Friday, June 18, 2021

Billings, Montana, Pedaling West....

 Interstate 94: Glendive, Terry, Miles City, Forsyth, Big Horn, Custer, and Huntley, until, two hundred eighty six miles later, we pulled into Billings Village RV Park on South Billings Blvd in Billings, Montana. This nice park is a combination mobile home, long term rv, and overnight rv sites all settled into one location. It's about a mile off I90 (yes, I90, because 94 and 90 merged a few miles back and 94 won the fight), and easy to get to. We've been assigned an ends site, so there's a lot of grass for the Princess to play on. 

The trip west was uneventful. When we left Medora, the wind was back to 20 mph sustained, 35 gusts, and we fought that like a sailboat tacking across San Francisco Bay. Out of nowhere, the Montana/North Dakota state line appeared. I should have seen it coming, because there isn't anything out here to obscure it!


It's an indication of driving boredom when the cell phone towers in the distance captivate your interest.


A beautiful rest stop along the Yellowstone River was a great place to have a picnic lunch and take a break from driving.


Twenty five miles east of Billings, we passed Pompey's Pillar. Named by William Clark during his journey with Sacagawea in 1806, it was named in honer of Sacagawea's son, nicknamed Pompey. Clarks inscribed his name on the stone, where it is still the only hard physical evidence found along the route that was followed by the expedition. Today it's a national monument. We only a brief glimpse as we passed by: look to the left of the flagpole, above the trees. It's the black and brown stone.



After setting up in site 70, we hopped in the car (when is enough, enough?) and set out to check out the town. Downtown was ok, but not intriguing, so after some searching, we found Montana State University Billings where an acquaintance once attended college.




High on a hill overlooking Billings, we chanced upon the grave of Yellowstone Kelly.




Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly was born July 27, 1849 in New York state, and died December 17, 1928 in Los Angeles, California. He was one of the last "Mountain Men". Always on the move, and easily bored, Kelly was a soldier, hunter, scout, adventurer and administrator. He served in the Civil War, as part of an 1898 expedition to Alaska, and commanded a company in the Philippine-American War, where he later served in the new civilian government of the Philippines. He was buried, at his request, in Montana, with full military honors. 

His lasting advice was:

"Keep not standing fixed and rooted. Briskly venture, briskly roam."

Good advice, I'm thinking.

As we neared the end of our evening outing, we came across the Yellowstone River near the town of Huntley.


And so it ends. We're here for two nights, so we'll have an opportunity to get into trouble tomorrow!



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