Day 14, Billings 'rest day" 1/google miles

Best: Seeing the Battle of the Little Big Horn reenactment outside Hardin

Worst:  Waiting for our fast food for a half hour after taking 15 minutes to order.

Most Unexpected:  Actually getting to do the Little Big Horn thing today.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do today after washing the bike, but Terry and his family were planning on going to Little Big Horn, so i politely asked to go along.  On a vote of 3-2 they agreed to take me along, and one of the affirmative votes was me.  Five of us fit into a Ford Focus and took off toward Hardin where we bought tickets to go to the reenectment of the Battle of Big Horn. The reenactment ony happens one weekend per year.  (I am just hearing outside my room that they plan on shuttling big riders to LIttle Big Horn tomorrow, so I guess I could have waited until tomorrow, but I wouldn't have seen the reenactment).  We went to LIttle Big Horn national cemetary and park and cruised the site which is fascinating.  Terry's mother in law is a senior and had a senior pass so we all got in for free.  The picture above is from the Native American memorial recognizing the dead from the other side of the battle.  The picture below is the memorial to the stupidity of Custer.

We went back to Hardin about 9 miles away from Little Big Horn and went to Taco Johns which is like Taco Bell, however the service was amazingly incredibly slow. We were trying to get to the reenactment site by 1:30 for the 2:00 show and we thought if we got to the 'fast' food restaurant at 12:40 no problem.  We got out of the restaurant at 1:30 but it turned out to not be a problem.  

The reenactment was more than just the battle and included the whole western expansion, Lewis and Clark, and the encroachment on the Native American lands, kind of explaining why they might be a touch angry with the stupid white man.  With a bit of a shocking ending, Custer somehow lost the battle, again.  I watched one of the reenacters get up after being killed, chased down and killed, and then get up again to get killed right in front of the stands.  A true Lazarus but not quite.  The location of the reenactment was 5 miles from town, and another 1 1/2 miles on a dirt road into the middle of nowhere where stands were set up, a fort, and a teepee village.  Huge amount of ground was used.  The shots below show the actual Last stand of Custard, and then shots from the reenactment.  At the end I shook hands with Colonel Mustard and asked him what he did in his spare time.  He told me this was his job, that he plays Custer all around the US as a full time job and he even has a website called someting like Custer.com.  We got back to the Dorms around 5 after almost running out of gas, the gas gauge actually said 0 for about three miles before we finally got to a gas station.  The gas stations were 40 miles apart. Out for a beer to celebrate Charles birthday and I had a small meal of soup and salad with the soup being chili, I am going to eat a piece of cake from last nights dinner that I purloined this morning, and up tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. to set up breakfast for the Big Ride.  A most excellent rest day all in all. 

Last spot for Custer and the what were survivors until they got here.

You gotta love the cars in the background of the picture.

Me and Armstong (he is wearing the yellow jersey from the Tour de France)

 Most of the Native Americans on horse were played by white women with braids.  In case you were wondering, they were wearing vests.