2018 Caravan Tour – Wyoming Part One and Montana

Let’s continue on our journey across the western states. Day three took us through a section of Wyoming on our way to Montana. We will return to Wyoming after some time in Montana, but to keep us in the order we traveled, I’ll come back to Wyoming when we get back into it on Day four!

My friend and travel buddy doesn’t like her photo taken, so I had to get sneaky about it at times! 😀

We left South Dakota and entered Wyoming mid-morning. Our first stop was Devil’s Tower — you know, the place made famous by the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”! It was so cool to get to have a photo stop there. I had hoped we could see it in 2016, but it didn’t work out that we could. So…..finally, I got there! 😀

The Indian legend of the Devil’s Tower is that a group of young girls (I believe they said 3) were playing when a huge bear came upon them. They ran and when it became obvious that they wouldn’t be able to outrun the bear, they huddled together and prayed that they could be raised higher than the bear could reach. Suddenly, the earth around them began to rise up to save them. The distinctive streaks on the sides of the tower are said to be claw marks from the bear as he tried to reach the young girls, but failed to do so!

It isn’t as easy as it looks to get good photos from a moving bus window! Things you see and want to photograph are speeding by faster than you can capture them — I missed a LOT of great shots because by the time I got the camera focused in on something it was either out of the shot or the bus would sway and my finger would miss the button….but, I was able to get some……and the rest are in my memories!!! Here are some views from the bus window through Wyoming:

Mining for coal — much different than mining coal in the hills of WV, KY, etc….

Our little snow fences fail to compare with the snow fences in the west!!!

We drove through and had lunch in the old west cowboy town of Sheridan, WY. Wish we could have had time to wander around a bit, it was really cute. But, I did get some photos from the bus window.

After lunch, We entered Montana…….

and then immediately entered the sovereign nation of Crow Country, which is about 2.2 million acres NOT considered a part of Montana, even though it is inside Montana’s borders. It is the greatest span of land still not under control of the American government.

We stopped to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in the Crow Nation. In 1876 in the Valley of Little Big Horn, Sioux and Northern Cheyenne, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, overwhelmed General Custer and his Calvary. It was a solemn place! There is a large National Cemetery beside the site that has nothing to do with the battle and markers all over the area leading up to the peak showing where bodies were found after the battle. There is also a memorial to the Indians who fought in the battle. My knee was in bad shape, so I didn’t walk up to the memorials, but got some nice shots from the visitor center and attended the talk by a park ranger who is a member of the Crow Nation – he told the story of the battle and dispelled some myths.

 

Views from the bus window as we drove through Montana:

Coal is a huge industry in the west!

They put up these poles for the eagle and osprey to build their nests in an attempt to keep them from doing it on power line poles!

We spent the night in Billings, Montana. Next up will be Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons – some in Montana, but mostly in Wyoming!