Day Twelve

Today was a very powerful day, fueled by a Country Kitchen breakfast of Biscuits and Gravy with BJ.

I left Nebraska and headed to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to check out Wounded Knee, SD. As soon as I got onto the reservation it was like entering a third world country, not even exaggerating. I drove the fifteen miles to Wounded Knee and checked out the visitor’s center. The visitor’s center is a 30-foot circular building created by a guy on the reservation who wanted the truth told, basically there are a few people who live on the reservation who hang out there and tell stories about the culture. Inside is a collection of artifacts and photos from the massacre in 1890 and occupation in 1973. Little back-story for my interest… I took a Native American spirituality class at PLU and we studied the Lakota nation. The class read an autobiography by Mary Crowdog called Lakota Woman, she was a player in the Wounded Knee occupation in 1973. She gave birth to her son during the 71-day skirmish- a very good read.

Anyway, at the visitor center I met Olaha, a mother of three at 27 and finishing up a BA in Lakota Studies at Oglala Lakota College. Olaha’s parents were involved in the occupation at Wounded Knee in ‘73 and she was born just seven months after. We talked for about an hour about the occupation and life on the reservation. She described the reservation as lawless, full of drunks, high theft and arson, unsolved murders, and gang and family violence… but that was five years ago. Today Pine Ridge is cleaning up its act from the inside, and a lot of credit can go to Olaha’s family. They have worked to create safe havens for the children and bringing back the Lakota tradition that alcohol, drugs, tourism, greed, and lack of family values has distorted. Olaha practices many of the Lakota ceremonies I learned about in my class, her daughter recently received her Lakota name in one of the ceremonies. Her family also organizes traditional rides on holy trails that last up to five days with 200+ riders. She was extremely proud of her heritage, as she should be, and is very optimistic that the future Lakota generations will carry the tradition. Olaha believes the Lakota will become a strong united nation again now that the government is less oppressive to their way of life and the youth understand again what it means to be native. A great conversation.

I also drove through Badlands National Park and went to Mt. Rushmore today.

Day Eleven

Well there is a first time for everything. Today was very full so I’ll give you the bullet points.

• An overnight snowstorm nearly caved in my tent. I woke up with the side of the tent nearest my head, on my head.
• Yellowstone closed the East exit due to weather conditions so I got redirected south, ultimately sending my day to Nebraska. (Not exactly on the itinerary).
• Crossed the Rocky Mountains in 2-wheel drive without chains during a snowstorm.
• Drove all throughout Wyoming, a state that can blow wind in all four directions simultaneously. Even the tumbleweeds were confused.
• Then I met BJ.

BJ is a 31 year old teacher from Boston also on a cross-country adventure. He started in San Francisco and is headed to Boston, however BJ is walking. We met when I pulled off the highway out of curiosity. He wears a giant sign on his backpack with his website. BJ's Blog We chatted for a few minutes and then he revealed the reason for his walk. He is planning on hand delivering a notebook of personal messages to the next president of the United States of America, from America. I will make the point here that BJ is not a crazy person. He cares about his country, politics, and is brave enough to make a statement, an extremely physically demanding one at that. He left San Francisco on March 1 and hopes to arrive in Boston in November, he admits he is a little behind schedule. Anyways, he gave me his card and I drove away but I then realized he had given me another person’s card by mistake. I turned around and returned what was his and we then talked about the looming clouds and came to the conclusion that we could split a cheap motel room and sleep in comfortable beds, not outside in the rain. So we got a cheap motel room (stop worrying reader) and went to dinner at some local dive he remembered from a previous Americorps assignment. BJ is a totally sweet dude and I am glad our paths crossed. I asked him how he keeps walking everyday. He said because he started something he has to finish it, and it helps that he keeps meeting encouraging people. He has now been walking for over three months and it’s just what he does, he can’t think of doing anything else. Finding inspiration like this is why I am on the road. Hopefully he’ll get into politics. This was a successful pick up of a hitchhiker, and was an actual objective for this trip. I seriously doubt everyone walking on the road is this cool, so I’ll quit while I’m ahead so my mom won’t worry☺