Our alarms went off around 8:30 - early for us - and we made a nice breakfast of oatmeal and canned oranges and made our way across the Little Bighorn River to the battlefield. It reminded me a lot of the Civil War battlefields I've been to - the same combination of Park Service khaki and green, assorted historical artifacts, and informational placards. Needless to say, I was thrilled beyond belief.
We explored the little museum for a bit, learning more about the lives of Custer and Sitting Bull, as well as the various other players in the battle. A shocking 42 percent of 7th Cavalry soldiers were foreign-born, and were seeking a Western adventure much like ourselves. They followed Custer and his cavalry to explore Yellowstone National Park, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and finally chased the Lakota Sioux and their allies to their encampment at the Little Bighorn. The rest, as they say, is history.
After educatin' ourselves in the museum, we climbed to the top of "Last Stand Hill," where Custer and 42 of his men became cornered and fell at the hands of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors who were defending their sacred tribal lands against U.S. government forces bent on taking them.
The site was haunting, at least for me, because the grassland has not changed all that much in the last 150 years and Last Stand Hill, where Native Americans attempted to preserve their way of life by driving off some cavalrymen who themselves were just following orders, looks much the same today as it did when those people died there.
As evidence that you learn new things all the time, we discovered the origin of the phrase "Bury the hatchet." Just a few short years after the battle at Little Bighorn, survivors of the battle from both sides gathered in a symbolic show of peace and unity and buried a hatchet at the site, representing to the world the end of hostilities between the U.S. government and those Native American tribes. If there's anything that excites me, it's etymologies. I'm sure you can relate.
We continued on from the Little Bighorn west through southern Montana before turning south again towards Yellowstone. We stopped for lunch in the tiny town of Columbus, MT, and were hoping to find some local fare to eat but, finding none, stopped at a Subway instead. I went to the bathroom and while in there I had a profound thought (I often have profound thoughts in the bathroom). Every place in America is basically the same. There are cultural, geographical, and demographic differences to be sure, but at the very heart of it, all places are filled with people just trying to live their lives, raise families, and attain some level of satisfaction and happiness. And sometimes they're just in the mood for Subway.
Having driven through rain for most of the day, we arrived in Yellowstone and the rain has ceased, leaving in its wake some serious COLD. We'll be diving deep into our sleeping bags tonight, that's for sure. The northern entrance of the park and our campsite were separated by some 35 miles, so it took about an hour to get there, but we were not disappointed on the way. Yellowstone does such a good job of maintaining the wilderness that the animals roam freely nearly everywhere. Bison, elk, coyotes, etc. will be grazing right alongside the road and whenever you're driving and you see a bunch of cars stopped on the side, it's a good clue that there's an animal close. Just today we saw several elk, bison, and a coyote so close to the car that we could practically touch them.
It was really amazing because they ignored us entirely - we just had so litle impact on their lives that they couldn't have cared less about us, which of course is the way it should be. We've already seen several volcanic steam vents and mountains and forests. Yellowstone truly has everything. I can't wait to really explore it tomorrow. Early tomorrow morning we are interviewing Suzanne Lewis, the first female superintendent here at Yellowstone. We're very excited to talk to her. Now its off to bed and hopefully warmth!
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