Traveling from South Dakota to Montana

Most of the day we had clear weather, but it was overcast and visibility was not the greatest.  South Dakota continued to be filled with beef cattle, large fields and rolling hills.  The fields looked very dry and we saw very little evidence of irrigation here.  Then we entered Wyoming.  Let me say that all I saw of Wyoming was viewed from the van traveling on route 90, but it was boring and not too attractive.  

Another observation was that the Crow Indian reservation was not surprising.  In fact the land they farmed was dry, houses were very small and rundown.  Some homes were several mobile homes parked near each other with some looking vacant/burned out.  As we traveled on in Wyoming we began to see some ranches and farms that were more prosperous with lots of farm equipment. This was noted after we left the reservation.  

When we entered Montana, the topography changed as well as the farms.  We saw ranch after ranch with beef cattle and horses.  It was lovely and was exactly what I would have expected.  They had large logs that formed a gateway with the name of the ranch on the log that spanned the road into the property. I really loved this part of the trip.

We arrived in Gardiner, Montana, around 7:00 and were told we weren't there a few hours earlier as the entire town had been shut down due to an invasion by elk.  Apparently this is the rutting season for elk and the males get quite feisty.  There were two large males that were trying to gain control of a group of females.   The park rangers were quite concerned for the safety of the people as one of the bulls has been known to charge cars is he becomes aggravated.  I was actually sorry we missed this; I would have enjoyed being a part of the excitement.