Rap? Or Hip Hop?

I'm in a musical kind of mood today, and as
you'll see, it has everything to do with that picture. Ever do that?
Have one of those days when you hear something and it reminds you of a
song. I even burst into song as if life was "Oklahoma". Some of the
folks at the Black Cat really get a kick out of it. Why just this
morning I heard someone talking and they said the word "pig". I started
to belt out the Bill Monroe classic Pig in a Pen.

Goes like this:

I got a pig at home in a pen
Corn to feed him on
All I need's a pretty little girl
To feed I'm when I'm gone

Going up on a mountain
To sow a little cane
Raise a barrel of sorghum
Sweet little Liza Jane

Black clouds arising
Sure sign of rain
Put that old gray bonnet
On little Liza Jane

Yonder comes that gal of mine
How do you think I know
Know her by that gingham gown
Hanging down so low

Bake them biscuits baby
Bake em good and brown
When you get them biscuits baked
We're Alabama bound

Anyhoo:-), like my pal Batty Mo says, I got to thinkin' of some lyrics I wrote right about 'lecshun time. I looked at em' and added a few more lines.

You do the same. Add some lines if you want to in the comments. Let er' fly. Get mad, good and pissed off. The world, and I, are countin' on ya'll. You can do it. Sing what you write out loud. Sing the whole thing out loud. Make some noise.

Now put the beat to it and read it like you're on TV with Snoop Dog or someone like dat.

My name is Joe and I’m here to say that the politics is crazy in a messy way.

They don’t want peace, they can’t say love, the olive branch is missing like the mourning dove.

We gotta fight on, like we’re in the hunt. Our country’s losing ground on a lot of fronts.

Call up the man, tell em’what for, make sure you point em’ to the exit door.


Go to the polls, cast your lot. Change the direction of this angry pot
-full of haters, cheaters and the rest, put em’ in a sack and make em’ pass the test.

Try to get out of that sack in the lake. The fate of our country is what we have at stake.


We got a new batch, but nuthin’s on the table

They better do it right or we’ll tie em’ to a cable

We’ll throw em’ off a bridge

We’ll throw em’ out the door

We’ll tie em’ to the tracks for locomotive forty four


We gave em’ time, but They still have the killin’

We gave them votes, But they still ain’t willin’

Now write em’ a letter, Give em’ a shout

Stand in their hallway, Til they throw you out


Do it for peace, Call out or pray

Do something god dammit, Or you’ll die this way!

The Sundance

No cameras at a sacred ceremony, so, no pictures to share. In fact, the elder spiritual leader insisted on no video games or any electronic devices, especially cell phones and car radios. There were days of preparing when these rules weren't mentioned or adhered to, but when ceremony days begin, we were asked to follow instruction or leave. This was no problem for me because I don't use these things when I'm at such a place.

As many of you may know, the Sundance is a summertime dance done in a circular arbor by those that have fulfilled their individual requirements to dance. They go without food and water for four days and dance in sessions during the day. Sometimes, the weather dictates some comfort, but not this year. It was hot and humid most every day and very challenging for all in attendance as well as the dancers. They are sacrificing food and water and doing this in the hot sun to pray to the Creator for the health and happiness of the people, all people. They pray to ask for answers to all the prayers the people have. Those prayers are tied in colorful bundles up in a tree that was put in the center of the arbor a day before the dance started.

People who are not dancing in the ceremony itself are assembled around the arbor at the sides. There is a drum goup beating the drum and singing constantly while the dancers are in the circle. At other places around the encampment, people are listening and watching at a distance. They are sipping coffee and visiting with friends. The cook is cooking some food for the next meal or cleaning up the dishes from the meal before. As many as 40-50 people are eating each meal. Many children of the familes of the dancers.

I was the cook. I brought in equipment and set up a cook shanty village complete with tables and chairs under a canopy. I brought the food and the pots pans and utensils to prepare it. I brought firewood to cook on at the large open stove. I brought many 5 gallon water bottles that we filled aily across the road at the neighbors house so we could have water. We needed a lot of water with temperatures up into the 90's every day. We served a ot of lemonade and kool aid and water. I did not bring the black flies, the horse flies or the mosquitoes. There were a lot of them creatures.

I brought Mrs Spadoman and a friend to help me unload and set up the camp. Mrs S stayed and helped me, then left for a couple of days, only to return with the two oldest Grandkids. Then, she jumped in and helped me again. Others pitched in and helped a little here and there. One good friend helped me when Barb was away and did a great job. I could not have pulled it off without the help from these people, especially Barb.

Between meals, I went to the side of the circle and showed my support for the dancers, the people who were praying for us, for an answer to our prayers. I sat in at the big drum and sang with the others in hopes of giving the courageous dancers some energy by our full voiced singing and hard drumming.

On the last day, it came to an end. The rounds were complete. Everyone came to the cook shack for a feast. We had some great food and iced down juice and beverages for the Sundancers to break their fast. A large bowl of chilled fresh fruit and some delacacies that they asked for like walleye and oranged pork chops, wild rice and goulash made from very lean buffalo meat.

Camps were struck and people left for the long drive home, and for most, work on Monday. When I arrived at the camp, I was the first person there last Friday morning, July 20th. The people came and we had this core of human beings there, and just as they arrived, ten days later they left, and I was there alone again until 6:30 PM Sunday night before we had the last thing packed and closed the door on the van and drove away, leaving only the tree standing in the center of the arbor, festooned with the colored prayer tie offerings that once held their prayers.

I pretty much told you of the logistics of this event. The things that happen to any one particular individual during their time either involved with doing the Sundance, or just attending one and being a supporter of a dancer, or someone who helps with the fire, the food or the ceremony, are each individuals secrets to think about and take lessons from.

I saw a couple of kids that I had met last year, but they weren't ready to form relationships last year. This year, they both became great fiends and I view them as my Grandchildren. They are fond of me and I see it and believe it. I served some meals that people liked. Not a morsel of food in the trash, just empty plates and plastic utensils, a sure sign that they liked the sustinance placed before them at that particular meal. Then there was the naughty lady that left her kids hanging around as she left the grounds with others to go to town for this, or go to town for that. The kids were a little trouble from time to time, and with no mother there to reel them in, we took turns yelling at them.

I had a spiritual experience as well. Some questions were raised and I have yet to decipher the real answers. That's how these things work for me. I must dwell on the situation before I know what conclusion I need to draw. It is a learning process. So far, I can still learn much, mostly about myself. As the days and weeks go on, I'll continue to hear the drum beats in my head and the words to these Dakota Sundance honor and thank you songs. I'll hum along and sing and think of the Sundance and my 12 days there. I'll think about all that had happened and hope and pray that I come out the better for it.

One thing I did decide about is that I will no longer be the cook. I have passed the torch to someone new for next year. I'll be there, but I'll in a lawn chair next to the arbor watching the brave courageous people dance for peace and for the prayers of the people.

I am purposely pretty generic in my attempt to tell you about Sacred Ceremony. If you are truly intersested and want more information or have specific questions, please ask via e-mail. Thanks for coming to my blog. It's good to be back home.

The Medicine Wheel

I may have posted this story over a year ago in my old Heart Melody Blog. I felt it worth repeating, at least to myself. I needed to hear what I said before and wanted the motivation to continue strongly on this path. Reading about what I did and how I felt when I did it reminds me to stay on the path. As I have seen and felt good in my life before, I'll see and feel it again.

I'll be leaving for the Sundance in a couple of days and will again be away from these pages. Return will be some time in early August. Please come back and check out the links listed at the end. Some good stuff to see. Thank you.

High in the Northern end of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming sits an archeological find that is said to be a Medicine Wheel. Scholars know there have been thousands of these throughout North and South America with Canada having the most. Not many, however, are intact or complete. Just remnants have been unearthed over the years.

In Wyoming sits one of the best examples of this Wheel. It is at an altitude of almost 10,000 feet above sea level at the top of a mountain. It is said that the layout may be somewhat orientated to the Sun and Moon and Stars and is astrological.

All this information is a guess. There is no written history. It is a circle of rocks layed out in a wheel around 80 feet in diameter. The center is a pit about 6’ X 6’ made of rocks piled around in a horseshoe shape called a cairn. There are six more of these cairns scattered around the edges. There are 28 spokes that radiate from the center to the edges. The rocks sit on the earth and are in great shape considering they are exposed to the elements at this high altitude.

The area is now a protected site. people can go up there and look at the place, but nothing is to be touched. Native people from over 80 tribes have ceremonies up there from time to time. The Indians feel this place is Sacred.

I first heard of it when I saw it on a map. It is called the Medicine Wheel National Monument. The Forest Service has a small visitor center there and a small parking lot. To visit, you must walk a one and a half mile trail uphill from the small gravel parking area. So, the place doesn’t get the usual high numbers of tourists like Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. It is off the beaten track and only the hardiest of travelers goes there to see it. Besides, in this part of the Big Horn Mountains at this altitude, the road is open only from Memorial Day to sometime in September or October when the snows come and the powers that be close the road for the Winter.

The Indians that hold ceremony there go for many reasons. They feel that their ancestors used this site as a place to pray. Medicine men and women and spiritual leaders go there as well as individuals just wanting to pray. The Forest Service asks people to allow others to have their space if they see someone doing something other than walking around reading the signs. Maybe that person or small group is involved in a ceremony and we are asked not to bother them.

So, I saw it on a map and realized I have never taken that particular road on my trips out West. A few years ago, as I was learning more and more about Native American Spirituality, I met two women who took a trip to this place. Both of these women are said to be healers. One is an Anishanabe, (Ojibway) medicine woman. I was introduced to them as I showed an interest in receiving the benefits of a healing ceremony.

I was told the story of their visit to the Medicine Wheel the year before. I was told that the Indian woman was offered entrance into the Sacred circle of the Medicine Wheel when they visited. I was told that there was a vision to visit in the first place as well as a vision that took place during the visit. I guess I just listened and filed the information for future reference. My involvement with these women went on and I did get a healing ceremony from them, but the ceremony of which I partook had nothing to do with the Medicine Wheel in Wyoming.

My spiritual advisor tells me today that the ceremony was a good one and started me on a path of healing. More about this healing ceremony at a later time.

Five years ago, I was traveling East from California by automobile and took the route less travelled. The road went past the Medicine Wheel and I decided to take the opportunity to stop and see it for myself. I was well into trying to understand and accept many of the Indian ways by this time in my life and as I hiked up the side of the mountain for the first time, I drew upon my beliefs and teachings I had learned to that point.

For the past number of years I have taken up this path of Native American Spirituality in my life. I am not better than anyone else. I am not an Indian nor am I trying to become one. I just have never found the religious teachings of Catholic Christianity to be acceptable. Or for that matter, any organized religion. Too much difference of opinion. One religious leader telling the other that their way was the only true way. I wanted to believe, but I had hesitation because of this involvement of man.

The Indian way of thinking about the Great Spirit or God is different for me. I cut out the middle man and create a dialogue directly with The Creator of all things. No-one tells me what is right or wrong. My heart tells me as I speak directly to God from my heart. No man intervenes and explains my conversations. The thoughts come to me and I know if they are right or wrong instinctively. When I am not sure, I seek guidance through prayer. The answers come and I know in my heart of hearts that I will live in peace and do no harm or force my way on another person.

It is with this confidence that I hike up to the top of this mountain. As I walk, I pray for knowledge of the place where I am visiting. I ask the Spirits to help me as I am a dumb human and need a sign to help me understand what it is I am suppose to see. I am talking to God, as I understand him, as I walk.

I ask for a lesson, some direction or learning that I can take away from here that will help me be a better person and live with peace in my heart. I ask for more healing from the wounds of life. Hey, I’m also praying that I make it to the top because it’s hard for a guy who has had numerous open heart surgeries to hike over a mile uphill at 10,000 feet above sea level.


I am taking it slow. One step at a time. I learn this lesson quickly. Each step leads you to the desired promised land. Patience prevails. If I keep taking one step at a time, after a while, I’ll get there. If I don’t start the journey, it will never happen. This thought came to me some time later. Not all these lessons, or any of them for that matter, come to you with the revelation of a sunrise. One day I just thought about it. I realized that if I hadn’t tried it and kept at it, I never would have made it. This is also true of everything in life. Sure, maybe I’ll die before I reach certain goals, but I can’t just sit and wait to die. I must proceed.

As I reach the top of the mountain and see the stones on the ground and make out this circle of rocks the Spirits grab a hold of my shoulders and I shudder like a chill went through me. I immediately burst into tears and a great feeling of relief comes over me. I cannot explain this feeling except to say that I felt cleansed and pure for that moment in time as I cry in front of God at the top of a mountain many miles from my home.

I keep my gaze to my left on that circle as I step up closer. I follow the man made path to the Northwest edge of the circle and walk around it in a clockwise direction. I keep praying. Crying jags hit me every once in a while as I walk. I stare at parts of the circle, the cairns, the rocks. Then I start to see the offerings and gifts brought there and laid down by visitors before me. Prayer ties tied to fenceposts and thrown into the cairns. Some carried to the center of the circle by Native people who are allowed into the area to pray in the manner that they wish as their ancetors had done.

Sage, Sweetgrass, Cedar, Tobacco. In pouches of cloth and in small leather bags. Beadwork. Feathers, symbols of faith and belief and honor and worship laid there by those who want to symbolize to themselves their journey through life as being one of Spirit. Each offering meant to strengthen mans personal Spirit life and forge a connection to the Great Mystery of life itself.

I look at these things as I walk around the circle. I have a vision as I walk. I see the ancient beings with fire around them dancing here. I feel their Spirits and hear the drumming and singing and chanting. I cry again and again. I see another vision. I see myself dancing at the Sun Dance. I see myself pierced and dragging the skulls of four buffalo.

As I walk I envision myself at the Sun Dance. In a book I read and in accounts told to me by others. I knew I had to have a vision that I would someday dance if I ever was to participate in the Sun Dance ceremony. This was that vision. This was that strong serious thought and visualization that will be ingrained in my mind forever.

For a brief moment, the Medicine Wheel was my Sun Dance arbor, I was peirced in my back and tied to the buffalo skulls and I dragged them as I prayed for the people.

I lingered around on top of the mountain for a while. I walked around and looked out over the beautiful valley of pines and rock to the East and to the West which looks out over a huge basin called the five springs basin. You can see Yellowstone from here, over 125 miles away. Below in the near reaches of the basin is the confluence of the Shoshone and Big Horn Rivers and one of the largest stands of old-growth cottonwood trees left in America.

As I started down the mountain, I felt good about going there. I really had the sensation that I was suppose to see it, supposed to be there that day. I made a promise to go back some day.

As I left the area and headed East towards home, I started to think and another strong thought entered my head. I wanted to go back to the Medicine Wheel sometime and camp out nearby and make the trek up to the top of the mountain every day for four days. This would be an honor to the four Sacred directions. The thoughts kept coming and I saw it as a pilgrimage to the Medicine Wheel, going up each day. And each day I would honor one of the directions by tying a prayer tie on the fence in that direction.

I thought of how I’d tie the prayer ties and what colors I’d use and what I’d put inside of each tie. The only thing I didn’t pre-determine was what I was going to be saying as I hiked up and down the mountain and around the Medicine Wheel. This was in August. I returned in October.

The Forest Service says that the Medicine Wheel and the road through the Big Horn Mountains, Hwy 14A, is open until weather does not permit. This usually happens sometime in October.

I took a chance and arrived there in October around the 10th. I knew it would be cold and I was prepared for that with everything I needed for a warm campsite including firewood, a warm sleeping bag and plenty of warm long sleeved shirts. There was a smattering of snow near the mountain this time of year at this altitude.
There was a nice BLM campground to the west, 13 miles down the hill from the entrance drive at the Medicine Wheel site, called Five Springs Falls Campground.

When I got there, I was the only person there. I did not see another human for the entire time I was there. The deer nation greeted me every morning and evening. I saw fabulous sunrises and sunsets each morning and evening. I set up my camp and made a place at the picnic table to get my prayer ties ready for my first of four days at the Medicine Wheel.

I used the Lakota colors of Black, Red, Yellow and White. to honor the four directions. I used Blue for the Grandfather sky above and Green for Mother earth below. I would be using 6 colors and make six ties each day. From home, I prepared a big bag of Tobacco, Cedar, Sweetgrass and Sage to fill the bundles. As I tied them, I put a prayer for some cause in each one.

I lit sage and puirified myself and my materials as I tied them. I tried to keep my thoughts on what I was asking for. This took concentration and was a struggle. Let me say here that as I narrate what I did on these trips I am in no way trying to brag about the fact that I pray. In all humility, I am just wanting to tell a story and explain what I was trying to do, what I felt meant a lot to me on that particular trip on that particular day.

When I felt all was ready, I got into the car and drove to the small gravel parking lot near the medicine Wheel and parked. I got out, grabbed my stuff and started my walk. The wind was blowing hard and it was raw and cold. I made day one and day two.

Each of these days as I walked up the mountain, I remembered my first journey up there and spoke to the Spirits again. I again said that I was dumb and needed direction. I asked again for lessons and thoughts to come to me. Ideas about how to improve my life. I wanted to be a better person. I felt that the Spirits could help guide me and inspire me to live a better life and this would benefit all others as well, especially members of my own family who are around me most of the time.

I walked around the Wheel and as I walked I prayed and looked around at the beauty. I listened to the songs of the birds and heard The Creators voice the as the wind blew through the trees and over the rocks. I was cold but didn’t pay it any mind. I tied my ties onto the fence and started with the East.

I felt the East was the way the doorway faced at the Sweat Lodge and also where the sun came up each day. I was thinking about the new chance at life the Creator gives us each day with that sun in the East. The rebirth every day. I started with the east. I would work clockwise and tie my prayer ties to the South the next day, then the West and finally the North.


I was finished and even though I did linger a little while, I was cold and the wind was relentless, so I headed down with thoughts of a fire at my campsite so I could get warm. I had barely made it 100 yards on the trail back down when it hit me. I had a thought, a strong thought, a revelation, an idea that was so obvious and made such sense, but never really thought about it in such simple precise terms before that moment.

The idea came to me that one of the things I need to be doing to live a better life was to stop talking negatively about other people. A basic rule that says if you don’t have anything good to say about another, don’t say anything.

This thought conjured up all sorts of personal confessions as I walked. I knew what the teaching meant immediately. In those instances when someone irritates you or they do something that you feel just isn’t right, instead of dragging another persons misdeeds through the mud, just keep quiet about it. Leave them be. Don’t talk about another person and what you don’t like about them or that you don’t like what they do.

This valuable lesson kept up and more information came to me. I looked back at a few instances for understanding, but more importantly, I looked ahead and learned how to treat a situation in the future when it comes up again. It was a great lesson, and so simple.

We live our lives everyday and as for me, I never gave much thought to self improvement. In fact, I guess I always enjoyed when people liked me or at least I thought that they liked me. I figured if they were listening to me, be it good or bad about another person, and I had their attention, it was good. This is not so.

I took this first lesson and wrote about my thoughts in my journal. More and more ideas came forward. I felt so much growth and power the rest of that day. I was amazed. I got the feeling that I asked the Spirits for a lesson and they gave it to me. Maybe it had nothing to do with the Spirits. Some would argue that fact I’m sure, but to me, I was receptive and looking for answers to life’s problems. This is how the answers came to me.

The next day, I followed the same routine and I received another strong visual teaching the same way. Along the same lines as don’t talk about people came the phrase don’t judge people.

The same hours of concentration about this subject happened the second day and more was learned. I felt good again. Time passed quickly as I sat alone in my campsite by the fire. I was thinking about right now instead of the past or problems that I thought I would have in the future. For me personally, this was a major change in the thinking process. I looked at it as more healing. An extension of the healing started in my life by the two women.

Earlier, I mentioned a healing ceremony I went through some time ago. I want to tell you about that simple ceremony and draw some correlation to the happenings at the Medicine Wheel.

When I met these two women, it was to find out about a trip to the Medicine Wheel site near Sedona Arizona where they were going to travel and conduct a healing ceremony. My interest was to help out with driving and some of the funding and be able to tag along and witness while being hopeful that I might be invited into the circle.

The trip to Sedona never came to be. It seems that when we tried to get information about the area to plan our logistics, we came upon a lot of information that showed people reserving the Sacred Medicine Wheel to run ‘for profit’ ceremonies. Advertising their programs and putting the price tag right up front. The trip to Arizona was aborted.

Instead, they decided to hold a healing ceremony right near home. High on a hill overlooking the Mississippi River near Diamond Bluff, Wisconsin. This happens to be the large expanse of yard attached to a rented farm of one of the women.

The ceremony was simple. I was told to tie seven prayer ties, all with red cloth, and one of them is to have a different color tying string so as to identify it from the six others. Tobacco, Sage and Cedar were to be tied into these offerings.

At the sight, a small fire pit was surrounded by Cedar with an entrance to the East. The ceremony involved tying one of these prayer ties to a tree in every direction. I was to also offer one tie above to the Grandfather and one to Mother Earth below us into the fire. I was told to hold on to the one with the different colored tie for a while.

Not much else was said or done, but after a while, I was to ask for the Creator to remove something I wanted to get rid of and put this request into that last special prayer tie. Then I was to put it into the fire. End of ceremony.

I waited for about five minutes and wondered if I was then healed. I actually had no understanding of the process and absolutely no patience. What I have learned eight years later is that the simple ceremony started me on a path to healing. As I look back, my life has changed so much, and for the better. This ceremony was the first small step that eventually led me up the side of the mountain in Wyoming and into numerous other opportunities to learn, grow and heal.

So now I realized that I indeed have been on a healing path that seemed to have started with that ceremony. And as I sit at my campfire and I am able to concentrate on my thoughts and have a greater understanding of Spirit and my place in the universe, I am at peace in my heart. I have experienced a healing.

The next day I woke up to a bright Eastern sky and what I thought would be an inevitable sunrise, but the morning quickly turned cloudy. I went back to my cot in the tent and dozed off for a short while and I awoke to an inch of snow on my tent. I got out of the tent and looked around in amazement at the beautiful sight of the soft fresh snow in this windless mountain environment. The snow was wet and it didn’t feel so cold or even cold enough to have had snowed.

The sky was gray and it was soon after that a fog came over the area where I was camped. The fog thickened like corn starch poured into boiling water and soon I couldn’t see for more than 50 yards. The deer that I usually saw feeding were gone and so was the field where they roamed. The mountaintops dissapeared, all the color of my tent and my car were muted into a grayish haze. It was like I was living life in a black and white photograph.

I got ready and got into my car for my trek to the mountain. The road was covered with snow and as I started driving up to the Medicine Wheel, I met the plow and there were large plumes of snow coming off the edges of that plow. I went back and broke camp and figured that I better abandone this mission for now because I was fearful that I’d get stranded in the snow. It was October 15th.

I had made two days of the four I had made a committment to do. I struggled a little about this, but then realized that I didn’t put a time limit on the exercize. I could and would return and fulfil my committment to go to the Medicine Wheel for four days.

It took me a little less than a year to go back and try again. I set up this camp closer to the entrance for the steep gravel driveway that led to the Wheel. It was late August and the nights were cold, but the creator blessed me with wonderful warm sunny almost windless days for the entire four days I was there.

I went up to the Medicine Wheel once each day for four consecutive days, each day with a new bundle of prayers, asking the Creator to answer them. Asking the Spirits to help guide and protect me. Wanting more lessons, more teachings, more faith.

I was blessed then with answers to many questions and more strong thoughts about things that have been troubling me in my life. The healing still continues. More thoughts, more teachings pop into my head. I also realize that this is a lifelong process and that this way of life must continue on forever. This isn’t anything I’ll ever be finished with. It is only a great start to an amazing journey. I will return to the Medicine Wheel. Feel free to join me if you’d like. I’ll be heading back that way later this summer.

I did find a great website that shows many pictures of the Medicine Wheel in Wyoming. Check it out HERE. You also might want to see other places. The site has many areas of interest and can be found HERE.

Lastly, a site I found with a wonderful story about the Medicine Wheel before the Forest Service made it into a developed site. You can see that HERE.

Thank you for allowing me to share a small part of my life with you. Feel free to e-mail if you have any questions. I'll answer when I return in August.

Peace to All.

Back From Crow Creek, 2nd Annual, 2007

It's early on Monday morning. The ride was over last week, but I've been busy and did do some riding after we completed the commemorative ride from Ft. Snelling in Saint Paul, MN to Fort Thompson, South Dakota. Last year was the first time we tried doing this ride. We had 18 motorcycles and 19 people. This year we more than doubled that number with 40 bikes and 45 people. We also had many people come from quite a distance in their cars and meet the group at Fort Thompson. They didn't drive the same route the motorcycles took, but did make the shorter version of the journey to show their support for the people of the Crow Creek Indian Reservation.

Just a short paragraph of history. In 1863, during what is called the Dakota Conflict in history books, Dakota and Winnebago Indian people were loaded onto boats and shipped away from their homeland in Minnesota down the Mississippi River. They were put on rail cars near Hannibal, MO and taken across Missouri to the Missouri River near Saint Joseph. Then, back on boats North to Fort Thompson. There, they were left, in a strange place, to fend for themselves. Many died on the journey. Many were treated harshly, beaten, raped and starved. These people survived and their decendants are there today. Our motorcycle ride is to remember this journey, remember these ancestors who were forcibly interred and moved away from their homeland.

We don't do it to point fingers and call names to a government that treated the first residents of this land so brutally. We don't show or speak of hatred, but we remember and in remebering, we give the people who live there now, hope. Last year, no one knew what to expect. The motorcyclists didn't know where the gas stops were, the route was confusing, nightly lodging for the four day journey was in disarray. The people at Crow Creek knew we were coming, but weren't sure what that meant. It was after we arrived there that we all came together and realized that in remembering someones past, we build a future and we make new friends. We learn our history by seeing the places where things happened. Old stories conjure images of the plight of the people, but now, when we are living in the future of this event, we see that time has past and the people live on. We experience a closeness. We were all of one human race. There was no color. There was peace in our circle.

The people who didn't participate last year had the same feelings I experienced. The thought that our discomfort from hot asphalt, thirst, breakdowns, flat tires, accidents, confusion and disorganization was nothing compared to what happened to the people who were put on the boats. And when they saw the reception that the people prepared for us, they cried as they found something in their hearts. I cried again as well.

The residents of Crow Creek held a childrens Pow Wow. They had a feast prepared. Horseback riders led us into the grounds where teepees were set up for us to use overnight. A beautiful shaded arbor was made from small trees to shade us as we watched the children dance in traditional regalia. Songs were written for us, honor songs, because we remembered their ancestors. We were prayed for, smudged and given healing ceremonies for anything that might be on our minds. The people did all that they could do. I cannot tell you the emotion of this reception and how powerful it is when people come together this way. It must be experienced. We realized that a yearly town celebration has started. If I stay a part of this, I'll be able to watch those children grow up. Like having a bigger family.

As for the ride itself, it was great. Good weather in the fact that we didn't get any rain. It was hot and sunny every day on the road. The City of Winona, MN fed us lunch on day one as we passed through. The people of Winnebago, Nebraska fed us lunch on day three. A motorcycle group from Prairie Island, MN bought everyone a tankful of gas in support of the ride, and dinner for everyone in the group. Motels and restaurants and small out-of-the-way gas station convenience stores treated us kindly. No small task when 40 motorcycles pull into the islands all together and want gas, snacks and to use the bathrooms.

The journey took us through beautiful river bluffs and lowlands, across rolling farmland and through the plains. The bison are gone, teepees are replaced by houses, air conditioning gives comfort from the hot sun, travel is fast compared to methods of long ago. What took two days in a rail car took a few hours for us.

We sort of took over Big Lake State Park north of Saint Joseph, MO. Usually, facilities, like the restaurant, being not open except on weekends, the proprietors opened up and had specials on hand to feed us dinner on the second night, and a great breakfast buffet the morning of day three. They allowed us to spread about their parking lot as we assembled in the early morning to continue on.

At the end of the third day, we pulled in at Fort Randall, SD. There was a big Pow Wow going on that weekend. They invited us to camp without charge. Every one of the riders and passengers were invited into the Pow Wow circle and we told the people what we were doing, why we were on this ride. The Veterans who were on the ride were honored as is tradition. We were invited to participate in flag raising ceremonies Saturday morning before we left for the final leg of our trip.

As I get time and a problem with my photo generating equipment solved, I'll tell some stories about the ride, the people and the motorcycles. I'll post some great pictures, maybe even a Youtube or two. But for now, I'll leave it here. It's good to be back, but in some ways, I wish I could continue riding forever.

Peace to all. And thank you all very much for your support.

For Us, A Day to Remember

Sixteen years ago today. Sixteen. She was seventeen and only a month or so shy of turning eighteen when she left us. The last time I saw her and hugged her was June fourth, 1991. It was graduation night. She accepted her diploma and we went out and had dinner. Then, the next morning, we left for our job assignment up in Northern Minnesota. Maggie stayed back in her little studio apartment. Instead of the child going off to college, we went off and left her. Kind of an opposite deal. Maggie had an apartment on the bus line, a trusted boyfriend with a car, a job, and was going to probably attend the University of Minnesota in September.

We had only been working at the YMCA Camp Menogyn since we arrived there on that Tuesday. I was doing all the cooking for the camp and Mrs. Spadoman was working in the office. The two younger girls, aged 15 and 14 respectively were housed with same aged campers as they cycled through the camp programs. We were just getting used to our environment up north along the Canadian border in the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

It was early on Friday morning. I was up and getting dressed. I was heading to the dining hall to start breakfast. A knock came on my cabin door and when I opened up I saw Dave, the Camp Director, standing there. I said, "Good Morning" to him and he told me that there had been an accident He said that Maggie had been involved and that I was to call a number that he had written down on a post-it note.

I didn't know the name or recognize the number he had given to me. Mrs. Spadoman was awake and listening to all this, but we didn't have any idea what was going on and did start to seem a little puzzled by all that was unfolding.

I went down to the office and used the phone. I called the number. I was about to ask for the person whose name was on the note, but when the phone was answered by the words, "Ramsey County medical examiner's office", I went numb. As I remember, things were explained to me and I had to come up with the name of Maggie's dentist so a positive identification could be made.

That's all I can tell you today. That's all I think I needed to say. That happened sixteen years ago on June eighth. It has been an up and down ride all our life, but especially since that day. With the closeness that I have achieved with many of you, I just wanted to share that little bit with you. I was ready to tell you today.

Please, I don't look for sympathy. Rather, I ask that you hug a loved one today. Hug all of your loved ones. Hug your friends. Forgive someone. Realize how precious every moment is. Pray, or whatever you do to reach your soul, that those that struggle with grief get comfort, and that others don't have to go through it.

Good positive thoughts and energy to all of you from me. I'm not quite so alone today as I share this moment with you.

Peace to all. Safe travels when your on the road. Let you see no hatred. Let your hearts be at peace and all around you be serene. Love, yourself and each other.

The Bear

I'm kind of afraid of this Bear. He, or She, has been here, to my place. I know Bears live in the woods and so do I. I know that you'll see one once in a while and they'll run off. I didn't even see this one. But I saw the aftermath.

Seems like he was looking for something to eat. I'll call him "He" for simplicities sake. He tore down two bird feeders and drained the seeds. He tore two gaping holes in the BBQ cover. He knocked down a flower box, the one that was beneath the window next to the back door, and He bit off the head of the Mrs. Butterworth's bottle the kids had out in their playhouse. Oh, and he ate the compost heap and left two giant piles of crap about ten feet from my motorcycle!

No, I didn't see him. I didn't even hear him. But He was here all right. I've seen many a Bear in my life up north. You'll see them cross the road from time to time. One time when golfing we were held up on number two green. Mr. Bear was on number three Tee!

They are creatures of habit. Way up on the Canadian border they would ravage food packs of the canoe trippers if they left them unprotected. At the YMCA Camp where we worked, the Bears broke into the packing house and ate the food out of the packs, but left the food in the containers. I guess they just knew there was food in the packs as they have found it in packs before. They didn't even realize that there was a ton of food in those containers.

We're living in this cabin on Lake Superior. We're trying to make a smaller environmental footprint on Mother Earth so we have an outhouse. In the pitch black of the night, I sure don't want to run into a Bear. And even though I know that He's just wanting the contents of a pic-a-nic basket and doesn't want to eat me, I'm not shy to tell you He has me scared shitless, pun intended.

In my spiritual life, I have learned lessons about the Bear. In Anishanabe teachings, the Bear is a healer and protector. The spiritual man I know that conducts the Sweat Lodge ceremonies is from the Bear Clan. He has explained a lot over the years. I should be understanding the Bear and his visiting me should be a time of great rejoicing. Instead I have this feeling that I'm going to run into him on a trip to the outhouse and he'll, well, he'll... I dunno. I'll see him!

The Thunderbeings are loud and scary. They rumble and make a big fuss, but they bring the rain. The healing medicinal life blood of Mother Earth. But many people, especially children it seems, are afraid of thunder and lightning. The Bear is a scary prospect as well.

Around here, we have black bears. The grizzly bear or the polar bear will attack a human in some cases. But not the black bear unless it is sick or the mother is protecting its young scenario. Yet I don't want to see this Bear in the dark of night on the way to the outhouse.

Now if I were around the yard during the daytime, and the Bear wandered by at the edge of the woods, that'd be cool. When the moon is hidden by an overcast sky and the blackness is so deep you can't see your hand in front of your face, I get the feeling I'm gonna bump right into him. I mean, can He see in the dark?

The past two weeks or so have had a lot of Bear stuff going on. At one event, there was a healing ceremony. Bear meat was served at a Feast after. The Bear spirit was asked to attend and help in the healing. Last Sunday, we rendered bear fat into a salve. This salve is used for healing. I used it on my bum shoulder and honestly, I don't have that pain any more. I have two torn tendons you know?

Then, I had a dream about the spirit man that I know, the one from the Bear Clan. So coincidence is playing a part in all this. Seeing the Bear, talking about the Bear. Eating the Bear. Asking the Bear to heal and protect.

If you have an animal totem and the Bear is your power animal, you have a very powerful symbol. In a book called "Animal Speak", by author Ted Andrews, the section about the Bear gave me some insight.

Mr. Andrews suggests that if the Bear comes into your life. And He has come into mine, then maybe I should be asking myself some important questions. Is my judgement off? Am I not recognizing what is beneficial in my life? Am I not seeing the core of good in all situations?

I guess I can answer yes, yes and yes. If the Bear has presented himself as He has to me, then I must deal with what is put before me and not hibernate. I must deal with it. My fear is that I haven't wanted to deal with my judgement, recognition of the blessings in my life and looking for good in a world gone bad.

Actually, it all makes perfect sense to me. It might sound like a lot of mumbo jumbo, but as a way of finding balance, it is easy to accept and understand the way one might look at the things in life that are happening as we go about our business and ignore the rhythm of nature.

I'll think on this over the next few days. I have some traveling to do. The Bear won't bother me in the bathroom in Saint Paul at my daughter's place. That's where I'll be until Thursday. But I will ponder the events of the past couple of weeks.

To some, it might seem a bit corny to attempt to understand and deal with life's thrust this way. Maybe you pray to a higher power or maybe you get drunk. No wrong or right. After all, it is your way, your path. Mine is to see the Bear and stand before him and ask the hard questions and make the tough decisions. I'll be thinking about it. Last week, the Eagle told me I was doing some good things and I believe him.

Now before I leave, here's something that'll make you laugh. You see, Jimmy Buffet had a run in with The Bear before. Let him tell you about it HERE

Peace to All.

Phil, the Fitz and the Lake Shore

The ship Philip R. Clarke, part of the Great Lakes Fleet arrived in post at Ashland, Wisconsin on Friday, April 27, 2007 with a load of lumpcoal destined for for Xcel Energy power generating plant. The coal was out of Toledo. The ship will head for Two Harbors, Minnesota after unloading in Ashland, to pick up a load of taconite ore bound for Detroit, Michigan.

We don’t get many ships in port here any more. I don’t remember a one last season. The year before that, I think I saw one deliver coal. The water level is very low, the lowest in 80 years. A full twelve inches lower than last year. The Corps of Engineers claim that this will continue until September and even then, a rise of only 1-3 inches is expected.

The cause of the low water is drought. Dry conditions in the area. Many inland lakes are also at lower than normal water levels. Boating this seaon will be a nightmare for many. Those that make their living relying on water use may suffer economically. Boats may not be able to dock, swimmers won’t have safe beaches and in some cases, no beaches, on the Great Lake Superior and many other inland lakes here in Northern Wisconsin.

When I returned from doctors appointments in Duluth early Friday afternoon, the ship was just coming into the port. They are quite large, the Philip Clark is over 760 feet long. But when it was made in the 1950’s, it was only 647 feet in length. They cut it open and added a 220 foot section at Frazer Ship Yards in Superior. Now, at 767 feet, it is a very large vessel to be getting into Ashland. And although loaded with coal on this latest delivery here, it was not a full load as the draft of the ship, fully loaded, would have made it impossible to maneuver with the Water level of the lake at this historic low.

This ship was built as an order of three such ships made by the American Ship Building Company for the Pittsburg Steamship Company. One of the others was the Arthur M. Anderson. The Anderson was the ship that followed the Edmund Fitzgerald the night when the famous Gales of November brought her down and the lives of 29 crewmembers were lost, November 10, 1975.

So, who was Philip R. Clarke, and why did they name the ship after him?


One night in 1994, when I lived in Duluth, MN, we saw that the Arthur M. Anderson would be coming into port around midnight. It was a late season arrival and the weather was cold by the lake shore. We bundled up and stood there and watched the lights come from the distance towards the harbor entrance. As we stood there and the giant ore boat slipped quietly past us into the harbor, we felt an eery surreal feeling as we knew the story of the Anderson and it’s history of the last people to hear Captain McSorely of the Edmund Fitzgerald say, “We are holding our own”. The Anderson followed the "Fitz" and had her in sight up until its fateful end, 15 miles short of Whitefish Bay, Michigan.

I know a woman who lost her Father in that shipwreck. The 'old cook' that Gordon Lightfoot mentions in his fabled song might be Allen G. Kalmon who was a steward/2nd cook aboard. His daughter is an artist and lives in Ashland and she is a good friend of mine. I think it be hard enough to lose your Dad. But harder still to have the anniversary remembered in the region every year, not to mention the haunting song made famous by Lightfoot.

While I haven’t lived right on the shore of the Great Lakes, as I do now, for quite some time, I was born in their shadow and have lived near them all my life. Born in Chicago and the Great Lake Michigan. Living in Two Harbors, Grand Marais and Duluth, Minnesota over the years, and close enough to be influenced by Lake Superior from a standpoint of weather and energy.

I remember once wanting a glimpse of a NorEaster storm. We went to the shore near Duluth and donned every bit of cold weather gear we had. We tried to look at the waves, but they were not to be seen from the literally blinding sideways falling snow and sleet. the wind taking our breath away and the impossible task of getting any closer to the lake for fear of a rogue wave taking us to the depths and certain death.

Although I don’t read as much as I could or sometimes think I should, I have made my way through many a ships log, fact finding investigation, non-fiction story and/or fictionalized version about the Edmund Fitzgerald and other great lakes ships and ship wrecks. Web sites abound about the Great Lakes and the toll of ships taken as the ocean vessel Captains will tell you that they’d much rather ply their trade on the ocean than on Superior.

In 2004, we attended the launch of the United States Coast Guard Cutter Alder at the Manitowoc Shipyards on the Menominee River in extreme Northeastern Wisconsin. This was quite the experience. Up close and personal with the ship as it lay in it’s crib, then watching it slide sideways into the river to start it’s service, replacing the Sundew, an older cutter harbored in Duluth. If you ever get a chance to watch a large ship be christened, do it.


I guess watching that ship come into harbor in Ashland moved me as I thought of a former life or of a bygone era on the Great Lakes. Less than 50 ships remain from a fleet of over 350 in the 1950’s. A theme of my fictional writing is set on the waterfronts of the great lakes and includes a longshoreman, Joe Nighthawk, as the main character. A few chapters have been written. Some day I'll share them.

The lake changes everyday. Its color changes with the color of the sky. Its surface with the strength and direction or lack of the wind. The wrinkles change from the gulls and ducks flying across the waters and the pods of waterfowl dotted around in sight. The energy flows as the big lake cleanses itself of unwanted debris, the waves pushing old logs to the shore and scouring rocks into round edged nuggets.

Go to the water. Stand by its shore. Enjoy the pictures of the Philip R. Clarke.



That puff of black smoke is from the bow thruster used to get the ship exactly where they want it. Like parallel parking in downtown New York.



The Philip R. Clarke coming into port.