Today we drove about 400 miles, seeing some of the great icons of the Old West along the way. We started with a stop at the Little Bighorn National Battlefield in Montana where Custer made his last stand against a much larger force of Lakota Indians lead by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Custer died there in June of 1876 along with two brothers and about 280 soldiers of the 7th Cavalry.
After that we drove eastward passing through some very beautiful rolling grasslands that used to be teaming with bison. Today they are large ranches. We then made a slight detour north to see Devils Tower (see picture) in north eastern Wyoming. If you recall, Devils Tower was featured in the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” We also both enjoyed seeing the prairie dog town that is at the foot of Devils Tower.
We finally arrived at our hotel in Deadwood, South Dakota. Deadwood was settled in the 1870’s as part of a gold rush in the Black Hills. On our walk to dinner, we passed by Saloon No.10, which is where Wild Bill Hickok was killed while playing poker. This was also in 1876, just about six weeks after the battle of Little Big Horn. That must have been a very eventful year.
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