The detour, due to the restrictions on entry to Yellowstone, saw us in Billings, Montana instead of Gardiner, which had been cut off by the floods and damaged bridges. An hour outside Billings is the Little Big Horn River.

(BTW why is it that in England we put River before the name of the river, while in America it is the other way around?)

Anyway, we went there to see the site of one of the most famous defeats that ever earned an individual a place in history. General George Armstrong Custer appears to have been one of those mavericks that flirt with the edges of genius and madness. It is their seemingly total disregard for the rules which these men, and it is almost exclusively a male preserve, appear to utilise to forge their reputation. He was a ‘rebel’ and unorthodox but his men saw that he was successful and followed him loyally.

This was all to come to an inglorious end at the Battle of Little Big Horn, known to the Lakota and Plains Indians as The Battle of The Greasy Grass. Methinks, this may have benefitted from a better translation! The site was originally a monument to the fallen men of the 7th Cavalry; history is written by the victors (of the war not the battle). Recognition of the participation of a few thousand Native Americans only came in the 1940’s.

Although Custer died here, he is buried at West Point.

Incidentally, news of his death reached Philadelphia on 4th July 1876 during the 100th anniversary celebrations of US independence.

Whatever. It is an interesting memorial to visit. Alongside stands a National Cemetery for Veterans and their families. Surprisingly I found this one. I must get the Liverpool genies onto this one.

We were now in Montana. Our seventh State on this trip (eighth if you count our skirting the top of Arizona when travelling to Monument Valley.) This is Big Sky country. Wide open spaces, mountains and lakes. 147,000 square miles with only 1 million people. The UK, by comparison, is about two thirds the area (97,000 sq. miles) and has over 67 million people!!

Outside Helena we we able to visit and take a boat excursion through the Gates of The Mountains, a canyon/gorge on the Missouri River in the Rockies, named by Lewis & Clark on their famous expedition at the beginning of the 19th century. They are great American heroes, remembered in the naming of towns, rivers, canyons, streets. Just about everything.

We always knew that our itinerary would have us in Colombia Falls, Montana for the 4th July celebrations. Research told us that the town of Whitefish had the best fireworks show, while Big Fork was the place to go for the Parade. One was some 10 miles north, the other 26 miles south of our base. Nothing else for it. We spent the day in Big Fork enjoying (sic) the celebrations. We were about the only ones not wearing the Red White and Blue but at least Pat was able to snaffle a flag to wave.

We saw this and thought it was an indication of a restaurant or other place that we could get food. Then it dropped as to where we were. Doh!

However, our reason for coming to Colombia Falls was not to celebrate American Independence, or even to have a stab at reclaiming The Colonies. We were here as our base for Glacier National Park. On several occasions, in discussions during our trip, we had been told that Glacier would be a highlight, if not the highlight of our trip. The Going to the Sun Road , as the scenic, 2 hour, 50 mile byway is named, is snow bound for several months of the year and opens variously each year in June or July dependent on how quickly the two teams working from each end can clear the snow and meet each other in the middle. It would seem that either there was excess snow or a dearth of snow clearers this year as the road was still closed during our visit. add to this the need to go online each day to try and bag one of the restricted number of passes issued, the fact that it was a holiday weekend and this proved to be a very fraught part of the trip.

We did, however, get a pass, at the third daily attempt, and were able to visit the Park, albeit on a restricted basis. I can’t tell you if the drive over Logan’s pass, as part of the Going To The Sun Road, is the highlight of a trip to the Pacific Northwest or not, as we didn’t get to do it. I can say, however, that the rest of the byway is very scenic and dramatic.

It was time now to head for the coast but before Seattle we had a stopover in Coeur d’Alene. Lovely French name bastardised in its pronounciation as Core Daleen. This is supposedly the centre of what has come to be known as the American Redoubt. A movement and area synonymous with extreme right wing politics. We saw no evidence of this only a cute town with plenty of good eateries.

We stayed airbnb in the northern suburbs of Seattle and trained in to the City. Our first stop was the Space Needle. An iconic site on the Seattle skyline, of which I knew nothing.

I did think it had a look of The Jetsons about it. It turned out that it was built in 1961/1962 for the World’s Fair and at the time was the tallest building west of the Mississippi. I recall that the Hong Kong Bank building, demolished in the 1980’s for the current building, claimed that prize at the time of its build in the 1930’s. I suppose it might depend on where your draw your line “west of the Mississippi” (Greenwich?)

You travel to the Needle on a monorail which I declared to be a bit rickety. At this stage I didn’t know that it was built 60 years ago!

And as for the Jetsons…it turns out that the Space Needle was the inspiration for their home tower block!!

We enjoyed Seattle as a City, especially around the old Pike Place Market (Starbucks is the only ‘chain’ allowed as this was its original shop), going on a harbour cruise and taking a ride on their equivalent of “The Eye”

Surprisingly we both slept very well here!