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| Encampment along the Missouri River at Crow Creek |
Quick Update:
I'm up early again and will be leaving soon. Gonna make some miles while it's cool outside. Not sure when I'll return as this trip has no time line.
Peace to all.
I’m glad I’m up early. I have a lot to do today. My bike has been in the shop for a little cosmetic custom paint. Giving it that retro look with a stripe on the front fender. I have to travel into the big cities with Mrs. Spadoman today when she heads for work so I can get a ride to the paint shop and get the bike.
It is suppose to rain with the forecast saying that thunderstorms are likely. I’ll take my chances and the worst thing that will happen is that I’ll get wet on my ride home. I have to complete this task in the morning because as soon as I get home, I have to go back to Minneapolis for an appointment at the VA. Gonna see the doctor on a follow-up from a previous visit.
From the VA, I go to the airport, which is only a minute from the VA Medical Center, and pick up a stranger from Florida. This fellow bought my other motorcycle on Ebay and he is flying in to finally pick it up. It has been bought and paid for and has spent the last three weeks sitting in my garage.
I’ll bring him back to my house with a stop off at the local River Falls police department where he can get a 30 day temporary license tag, Then, we’ll come home and he’ll ride it away into the sunset.
That should fill my day quite well, but I won’t be finished yet. I have some other parts to install on my motorcycle and I also have to pack for an upcoming six day trip to the Dakotas.
I’ll be participating in the annual Wounded Knee Memorial Motorcycle Ride. A two day affair from Fort Yates, North Dakota down through Eagle Butte to Wounded Knee, South Dakota. A map of the route and the itinerary can be found in the link.
The ride commemorates the mass slaughter at Wounded Knee of men, women and children on December 29, 1890. Read about the basic details of what happened HERE.
Of course Wounded Knee is also the place in history where members of AIM held off the FBI goons in the famous1973 standoff. I am proud to say I personally know AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt, and was a close friend of active AIM leader Dave Wilson.
That's a special reason I have for going. My friend and fellow motorcycle rider, Dave Wilson, passed away a couple of months ago after losing a long battle with Leukemia. Dave was an AIM, American Indian Movement, member and local Twin Cities leader and we rode on many of the Crow Creek Memorial Motorcycle rides together over the years.
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| My friend Dave Wilson during the Crow Creek Ride, 2008 |
I like the idea of the thunderstorms that are forecast as the Thunderbeings that will visit me at this time will have a lot to say. I'm about to embark on a spiritual journey once again and it's always good to have their blessing. They make a lot of noise so the message is loud and clear. The rain they bring will cleanse the roadway, the journey will be on a fresh trail. I'll have these Thunderbeings to thank as they keep me focused as to what the purpose of this trip is all about. When I get wet or hot or have any problem, I'll know it isn't about me at all, but the journey, the spirit of my friend, the spirits of those that died at Wounded Knee in 18900, and those that live and die there still.
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| Once again, Dave contemplative at the fire, during the first Crow Creek Ride |
Since my friend Dave’s email address was Wounded Knee Vet, I knew of his connection with Wounded Knee and involvement with AIM. I made up some black arm bands and the few of us from here and the Crow Creek Longriders that knew him will wear them in his honor.
I’ll be riding for Dave this year seeing as he can’t make the ride with us.
We’ll get to Wounded Knee on Saturday evening for a program and that will be followed by a feast. From there, I’ll travel home via Northern Nebraska, visiting the sandhill country of Valentine and back through Minnesota via Sioux City, Iowa.
I’ll be getting packed up tomorrow and ready to leave early on Thursday morning. I’ll have to make around 400 miles to Mobridge, SD on that first day. I’ll be riding alone and will take the two lane US Highway 12 across Minnesota and into South Dakota.
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| Yours truly along a stretch of South Dakota prairie some time ago |
I’ll have a camera and will file a full report when I return. Since I’ll be traveling light, I’m thinking I won’t have a computer, so no Haiku or Shadow Shots this week. But I like the weekly Haiku so much I might just write in my head during those long prairie miles and share the results when I return.
In the meantime, take care and be well, all of you. And above all, have Peace in your hearts.
8 comments:
Dunno sir.....but I'm thinking Dave'll be making that trip right along with ya.
Wild guess....or perhaps a spiritual intuition?
((((((( Dave ))))))))
(((((((((((( Spadoman ))))))))))))
Safe journey, sir.
It's good you're making the journey--the physical one and the spiritual one.
I'll say prayers--and I'll hope for good reports from the visit with the docs.
That will be quite an emotional trip for you. I imagine the hours of contemplation will do you well.
Be safe.
Not all US citizens, I've found, are familiar with Stephen V. Benét's poem 'American Names':
I have fallen in love with American names,
The sharp names that never get fat,
The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims,
The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine Hat,
Tucson and Deadwood and Lost Mule Flat.
Seine and Piave are silver spoons,
But the spoonbowl-metal is thin and worn,
There are English counties like hunting-tunes
Played on the keys of a postboy’s horn,
But I will remember where I was born.
I will remember Carquinez Straits,
Little French Lick and Lundy’s Lane,
The Yankee ships and the Yankee dates
And the bullet-towns of Calamity Jane.
I will remember Skunktown Plain.
Rue des Martyrs and Bleeding-Heart-Yard,
Senlis, Pisa, and Blindman’s Oast,
It is a magic ghost you guard
But I am sick for a newer ghost,
Harrisburg, Spartanburg, Painted Post.
I shall not rest quiet in Montparnasse.
I shall not lie easy at Winchelsea.
You may bury my body in Sussex grass,
You may bury my tongue at Champmédy.
I shall not be there. I shall rise and pass.
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
[Slightly edited]
Peace, dear friend.
travel safe as always...and kiss the joy as it flies!!
What an interesting person you are the the life you live. I h ave a neighbor that has a lot of Indian blood. Her mother was a full blood, but har father was not. Love reading your feature.
You never know where the road may take you, and who you might meet along the way.
Safe travels my friend, and may the long time sun shine upon you,
bless you
and keep you
Wow-you were up pretty doggoned early to post his one! I hope your trip is going well and I am looking forward to seeing the images and the stories that go with them. What an incredible journey that will be. And, I know Dave will be with you every step of the way.
As always, when I come to your blog I am amazed, delighted and moved by the wideness and generosity of your vision 'Man. And the power of the history and the people you bring to life so well.
There was a little thunder here last night and oddly enough, I thought of you. I imagine though, that where you are the thunder will be bigger and the voices more revealing.
Will be thinking of you on your trip and of your companions both in the flesh and the spirit.
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