Day 3- May 15-Devil's Tower, WY to Cody, WY

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Up early at 6am for a nice hot shower at Devil's Tower KOA...great facility right in the shadow of Devil's Tower. Very friendly staff, including Roberta who after I described the Great Alaskan Holiday adventure that we're on sounded like she wanted to sign up! Al, Sue, Tom, & Peggy headed for Billings, Montana to have Winnebago dealer repair water heater. I dumped the "black" and "dirty" water, filled the water tank (don't I sound like I know what I'm doing...not) and removed the leveling blocks, stowed the dump hose and we were on our way to Little Bighorn. The day was sunny and in the 60s as Dorrie & I headed out. We headed North toward the Montana border. Today, as with yesterday, Wyoming created the greatest impression as we climbed mountain roads lined with forests and pastures for grazing steer. You had the sense that those living here had taken the road "...less traveled by..And that has made all the difference." We saw a real cowboy in Alzeda, Ray's favorite town in Montana. I had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich as we "tooled" along the road at 70mph although the speed limit was 80mph...I find it difficult to travel at that speed in an RV 33' long, 12' high & 10' wide. The wind was blowing again and at several points there are warning signs "when lights are blinking road is closed" or "turn back or be fined" all because of the danger created by high winds. 200 miles and several hours later after construction delays dropping our speed to 35mph at times we arrived at Little Bighorn Battlefield. We watched a very informative video describing events of the period which led up to the battle and the battle itself in June 1876 commonly referred to as "Custer's Last Stand". I won't bore you with a history lesson, just walk the battlefield and you have the sense of what happened there. However, it's actually quite peaceful with the grass waving in the wind and you could smell the sagebrush and think about the battle that occurred there. There is a mass grave for most of the 241 who died there beneath the memorial monument shown. The grave stones mark where the various soldiers fell. Custer was reinterred at West Point. In 1991 the U.S. Congress ordered the construction of an Indian Memorial. We both left the site with a better understanding of the struggles between the Indians and the "white man" over 100s of years, culminating in this last battle.

On the road again for the 165 trip to Cody, WY where we'll be staying at the Ponderosa Campground, about 50 miles from the East entrance to Yellowstone where we'll head tomorrow. Ride was uneventful and it seemed strange that we weren't hurrying to visit another park or memorial. We had a good news call from Al & Sue that their water heater had been successfully repaired and that they were about an hour ahead of us heading to Cody from Billings. As we neared Cody you had a panoramic view of the mountains in Yellowstone, many of which are over 8000' in elevation...and still snow-capped...oh no! We got into Cody around 5:30 just in time for cocktail hour and time to decide schedule for tomorrow. A call from Ray advised us that a hole has developed in the northern loop in Yellowstone so we may have to revise our planned route in Yellowstone and there's a weather advisory for snow on Wednesday, the day we planned a private tour with the other couples from Cedar Hammock who arrived in the Park today. In any event, we'll start off tomorrow with a visit to the Old Trail Town in Cody and then head for Yellowstone and keep our fingers crossed.

Miles today 378...total 1106

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