  I read an article in an old National Geographic in my doctors surgery while waiting to see him. The story was about the Little Big Horn and how a bush fire had helped to open up the battlesite of Custers Last Stand. What a story I thought. We were not decided on our annual holiday yet, but after hitting a few websites that very evening I just had to see where George Armstrong Custer had taken on the might of the Sioux nation and had come out of the conflict very second best!  JOHN PATTONS BUGLE: (Patton was Captain Miles Keoghs bugler) My Travel agent explored the flights for me and came up with an international jumbo flight into Washington DC, then an interstate jumbo flight to Denver, Colorado then a domestic 737 to Billings in Montana. I gave my visa card number and because I have absolute faith in my agent, booked the seats. What he did NOT tell me was that all the flights were NON-SMOKING and flying time was SEVENTEEN HOURS ! YE GODS---My Missus without a fag for seventeen hours. Could we do it ??? So we left Heathrow and headed out on out over the Atlantic with me spending time on the flight deck with a friendly Jumbo Captain, while the Missus sat suffering withdrawal symptoms. At Washington Dulles there was a mass dash to the "smoking cabin", a unit set up in the Terminal for smokers. The internal Jumbo flight from Washington to Denver was good and then we transferred to an elderly 737 to fly on to the Billings Logan Airport. We landed in a heavy rainstorm late evening and had to find the hire car. As I went to seek the vehicle, the automatic sprinklers in the grass came on and I was soaked all over (AND I mean ALL OVER) We found the car and made our squelchy way to our hotel in Billings  BILLINGS AND SURROUNDING AREA We drove to see the Pompeys Pillar next day and also visited the HUNTLEY PROJECT We then drove down to the Little Big Horn and stayed overnight nearby so we could have a full day there WHAT A FASCINATING VISIT  SOME RECOMMENDED LINKSSHOWING THE AREA WE VISITED THE LEWIS AND CLARK STORY THE CUSTER BATTLEFIELD MUSEUM A VERY REALISTIC RE-ENACTMENT AND WONDERFUL YELLOWSTONE PARK USE THE BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THIS PRIMARY PAGE |