 |
| As usual, we're on opposite sides of the fence |
I’ve already learned from our short time RVing that sooner
or later everyone spending much time on the road has One Of Those Days and Friday was our turn.
That’s the day we pulled out of our spot near Yellowstone to
go to Hardin, Montana for our visit to the Little Big Horn. Short of outright
breaking something or causing permanent damage, it seemed like everything that
could go wrong with what we had to do to get from Point A to Point B went
wrong.
I’ll spare you all the details—tip: mistaking a cul de sac
for a turn in requires some tricky maneuvering in an RV—but it was a very long
day. It didn’t help that since our trip is a team effort the fact that I’m
woefully mechanically inept complicates the logistics. Where Russ sees a
release lever I see “the boat thing” which to my eyes is shaped like a
boat.
Luckily, when we finally got to our next RV park we spent a
relaxing evening exchanging road stories with a couple from upstate New York
who had traveled extensively and had checked in just before we did.
To sum up our first week on the road: The highlight of our trip to Yellowstone was
the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone where we were able to stand right at the
top of the waterfall, so close that we could see the rocks beneath the water at
the crest of the falls.
As for the Grand Tetons, maybe because we saw the
magnificence of Yellowstone first or maybe because we’ve been surrounded by
pretty amazing views of mountains in Washington—Mt. Rainier, the Cascades, the
Olympics, and Mt. Baker—we were underwhelmed by the Tetons.
Our trip to the Little Big Horn was the first time for Russ
and a return for me (I saw it in my teens). The most striking thing about the
battlefield is how spread out it was—not a neat confined area but stretching
over many acres.
I once had to back a tractor trailer out of a quarter mile deep cul de sac in the oil fields. I feel your pain. Wait 'til you get over Mississippi where the roads are so narrow you'll have one wheel on the shoulder and one on the yellow line.
ReplyDeleteIt's my understanding that the Bighorn battlefiled is so huge because the U.S. Cavalry was not making a stand so much as running like hell. Forensics suggest a running battle of small groups in many directions. It didn't help that Cavalry doctrine at the time was to dismount during a battle. The white guys were on foot.
Steve