Little Bighorn

After a quiet night out in the boondocks we are now in Billings, Montana and will spend the night in the parking lot at a Cracker Barrel - hey, both "campsites" are free, but the food is better at Cracker Barrel.

Just outside Billings we stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument which preserves the site of the battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. If you're my age we most often called the battle "Custer's Last Stand" and what I found most interesting is that site was called Custer Battlefield National Monument until being changed to its current name in 1991 at which time the National Park Service started a conscious effort at also honoring the Indians that fought and died on this battlefield. Today you see two monuments - on "Last Stand Hill" is the stone monolith honoring Custer and his men - and only a hundred yards away, the "Peace Through Unity" Indian memorial (dedicated in 2003) now stands. The story is finally complete, as it should be. Very well done by the Park Service.