2007/06 BC trip - Custer national forest |
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We left after lunch and set off into Montana, first to Glendive and then up the Yellowstone River valley to Miles City, where we headed south on back roads towards the Custer national forest where we hoped to camp. This is a scenic drive through the ranch country and rolling hills around the Powder and Tongue Rivers. The roads were gravel, quite rough in places, so we were taking our time.
Going slowly didn’t help us though, and I heard the loud bang as our rear nearside tyre disintegrated. The explosion blew the tyre casing clear into the ditch, leaving us bumping along on the rim and a ragged few inches of tyre and bead. Luckily, losing the casing didn’t damage the rim or the camper’s body too much, just ripped some of the trim off behind the wheel arch.
This was the first time I’d changed a tyre on the Tiger, so the first job was to find all the bits of the jack and handle, buried deep below our seats and luggage, and then find out where to apply the jack. The instructions said to simply put the jack under the rear axle. This looked to be suicidal, with a couple of tons sitting on this tiny jack shaft, but surprisingly all went smoothly, and with help from Sandie, I got the wheel off and the spare wheel on. Luckily, I’d remembered to pack the big wheel brace or I’d never have got the wheel nuts undone.
We drove on to Ashland and joined Highway 212, once famous as the road from Minneapolis to Yellowstone, but now replaced by freeways. We found the Red Shale campground, secluded and large and roomy and free, a great spot under the pines.
Tuesday June 26th
We were definitely at a higher elevation as it was cool, in the forties, in the morning. We drove Highway 212
through the Cheyenne and Crow reservations to the Custer Battlefield at the Little Bighorn. As a kid I used to think this was a silly name, but when we first visited I found that the Bighorn River was named after the local sheep and, following common practice, the smaller river nearby was called the Little Bighorn.
The battlefield monument looked much the same, but if the General visited the area today he’d find that Crazy Horse’s relatives are now running a large hotel and casino just around the corner. We didn’t stop at the battlefield as we had a mission to get a new tyre in Billings. It took us a while to find a Bridgestone dealer, but he had us back on the road in half an hour, a very professional job, even torquing down the bolts by hand so I’d be able to undo them more easily next time.
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