Billings, Montana
Key Takeaway: The steaks were not as good as I expected and it is a long way between ranch/farm houses in WY and MT. We stayed in Billings because I wanted to drive the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone when we go there.

We left Rapid City to Billings on I-90. First stop was the welcome center in WY. We told Kate, the clerk at the center, that we were going to Devil's Tower National Monument and she said we could take I-90 to Sundance or drive north a few miles and take Hwy 24 to DTHM; we took 24. After the monument we took a county road to US Hwy 212 and took it west to Crow Agency and picked up I-90 to Billings. If you ever go that way be sure your gas tank is full; it's 166 miles and I only recall seeing 1 gas station.

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We got on Hwy 24 at Aladdin, population 15 and the location of the Oldest General Store in WY at 125 years. Kate lives here so naturally we stopped in the store and told them Kate sent us. Lot of fun talking to those folks.

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I do not know the lady in the picture, she & a guy rode up on a motorcycle w/ another couple on theirs. I think they were from Sweden or some Nordic county. They walked in as we were leaving so did not talk to them.

Devil's Tower National Monument
We could see DTNM Monument from Hwy 24 far off in the distance.

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Other DM images a little closer.

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There were 12 people climbing DM that day.

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There is a pave path around the base that is about 1.3 miles and we walked around that.

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This is a view of the valley from the path around the base with the store w/ the flag seen in the picture above.

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Prarie Dogs can be seen on the way into the DM Visitor Center.

We left the monument and headed to Billings on Hwy 212. The Little Big Horn Battlefield is at Crow Agency near the intersection of Hwy 212 and I-90. We should have stopped there on this day but it was about 5:00; I did not know they were open until 8:00 pm. We came back another day but going later in the day would be better I think.
We stayed at the Little Big Horn Battlefield about 2 hours but I could have stayed 3 or 4. We watched the short video and listened to a couple of rangers, who talked a lot and were very knowledgeable.

Little Big Horn Battlefield

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Looking toward the LBH Visitor Center. The markers indicate where a solider died. They have other marker for the Indians.

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Looking toward the area where Custer, and others, died. Not all the soliders were killed in that one spot.

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This is part of a monument to honor the Indians that were killed there. I found it interesting that the Native Americans that we talked to, including the Chief at the Crazy Horse Attraction, called themselves Indians.

Cody, WY and The Buffalo Bill Museum
We drove to Cody from Billings one day to go to the Buffalo Bill Museum. It was about 2 hours. It is actually 5 museums; BB section, western art, firearms, natural history and Native American. They were all excellently done and I think my favorite is the western art one. I don't know why but we did not take any picture on the inside; not because we couldn't, we just didn't.

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Entrance to the museum.

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Another statue of BB taken from inside the museum.

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They also had ~ a dozen bids that had been injured and could not be released into the wild. This is a Golden Eagle that had been hit by a semi. They gave a short presentation about their work with the birds.

The drive from Billings to Cody was through a valley with mountains on each side. Just a few images from that drive.

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I thought the horse standing on the hill was interesting. There is a ranch house to the left but you can not see the horse if the house in the picture.

After 3 nights in Billings we left for Yellowstone via the Beartooth Highway.

This post was edited on 10/3/19 at 7:30 pm