Yesterday evening - Sun-Aug-26 - in Billings, Montana, I finally met-up with Calgary-based fellow STer Tim Graham and his lovely wife Diana. Tim has been of enormous assistance to me over the last couple of weeks. Indeed, this section of the journey would most certainly not be quite so rewarding without Tim's altruistic help and well thought-through guidance. I shared my Billings-based motel room last night (and the associated costs .. :o) with Tim's co-Calgary-based ST rider-mate, Dave [Berzins] who, as from this morning Mon-Aug-27, turns-out to be my ST good rider-mate as well .. :o)
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Tim & Diana, and a couple of other signed-up contingency members, want to ride to the starting rendezvous of the BearSTOC Meeting - in Deadwood, South Dakota - via the Beartooth Pass. As I had already been there (Beartooth), just yesterday .. AND because I don't fancy a 500+ mile ride without a functioning AirHawk cushion, I opted to take the more direct route to Deadwood mainly by way of interstate [motorway] I-90.
Dave [Berzins] likes my idea - he's acquired a bidda 'bum-burn' too since leaving Calgary - so the pair of us push-off eastwards, towards Deadwood, SD, on our own.Within just 10 minutes we spot a road sign indicating the direction and whereabouts of the June 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn - Custer's Last Stand. It's just 55 miles [89 km] down the road and in our general direction in any case. So, after a few seconds' roadside consultation, Dave and I beeline it straight to this historic Battleground’s location. Within an hour we've arrived ...
.. and almost straightaway sign-up for the hour-long guided minibus tour of the site. Our guide is a direct descendant of one of the Indian tribes - Cheyenne, Lakota or Arapaho - that battled Custer's 7th Calvary during the course of those two hot June days in 1876.
On the horizon is another of those trains + carriages. It's gotta be over a mile long, surely?
On June 28, 1876, the bodies of Custer, and the hundreds under his command ... 
.. are buried in shallow graves at or near where they fell.
These 249 headstone markers were placed four years later in 1890 by the Army to show the precise spot where Custer and his men had individually fallen. 
There are ponies wandering freely throughout the Battlefields ...
.. each looks healthy and content.
They can of course, if they wish, gallop as fast and as far as the eye can see across these vast prairie lands. I can't help thinking that this is the way they're meant to live.
After a fascinating - if not disjointed tour - we are couriered back to the Visitor's Centre and Museum.
After the drop-off we then walk up to 'Last Stand Hill'; a knoll where Custer and approximately 40 of his surviving soldiers make a hopeless stand against overwhelming odds. 
In 1881 the remains of Custer's command were exhumed and re-buried in a mass grave around the base of this memorial that sits on top of Last Stand Hill.
Looking backwards from the direction we came from -See the painted stone marker in the middle? Well that's where Custer himself fell.
A National Cemetery co-exists within Little Bighorn Battlefield. Here rest the remains of deceased veterans and their relatives from many wars throughout history, right up to late 20th Century campaigns.---------------
It really has been an engrossing visit. Glad we came.
Anyway, it's time to head further east, towards tonight's destination of Deadwood in in the adjoining state of South Dakota.
265 miles [426 km] later and we cross over into South Dakota. It's around 5:30pm, but I can't help but notice the long shadows now being cast at this time of day by the west horizon-bound sun behind us.I'm thinking .. 'Summer is starting to draw to a close, that's for sure'
Ho-hum!
After another 30 minutes and 28 miles [45 km] later we pull into the grounds of our next motel in Deadwood.365 - often very fast Interstate - miles [587 km] for the day. It's been a good one, again .. :o)
