Day 8: Wyoming, Montana and Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument

 We only had 250 miles to drive today but we wanted to be at Hardin KOA Hardin, Montana by the check-in time of 1:00 p.m. so we could visit the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument this afternoon.  We stopped at Gillette, Wyoming for gas.  There was a big tour bus parked at the front of the motorhome.  A man from the tour group noticed that we were from Illinois and came over to see where in Illinois we were from.  Surprise!  Surprise!  We were from Decatur and so was that tour bus.  It was sponsored by the Farm Bureau in Decatur so most of the people were from Decatur and nearby.  In fact, the man who had talked to Carol is the janitor at Hickory Point Mall.  We see each other nearly every week because I meet with a friend at the mall to do a Bible study and then walk the mall.  We recognized each other although we did not know our names.  Carol met another man who had worked at Firestone.  It really is a small world! What are the chances that a RV from Decatur, Illinois would get gas at a station in Gillette, Wyoming, at the same time as a tour bus full of Decatur area residents stops.

The sky was filled with clouds and off and on the during the day we ran into heavy rain and sometimes strong winds.  The awning on the driver's side of the motorhome made its noise a couple of times.

Somewhere between Gillette and Sheridan, we saw snow on the mountain tops.  This is the Big Horn Mountain Range with the largest mountain in the area towering over 11,000 feet high.

 

Made it to Montana around noon, and as  this picture shows, it was raining and the wind blowing.  We arrived at the KOA a little after one and got set up and unloaded the car.  We ate lunch/supper at the Dairy Queen.  This was probably the first time in years that we have had anything except ice cream at  a Dairy Queen!  Little Big  Horn Battlefield was only 15 miles from here.

There is a national veterans cemetery located in the monument.  Some of the soldiers who died in the Little Big Horn battle are buried here along with veterans from the Spanish American through the Vietnam War.

Markers marked with the blue flag indicates that the veteran is a Medal of Honor winner.  We saw several graves marked with the blue flag.

This is the hill that General Custer and several of his men died.  The marker with the black emblem is General Custer.  There is a mass grave of those who died at the spot.  Some were later reinterred at other national cemeteries.  General Custer is buried at West Point Military Academy.

After the battle the Indians removed their dead and the bodies of Custer and his command were hastily buried in shallow graves at or near where they fell.  General Custer's 7th Calvary of 700 men were fighting nearly 9,000 Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux Indians.  

Many horses were killed in the battle.  Some were shot to provide protection for the soldiers.  The horses were buried in a mass grave near the top of the hill and this monument is to their service.

Nearly 100 Indians were killed.  The battle field has red markers to indicate the place where an Indian died.

The Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne tribes have built a memorial to those of their tribes who died in the battle.  This is part of the memorial.  Below is a view of the Last Stand Marker from the bottom of the hill.

These words are on the side of the Visitor's Center.  

The wind really picked up as we were walking to Last Stand Hill and it started to rain.  Can you tell from the expressions on their faces that the weather conditions are not good?

The marker on Last Stand Hill contains the name of all the soldiers who died in this battle.

We got back to camp at 5:00 and are settled in for the evening.  Keegan shot some basketball hoops.  The pool is not open yet.  We have stayed in five KOA's this trip so far and only two of the campgrounds had their pools open.  This KOA is definitely old and in need of some tender loving care.  The decorations around the campground are bicycles and hats.  There are sign everywhere saying, "Bring your hat to Hardin KOA."  Old bicycles line the perimeter of the campground.  Some have different kinds of hats on the handlebars.  It has cooled down nicely so we won't be using the air conditioner.  Tomorrow we will be camped about 40 miles from the northern gate of Yellowstone.  I think it will be much cooler there and will have have to use the heat for the first time.  It is only 200 miles from here so it will be a short drive.