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Day 9 - To Box Elder

Today we started our drive to Box Elder, SD around 7:30AM after having breakfast at Denny’s.  The drive was only supposed to be about 5.5 hours if we followed I-90,  so we were able to make a few stops along the way.  The first stop was at Little Bighorn National Battlefield National Monument.  I was not expecting much based on the battlefields around Virginia, but this one was rather interesting. I just wish it was cooler than the upper 90’s when we visited so we could have walked around some more and seen more of the battlefield markers.   The monument area shows both sides in a respectful manner.  The one thing I was surprised about is that there is a National Cemetery there that has veterans from the Indian Wars all the way through to the Korean War buried there.  I would recommend a visit if you are driving along I-90 in Montana.   

The darkened stone is Custer's

This is the side dedicated the the Native American Tribes

From there it was about a 2.5 hour drive to our next destination, Devil’s Tower National Monument.  We did not drive all the way to the visitor center near the base, just part way around the tower to get a couple pictures.  We also stopped at the Circle of Sacred Smoke Sculpture near the base of the tower.  The sculpture was designed to raise awareness of the importance of Devils Tower to over twenty affiliated Native American tribes.  I thought the sculpture was very interesting.   From there we continued our long drive to Box Elder, SD. 
 
Circle of Sacred Smoke Sculpture

Tomorrow we plan on heading to Sioux Falls, SD which will include a stop at Wall Drug, a drive through Badlands NP, and a stop at the Dignity Statue.   I really want to see the Dignity Statue, I keep seeing photos of it, and want to see it in person. 

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