John Wesley Harding (nope Bob Dylan, you got it wrong)

The name was John Wesley Hardin, you fool....

but that's a gunslinger of another story..

I'm in Hardin, Montana. NOT named for John Wesley, but it could have been.

A long day of driving rewarded with a nice little KOA that closes tomorrow.. PHEW! just made it.

The countryside has changed, but not so's you'd notice (as they say). More water accounts for the trees, and what may be cottonwood trees blazing yellow along the many rivers.


More hills and you can see why they're called the Black Hills. They look that way from afar.

I stopped at the Custer Battlefield and paid TEN DOLLARS AMERICAN MONEY just to take a picture for youse guys. I've been there before.


The first picture is of the place where most of the 260 men were found. They buried them as they lay, but apparently moved them later and put them under a huge monument. Probably to keep the curious from looking for souvenirs.



You can see where the indian encampment is in the second picture. Down in the trees, they must have known the enemy approached for miles, as Custer's detachment rode along the dry, barren hills up from the Big Horn River, kicking up dust as they 'snuck up". Not that bright... OH well, he got what he wanted in the end.. fame and the retribution that spelled the end of the plains indians.


The last picture is supposedly where Custer fell. Reno took a lot of flak, as he approached from the flank but, seeing he was incredibly outnumbered, submitted a hasty retreat. They called him a coward, although he was cleared in a military 'trial', but he was marked for life. At least he HAD a life... I call him not so dumb.


I may be in Montana a couple more nights. This is a big state, and it's a long way to get to the sneaky short cut I know to Oregon...