From east to west Montana is so huge that driving across it feels a bit daunting. I like to think of it in stretches with landmarks as stops along the way. Sturgis to Bozeman is probably about six hours on I-90 and about the same on the slightly more direct route we took across the plains and Northern Cheyenne reservation. Leg 1 Sturgis to Little Bighorn, Leg 2 Little Bighorn to Billings, Leg 3 Billings to Bozeman.

Little Bighorn National Historic Site is famous as the location of Custer’s Last Stand, the spot where in 1876, the year of the nation’s centennial, General George Armstrong Custer and around 200 of his troops and allied Indian scouts were killed on the battlefield in the most famous event of the Indian Wars in the West. Custer apparently had some prior successes in battles but was known for his bravado. He was likely also not very intelligent, having graduated last in his class at West Point. I’ve been to Little Bighorn several times but thought we’d make a short stop along the way home for Rodrigo to see one more important piece of American and Western history.   One misconception is that the battle was purely one of Whites against Indians. The reality is that several tribes, including the Crows whose homeland and current reservation surround Little Bighorn, were allied with the U.S. forces against their traditional tribal enemies. Some people might call it a bow to political correctness, but I find the Indian Memorial at Little Bighorn to be appropriate and tasteful. That’s not to say that will stay the case under future Democrat presidential administrations promoting DEI ideology, but for the time being there are no good guys and bad guys in the stories told at Little Bighorn.

Between Hardin and Billings there is (or was) a small settlement named Toluca. Since Rodrigo is from Toluca in Mexico, we took a little detour to explore his hometown’s Montana namesake.  It seems there are a few Tolucas across America, the best known of which is Toluca Lake neighborhood near Universal Studios in Los Angeles.  Alas, nothing remains of the one in Montana despite it still appearing in my Gazetteer state road atlas. It looks like it was a stop on the railroad that has long since faded into oblivion. At least we got to take a backroad into Billings as an alternative to the interstate.

“I want to see Billings!” Rodrigo exclaimed.  “Why” There isn’t much there,” I responded. But Billings is the biggest city in the state and Rodrigo is quite fascinated with Montana.  There are, in fact, a few things to see in Billings that I have checked out, but ZooMontana and the Moss Mansion didn’t really fit into a short late afternoon stop. Maybe another time. We drove up to the Rim Drive on the northern escarpment overlooking the Yellowstone River Valley for a good view of the city.  We then went downtown and, of course, found a brewery for a drink. Billings has many of them.  After dinner at Huhot, an AYCE Mongolian Grill chain, it was another two hours drive home in the dark. All-in-all, it was a great nine days and 1,800 miles on the northern plains of America’s outback.