IS ANYONE ELSE THINKING MASHED POTATOES?

We meant to visit the Battle of the Little Big Horn Battlefield this morning, but we got into an interesting discussion and drove right by it!!! All the landscape looks the same however.....barren. There could be NO sneak attacks in this battle...You could see the enemy coming for 50 miles! I don't understand why General Custer and his 200 men attacked several thousand Indians. He had to be completely out of his mind!

Driving 400+ miles today.........Pronghorned antelope, mule deer, sheep buffalo all roaming wild..........temperature was in the 60s....and so many trains!!! We have seen them during our whole trip...I was counting them for a while and then I gave up. Today's trains were hundreds of cars long...all filled with coal!

But we did have some real highlights!

The Sheridan Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming of course. It was an old inn with 69 gables, (kinda like the Golden Lamb) used frequently by Buffalo Bill Cody. He auditioned acts for his Wild West Show right on that big old front porch! Often the performers stayed there....people like Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, Wild Bill Hickok, Black Elk. The Inn had a wealth of old pictures and items on display. I learned more about this Wild West Show than I ever thought I wanted to know, but it was ABSOLUTELY fascinating!

Bum bum BUM bum
Bum bum BUM bum

Driving to Devil's Tower this afternoon was an experience I'll never forget. UNBELIEVABLE!!
I had seen the movie like everyone else, but I was just not ready for the personal Close Encounter with Devil's Tower. First of all, it is HUGE....over 1.5 acres on TOP! It is easy to understand why the Indians considered it sacred. Second of all, it was formed millions of years ago by magma rising up through the soil like a beginning volcano, but never breaking through the crust of the earth. It cooled and lay unseen underground until erosion began wearing away the levels of sedimentary around it, exposing more and more of the core. The columns on the sides were caused by the heating and contracting of the tower as it cooled. TRULY AWESOME!

Around the tower there is a whole colony of prairie dogs. These little rodents are just too much fun to watch. They used to be plentiful but are on the endangered species list today.