Monday August 24th, Local Park, Lavina, MT

Woke to strong wind and a bit of rain, but it didn’t last long and the blue sky appeared late morning. We have enjoyed have our first day driving through Montana, and it is as they call it..”Big Sky Country”.

We wound through a valley from the camp before joining a major road, and the Little Bighorn Battlefield, which is a National Monument at the place of Custer’s Last Stand.

At the start of our trip we purchased an annual pass for National Parks for $80, which allows free entrance to Parks, National Monuments and Forests and some of these can cost $25 a visit, so we have well and truly covered the initial cost.

We really enjoyed learning the story about Col Custer, and seeing the gravestones where he and his men fell. There was an excellent film shown in the Visitor Centre outlining the leadup and the battle.

Just after we left the site we detoured into the little town of Crow Agency, which is an Indian Settlement. We were really saddened by the conditions and total lack of pride in their life and surroundings. There was rubbish everywhere and people were just sitting around in it. I have never seen such a depressing site. If this is the result of Government handouts as we have been led to believe it is a tragedy.

Stopped in Hardin a bigger town not far away to fill with Propane, and although much better, it seemed to be just hanging on,.

It was down the I90 to Billings the main city in Montana, passing through some huge country. We didn’t stop in the city but took a road north to Roundup, which took us through more big country.

We thought we might stay in Roundup, but the town was quite depressed and didn’t have a good feel to it. The streets in these western towns are so wide, as well as parked cars, there is enough room for two lanes each way!

So trusted our instinct and headed west. We saw the town of Lavina and although only small had a cared for feeling. As we mooched through the main street (all of about 100 metres) thinking we would love to stay here, we spotted a lady washing her car. Stopped and asked her if there was anywhere to park for the night, and she directed us to the local park a few blocks away.

Kathy and her husband Karl have a ranch out of town, but have recently left the son to manage and shifted to town. She asked us to visit her and her husband this evening, a wonderful opportunity to meet local people.