Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Day 74...Friday, September 26, 2008...Custer's Last Stand...and...All of the Strange Things That Have Been Going On...Answered!











Buzzzzz...whoa...that alarm is going off pretty early this morning...5:00AM! Get up, get dressed, make some coffee...wait for sunrise. Now, roll up my sleeping bag (thanks, Shannon, I needed the 30 degree bag last night), roll up my sleeping pad, break down my tent, pack up...and, I'm off.
When I was a boy, I read every book available on the Civil War. And that's how I learned about George Armstrong Custer...who was one of my boyhood heroes. Why...well...he was from Michigan (Monroe)...and he had "style"...the long blond hair, the great marching song "Garryowen"", the cool personal motto..."ride to the sound of the guns"...plus...Errol Flynn (another personal hero) played him in the stirring, albeit historically inaccurate, movie..."They Died With Their Boots On". With that in mind, I was humbled at this site. Small white markers are in place where each member of Custer's troop died. On that morning, July 25, 1876, Custer rode out from his Fort and split his troupe in three...Major Kehoe took one, Colonel Benteen another, Custer the third. Benteen was attacked first, a few miles from Custer's troops...but those attackers joined several hundred more and met with Custer's roops. The rest is history...sad...solemn.
Back in the parking lot, I met up with some folks from Michigan and mentioned that I was headed to northwest Wyoming. And...that's when I heard the news...northwest Wyoming was quarantined...something about a military "accident"...a nerve gas release. I'm thinking that this is bullshit...I'm seeing all of these trucks...Piggly-Wiggly, Baskin Robbins, etc...headed that way...Why? I'm thinking that the "government" has created some "cover"...something so "scary", that it will clear four hundred square miles of every living soul.
So...I'm heading to my "coordinates" in Wyoming...along the Interstate...until...roadblock! So, now I'm heading off on Route 24...closed!...roadblock. Next, I'm trying Route 14...another roadblock!. OK...the only way that I'm getting where I need to go...is "off road". So...now I'm heading off on County Road 6, then into a farmer's field...whoa...through a fence...wow, there's a helicopter releasing some kind of "gas"...I duck down ...then...then...I finally see something...through the grass...through the trees...there it is...what I've been searching for!
At the base of the "monument", it's all lit up...they're playing those six musical notes I've been hearing. I meet a French guy and a boy, Barry...Barry has just been on a long trip and invites me to go on another...no... I tell him "no"...I've been gone long enough...time to go home.
Later, I check in at the Best Western in Hulett, Wyoming. Dinner at the local bar...Buffalo Rib Eye...not bad. I'm not ordering "wine" in Cowboy Country...they have a sign behind the bar..."Our House Wine is Jaegermeister"...so...it's a beer with my steak.
Now...off to bed.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, Bill...I never knew you were a Custer fan! I went to High school with a greatniece and nephew of his.
I am really looking forward to you getting home.

robin said...

That French guy you met at the base of Devil’s Tower died in 1984. Wow!!! Soooooo……. besides being lured by extra terrestrials with their strangely annoying six note tune to the base of a phallic shaped protrusion in the middle of America’s heartland, you were also talking to dead Frenchmen and a little boy who was three years old in 1977. What were you smoking that day????? (Cause I want some of whatever it is) Just remember to take your gas mask the next time and don’t go running over any dead cows with the Escape

Tiger said...

Amazing Bill, glad your out of there! Get your butt home...miss you!