An Extra State

After a hearty steak and eggs breakfast and yet another late start, we were back on the highway at 11:15am. We hadn’t really discussed our stops along the way, but when we saw that we were driving by Custer’s Bighorn Battlefield after only about an hour of driving, we couldn’t resist to pull in.

Kim stayed and listened to the Ranger Talk, while the boys and I strolled through the grave sites and up to the memorial.  First Nations and their struggles are very near and dear to our hearts.  I spent three years in Inuvik, NWT amongst the G’wichen tribe, and our pharmacy is located on the Saddle Lake Reserve in Alberta.  The Battle of Bighorn was the historic confrontation of Sitting Bull and Colonel George Cluster.  The US government wanted the disputed land for gold panning, despite the fact that treaties had assigned the land to belong  to the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes.  When the tribes refused to be moved onto a reserve, along came in the big guns…and lost!

However, as history has shown, while the natives may have won that important battle, they lost the war.  The repercussions of the loss of land and heritage are still being felt today.

As we were heading back onto the highway, our GPS was adjusting and we took our own path back to I90 East.  It wasn’t until we entered Wyoming, a state that we hadn't planned on visiting,  that I realized we had done something wrong.

At least Wyoming had great rest stops!

We bought a map.

Technology is great, but there is something to be said for a good ol’ fashioned paper map.  It allows for the bigger picture, not just the short sited view of a 4 inch screen.  We had a look, realized our mistake, and bemoaned the extra 50 kilometers.

We also decided to leave Mount Rushmore for the morning, and add a night in Sioux Falls instead of yet another long drive straight to Omaha.   Our hotel in Rapid City had a pool and the boys were in need of some water fun.