The drive from West Yellowstone was very scenic with a river running alongside the road through mountain passes. There were a lot of people fly fishing and rafts with people and dogs going downstream. We went through Bozeman and pressed on past Billings on Interstate 94. We saw at least 50 antelope in the grass fields along the way. The road down to the campground in Hardin, Montana was very pretty with golden grasslands and wheatfields. As we topped a hill, the view really opened up and there was nothing but open space for as far as the eye could see. Anyone who thinks the world is over populated has never been to the West. There is plenty of room, water, land for farming, and animals if people would just spread out some. It's only when millions of people stack up like in LA that they drain the entire area's resources.
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| The photo can't capture the scale here. It goes on and on. The dark sky was from thunderstorms that had passed. |
We drove the 15 miles from our campground to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument to see the historic place of Custer's last stand. They had a visitor's center with artifacts from the battlefield including personal items of Custer and Sitting Bull. We watched a documentary about the battle and then walked to the site of the last stand.
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| Gravestones marked the burial sites where Custer and his men fell. A year later, Custer's remains were relocated to West Point. |
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| LTC Custer was brevetted to Major General. His brothers Tom and Boston, his brother-in-law James Calhoun and his nephew Autie Reed also died at Little Bighorn. |
Since we had been having so much fun spending money and extra days getting broken things fixed, we thought we should do it a little more. As we pulled into the battlefield, we heard a sound from the front of the van that sounded like brakes sticking a little. The wheel felt a little hot when I checked it before we went into the visitor's center, so when it was time to leave, I drove slowly and checked it out again. It was clear there was something wrong because it sounded like metal grinding. I took off the wheel to check and found nothing wrong with the brakes. The wheel bearings were apparently shot and the van was not safe to drive. We called AAA and they sent a tow truck to get us back to the RV, and the van to a repair shop. No place in Hardin could help us until the next day, so the tow truck took me to Billings where there was a large repair shop at the Chevy dealership. The bearings were completely shot and the wheel would not even rotate freely. This was probably the source of the heat that ruined the brakes previously. We needed a new axle, hub, bearings, and ABS sensor. The parts were ordered and the car was fixed late the next day. We ended up staying three nights in Hardin, just hanging out.
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| Pick the song........♫We were in our rolling home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer ad the antelope play. Then suddenly we heard a discouraging word, as our van's wheel bearings gave way.♫ or ♫ Tow, tow, tow your van. Now your gonna pay.♫ |
With the van back up and running we left Montana but stopped for lunch at a pullout that turned out to be an area by the Powder River where Custer had camped. From there, MAJ Reno had patrolled and spotted signs of Indian activity - that ultimately led them to the battle at Little Bighorn. We drove on into North Dakota. I had hoped to be able to meet up with a friend from High School that had recently moved there, but as luck would have it, he was in Alabama this week. We didn't spend a lot of time stopped in ND, but we made it to the next to last state the kids had not been to. We drove on down into South Dakota, and when we crossed the state line, we had officially been to our 50th State! We didn't stop for a picture because there was no place to pull over and turning around is too much of a hassle.
(Shelli- On the way through South Dakota, we drove through miles and miles of grasslands with views of space, more open space, then more miles of grasslands and open space. It was really very nice, and it gave the kids plenty of time to do their first day of homeschooling work. We detoured over into the Northeastern part of Wyoming to go to Devil’s Tower (seen in Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind). It was really cool looking, but the most amazing thing was the amount of deer we saw along our route! We went through a small town called Aladdin that had a population of only 15 people, but we saw 17 deer. Joey and John decided to start counting them since we had already seen so many, and they actually counted 161 on a stretch of road that was only about 50 miles long. This beat our previous record deer sighting from West Virginia when we saw 100 in a 30 mile stretch along the highway. We also saw 15 turkey, and two coyotes.
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| Devil's Tower in Wyoming |
(Shelli - As we drove back into South Dakota we stopped by the sign for a picture even though it was dark.)
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| I didn't get both the sign and the people in focus. Look at the sign. |
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| Look at the people. |
(Shelli -Off to the South we could see a line of thunderstorms with very intense lightning. We drove through some rain and high winds on our way, but luckily it cleared up before arriving in Hill City, SD. Once we hooked up at the KOA campground, we had a clear sky, so Joey, the boys and I all climbed up on the top of the RV to look at the huge amount of stars. We set a reward for the first one to see a shooting star and I actually saw the first one! Joey enjoys astronomy and pointed out the Big Dipper, the North Star, the Milky Way, Jupiter with four of it's visible moons, and the Andromeda Galaxy, which we were able to see with binoculars. Seeing Jupiter and its moons led to a discussion concerning Copernicus and Galileo, which coincidentally the kids had just read about that morning in their science book. I had no idea Jupiter's four largest moons are named Galilean moons after Galileo, and that he was put under house arrest until the end of his life by the Roman Inquisition for agreeing with Copernicus that the Earth was not the center of the universe. It’s fun to learn together!
This KOA campground is one of the kids(and my) favorites. It has everything from putt-putt golf, recumbent bikes, pools, hot tubs, jumping pillows, water slides and panning for gold. Maui loves the open fields and has been chasing birds since we arrived. Maui and I have been going out for runs every morning on the trails and back roads. The view of the ‘black hills’ and open fields are very pretty, and it calls me to be out and enjoying life. The weather is amazing with a cool crisp breeze in the air that is extremely refreshing, clean and healthy feeling.
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| Out in the big field of the KOA campground. There are more rocky hills to the left of the frame. - Shelli |
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| Maui in action chasing birds- Shelli |
We went to Mt. Rushmore and to the Crazy Horse memorial. Both are cool to see, but I have to admit.....I imagined Mt. Rushmore to be bigger than it actually appears in real life. However, it was very neat to see and it was something I had wanted to see for quiet a while. The Crazy Horse memorial still has a long way to go, and leaves much up to your imagination in its current state.)
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| I wish ALL our current politicians could freeze like this and do no more harm. |
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| The view from around the corner. |
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| They have a LONG way to go with this. |
(John - Today we went to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Rushmore was smaller than I thought, but it was still very cool. Crazy horse was only a head and some chalk where the horses ear is going to be. Then we got back to the campground and jumped on their jumping pillow. The next day we rode their water slide and played putt putt golf, and that night we rented recumbent bikes. We had a great time and I want to stay longer.)
(Michael - In South Dakota, we stayed at our favorite line of campgrounds, KOA. I like them because of all the activities and kids there. This one had two pools, a jumping pillow, a water-slide, playground, splash pad, ice cream, pizza and more. The first day John and I spent our time on the water-slide. The second day we were on the water-slide for half the day then we went on the jumping pillow and also rented banana bikes. The third day we were supposed to leave but we got to stay. So we jumped on the pillow and rode our bikes that day. KOAs are awesome.)
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| Maui and John racing. |
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| Vroom, Vroom - John |
So, now we have all been to all 50 states, plus DC. That could sound like a little bit of a disappointment to have completed the goal of seeing all of them. However, there is still a whole lot to see and do. For every stop we have made, there have been at least a hundred other things we passed by that were worth stopping for. We have been checking off many things that are on a lot of people's bucket lists, but my list of things to do just grows and grows.
It has been good to expose Michael and John to all our states and let them see what people are like across the country. Thanks to the military, I have worked with and know people from 50 states, DC and three territories, and know there are really good people in each of them. Now the kids have seen that too.
(Michael- Two days ago I arrived at my 50th state, South Dakota! My favorite state on this trip was Alaska because I had my birthday there and got my iPhone. Seeing all the bears, including the huge Grizzly bear that was 10 feet away from us, was an amazing thing. I like traveling in the RV, but I will also be happy when we get to a house in Colorado. Traveling in the RV is something I'll always remember, we are having a lot of fun times. I still want to go to Alabama and Florida to see our family over the holidays and go scuba diving in the Florida Keys with Dad. Maui told me a secret that he is excited to meet his cousins, Buddy and Charlie, and his Uncle Beau in Childersburg. He's hoping he'll also be able to have his birthday party with them.)
(John- I have officially been to all 50 states! I don't know what one is my favorite but it is between Montana or Alaska. There have been nice and mean people in all the states. For example, there was Mrs. Lingo, the nice lady who ran the farm at The Diamond M Ranch and let me ride Lightning, and the fat old biker man with a white beard we nicknamed Santa when he stole our parking space in Yellowstone......... no wonder he was traveling alone! Most people have been very nice and I have met people from a lot of different places. Seeing bears, catching salmon, riding horses and being charged by buffalo have been some of my biggest memories. I am very glad Mom and Dad are taking the time to do this with us, even if we have to do school now :(
We are leaving South Dakota Sunday and heading down towards Colorado Springs. We will spend several weeks there to evaluate if it is really where we will call home once we stop the trip.
