Horsepuckey: Big Skies and Bikers

My travel blog continues from northwest Nebraska.

I'm in the only town of substance for miles around here. Every once in a while, the town's college basketball team makes the NCAA tournament, and people say -- Chadron State? Where the hell is that? Well, here it is, in Chadron, NE.

Yesterday, I drove east from Billings, Montana and stopped at the Little Bighorn memorial -- the site of Custer's Last Stand. I wasn't planning to stop, but I'm glad I did. Here lies the remains of 220 American soldiers who were defeated June 26, 1876 by Native Americans trying to defend their land. It was one of the few victories against the US government.

Custer's gravestone is here, but he is buried at West Point.

The ranger told the story of the battle with so much passion, you'd think it happened last week. He explained how the Lakotas never wanted a fight, even though they far outnumbered the soldiers. The tribes couldn't afford to lose their warriors -- the men who provided and protected. It would take a generation to replace them, while a new US soldier could be trained in five or six months. The whole thing was very moving and made me ponder the senseless behavior of our government.

Later in the day, I stopped at Mount Rushmore, seemingly a monument to American brilliance. But the faces of our leaders are carved into land that was once sacred to the Sioux. The US government just took it from them. The carvings are pretty extraordinary, but I found Little Bighorn more compelling. Here's Rushmore from the parking lot:

Some photos without my car in them:

Not far from Mt. Rushmore is Custer, South Dakota. Custer is a good 60 miles from Sturgis, site of this week's gigantic biker rally. It doesn't matter. Bikers are EVERYWHERE around here. It's good people-watching.