June 26, 2023 - One week earlier I had learned that one of my dad's puppies, now 1 year old, needed a new home after his current owner received a terrible diagnosis. We had already passed on a puppy and then passed again when a dog vs dog conflict made another available this winter. It felt like the universe would be disgusted with us if we turned down another, particularly since Woody had hunted pheasants for 28 days last fall. He is going to be very disappointed in his reduction in work load but hopefully we make it up to him with four sets of hands for pets and scruffs and a veritable waterfall of crumbs falling from the dinner table.
Almost 3,000 miles in 46 hours of driving across three days doesn't make for many interesting diversions (besides getting through three audio books). Lucky for me, the Battle of the Little Bighorn Monument was right where I desperately needed a walk to un-numb the legs. I had visited previously with my grandparents on the tail end of an even more epic roadtrip from Inuvik, inside the Arctic Circle, back to Colorado but it was a lightening stop and didn't leave much of an impression.
The battle is an event that holds an absurdly high place in the minds of many folks, myself included, for what was a minor skirmish even by the standards of the 1860-70s. In 1876, the remaining off reservation tribes might have numbered 10,000 while the US was already approaching 40 million people and hosting the Centennial Exhibition that debuted wonders such as the telephone, the first monorail, and a 1,400 hp motor that powered exhibits all over the grounds utilizing over a mile of belts. Not to mention the fact that the total casualties were probably less than single volleys in the Civil War (260 soldiers, maybe 30 Native Americans). But that is probably the appeal for the story of what took place on this beautiful chunk of prairie, it's easy to wrap your head around. The full battle covered a couple miles with many of the casualties marked where they fell and a commander's arrogance and contempt for his opponent led directly to his timely end.
I happened to be there one day after the anniversary so the river was high and brown and that helped me to understand how unpleasant Reno's retreat back across the river while under fire would have been (not to mention the quicksand I couldn't see). Overall, a very pleasant diversion but that trip down memory lane meant I didn't reach Sioux Falls until 3 am...
With four hours of sleep and the dog in the back of the truck, it was time to turn around. This time I didn't stop for a real diversion until Wallace, Idaho which has some cool mining history. Yet, in keeping with the theme of death and destruction, it was also engulfed by the Great Fire of 1910 (burning 3 million acres in just two days, 87 confirmed deaths). The National Forest Service thinks it's the United State's largest forest fire and burned parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana. In one of the nearby mine shafts, a firefighter crew chief had to take shelter with 45 of his men and they escaped certain doom with only 5 casualties. As you can see below, things must have looked pretty grim when they emerged a few hours later to a smoldering doomscape.
Needless to say, the dog was not impressed with any of this and just wanted to be done with the incessant driving. Now that he has settled into Seattle, things are going pretty well. He is still unnerved by our three year old and Oak thinks I'm a jerk for allowing him into the house but otherwise it's nice to have another dog around and I'm looking forward to the grouse opener on September 15th to see what he thinks of our western birds.
Now you will know who that lean, new dog is in my new posts but I also introduce him in order to make excuses for late posts and a slowdown in adventures (at least by recent standards). I've been prioritizing bonding time with the new pup and leaving two dogs behind creates all kinds of logistic issues as he is tough on the house (or on himself when crated). That is all improving as he gets over the nasty shock of leaving a loving home without little hoodlums and a grumpy old dog so I hope to feature him more shortly.