly didn't go to New York because a friend of ours missed the turn off and ended up driving his 5th wheel into Manhattan. Yikes! he still has nightmares about it. After some soothing, Lindsay reluctantly agreed as long as we made sure we knew where we were going. The closest RV park to NYC is in Liberty Harbor in New Jersey. Basically it’s a carpark turned into an RV park, so no ambiance whatsoever. At $97 a night, it’s the most expensive place we have been to but at least we got a day free for staying 7 nights. Inside the Oculus station To say the train system in New Jersey or New York is unfriendly is an understatement. We needed two tickets, one for the PATH which took us across the river to the four billion dollar Oculus train station, then one for the New York subway. The subway is confusing, dirty, old and horrible. There are so many exits and entrances for the same station that you never know where you are going to end...
Read more