"This Place Talks to You...

...You don't have to strain to hear it."

Begin by watching this 7-min video to get a better sense of Custer's Last Stand and the Battle of Little Bighorn, as well as the quote above. C'monnn, you'll survive.

The battleground is a spiritual place. Mark decided against taking this spiritual journey, knowing better not to repeat the "boring Fort Ross journey." (his words).

Visitors are greeted by Custer National Cemetery when they arrive.

Then you follow a trail that meanders through fields where soldiers from both sides fought. Simple white marble headstones mark the locations where 200+ American soldiers fell.

Red speckled granite stones mark where some (but certainly not all) Cheyenne warriors died. Stones and coins have been placed on their tops. Jews also follow this tradition of placing stones on graves. [As for money? Egg: "Call me Dad."]

This chokecherry bush, a native plant prized by the Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux, has been covered with prayer ties.

Click here to learn more about this American Indian custom.

A 5-mile trail loops the park, so there is plenty of space to wander and think.

Horses, owned by nearby ranchers, graze freely on the battlefield.

All this time to think, pray, wander, and wonder. And hey, where's my travel buddy?? I left him at the Custer Battlefield Trading Post, which had wifi and also a non-stop repeat recording of Lakota healing music. Click on the photo below for a sample.

We didn't talk for the first hour we got back into the car. I knew all too well what he was thinking; I didn't have to strain to hear it.

PS from Mark: So Judy decides that Mark might want to listen to a few of the remaining bits of the audio tour that she didn't have time to listen to. Hard to say which was more unpleasant -- the Lakota healing music or the Battle of Little Big Horn audio tour.

"Winding Road"

The rivers and mountains of Idaho are mesmerizing. Five minutes into the van chugging up our first mountain of the morning, we read this sign. I gasp "Ohhh" at the same moment Mark groans "Ughhh." Worth the laugh.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride...

We got out to hike through the very same Lolo Pass that enabled Lewis & Clark to cross the Bitterroot Mountains. Then a few more miles in the van and we were in Montana! This is not the sign that greeted us, but we like it better. [Mark's comment: Note she referred to THEM

as Lewis & Clark.]

Drove through Missoula (cute town) and headed to Butte to spend the night at the KOA.

Walked around Butte's historic district and located a synagogue! (Lo and behold, found out Julie had family that settled in Butte.)

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Next stop? Naturally the Jewish cemetery, which takes up a decent portion of the city cemetery. It's very beautiful.

Ended the day at the Butte Brewing Company - they brew all of these! LOTS of breweries like this on our trip (and fortunately they have COVID-friendly balconies so we can sit outside).

Sweet dreams from the KOA in Butte, Montana.

Chasing Lewis and Clark

So it starts by crossing from Oregon into Washington state.

And seeing signs like THIS!

And this.

Okay, maybe this isn't everyone's idea of an adventure, but you can't cross the Columbia River and not shiver with excitement at the idea that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark marveled over this very same waterway.

Right??

OKAY, So we'll take it back. Here's what it feels like to cross into this land. You follow the bluest river you have ever seen. For hours, you see nothing but the same mountains THEY (voice quivers) witnessed. [Mark's comment: Note how Judy refers to Lewis and Clark as "They." For days on end, she would just stop, pause, stare, and say things like, "THEY were here," "THEY crossed this river, "THEY camped here," ... get the point?]

You see the wheat that now grows on the land (small shudder) that they saw.

And the beautiful mountains.

And more wheat. AND THEN OMG WE LOOK UP AND SEE THE JOLLY GREEN GIANT!!

Dayton, Washington is the home of the Jolly Green Giant's first processing plant, where during the Great Depression they grew and canned peas and asparagus to feed a hungry country, and then expanded during WWII when they had the good fortune to find Japanese interns and German POWs to keep the factory humming.

Every town we pass, every alley we cross, every park, every farmers market, they all seem to recognize the contributions of Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea and Charbonneau, the father of her child, and the Corps of Discovery. Their names are everywhere. [Mark's comment: Judy omitted the most interesting part of this story. Charbonneau won Sacajawea in a poker game. Now that is the type of history that keeps people interested.]

Mark has urged me not to bore you with how much history is in this part of the country.

It really is amazing, but I've been cautioned not to take you on this detour.

So next we pass through CLARKston, Washington and then...

...enter LEWISton, Idaho.

And arrive at a KOA where we have one of the worst nights on our trip. "RV Dump," as they caution on the sign, should have given it away. [Mark's comment: So fortunate for Judy this campsite occurred in our 6th week of the trip and not the 1st. Otherwise, I would not have made it. And, apologies to the KOA in West Wendover, NV. You are not the worst KOA.)

Meet the neighbors!

Naaah, let's go for a walk. Good thing our van blends right in.

Spare no cost on marketing.

Ended up in the town of Kooskia. Had a delicious dinner sitting outside the Farm Table Cafe with the best blueberry pie on the trip. And this friendly patron who exited the cafe with a friendly six-shot on his hip (Idaho's an open-carry state).

And our server was perfect. Having graduated from high school a few weeks ago, she was readying to relocate to her aunt's apartment in Texas, not the path of anyone else in her Kooskia-based family. As she shared this with us, a souped-up muffler-free Ram Pick-up sped by. Our eyes met. She stared straight through us and smiled through her teeth saying,"I just graduated with him."

But like every night, we ended it with this sunset.

A bedtime story...