Sadness

DETAILS
When — May 28th, 2O22
Where — Deadwood, SD - Harlowton, MT
Mileage — 133

Compliments on my motorcycle - 1

RAin, little big horn, and Jasper

I left Deadwood Montana for Harlowton Montana, this was scheduled to be a 383 mile ride.  The day started out cool but beautiful, making the first 240 miles an absolute dream.

I was expecting this to be an uneventful day, but I was surprised to see that the Little Bighorn Battlefield was on my route.   I went to the museum and walked the grounds of the battlefield.  I was most struck by the minimalism of the battle field site.  Very discreet and understated.  I could not tell if this is intentional or a lack of funding.   I found the spot of the last stand where General Custer ultimately lost his life with the remaining 42 soldiers of the Seventh Cavalry.  Across the field from that final stand was a very discreet monument to the victors, the multiple Indian tribes that provided warriors for that battle.  Today it is hard to stomach the impact of manifest destiny on indigenous people and this country’s historical policy on Indian affairs.  Social justice is not the strong suit of this perfect union. The inscription on the photo above is a quote from Crazy Horse. ‘We did not ask you white men to come here. The Great Spirit gave us this country as a home. You had yours. We did not interfere with you. We do not want your civilization.” I got back on the bike and sadly rolled into the rain.

This rain that joined me for this battlefield visit, found me 30 miles east of Billings Montana.  It ushered me all the way to Harlowton Montana.  I selected this town because I found a roadside motel.  I didn’t know a lot about the town. It was essentially supported by railroads.  When the railroads left in 1980 it impacted the population of the town.  I did get to visit the historic Grace Hotel where I had pizza.  This was a planned visit because I had seen it on the website and the owner there is in the midst of restoring the hotel to what it really was in 1809.  He is running a small café and pizza shop out of the kitchen right now as he restored the a hotel. I got a brief tour of the hotel and got to meet his redbone hound Jasper.  Just like the dogs in the book Where the Red Fern Grows. Thinking about that book made me sad. Watching Jasper eat my leftover pizza made my day.

Well that is it for today’s ride.  I’m on my way to cross the Rocky Mountains near Glacier National Park.  Tomorrow night is a camping night. I need to get up early and get on the road because I’ll be battling rain.  This is getting tough and I’m looking forward to some drier days.