Sorry friends and family, it's been awhile. Our days have been packed tight with sightseeing and lots and lots of driving. We've been averaging roughly 10-12 hours in the car each day, and have almost killed each other on several occasions. thankfully, we are taking a well-deserved break from the road today. We are going to take the day to explore Bozeman, MT.
We last left you in the UP. The last few days in the UP were spent boxing and sorting things left from Sarah's mother. We worked hard to clean out the storage room, and packed her parents van full of boxes of stuff to get rid of. We went out to breakfast the last day in town. Sarah's sister and her family came to say goodbye. It was nice to see them too.
From there we moved on to Madison,WI to see Erin. The first night we were there was a lot of fun. We sat on her tiny porch drinking local beer and chatting. We finished the night by going to Wisco, a bar. Or as Erin's friend calls it, "the slanty shanty". We soon figured out why it has been dubbed the slanty shanty....the floors are so uneven that a sober person looks drunk walking around the bar. They also have a volleyball court outside the bar. That was pretty unique experience. So we watched some ladies play volleyball at a bar in downtown Madison.
The next day we decided that despite the rain warnings, we wanted to go camping. Erin suggested Devils Lake State Park. We stopped at a little restaurant right outside the entrance to the park. Oh BOY. This restaurant was so funny. It had decorations for every holiday the US celebrates, the tables were covered in tacky red, white, and blue decorations, they had a hot bar consisting of every kind of mayo based salad you could ever want, and they sold those hand-made pot holders and decorative towels...oh and there was about 20 elderly women at the 4 tables next to us playing bridge, and they were all watching fox news. we were surely in the most patriotic restaurant ever. the food was good, and everyone was really nice, we enjoyed our lunch while chuckling to ourselves about the irony of the situation.
We got to the campsite and set up. we are just hanging out playing rummy, when I turned to notice that henry had somehow gotten loose from the tree he was tied to. We heard a bark and growl and saw Henry come dashing back towards the campsite. We ran after him as he headed towards or neighbors camp site (they had a dog). Erin was frantically yelling for them to pick up their dog while I managed to wrangle Henry. I grabbed him and put him into the car. I went over and apologized to our neighbors and thankfully they understood and were really nice about the whole incident. When we took a closer look, Henry had somehow detached the rope from himself. The clasp was still attached to his collar, but right below it, the rope had been severed. Our long line has been ruined. The rest of the night was less-eventful. We played cards all night, and headed to bed. It began to rain overnight and I was hoping that the tent didn't leak. It didn't. We ate hotdogs in the morning and then packed up to head to Sioux Falls SD.
Southern Minnesota was boring, and I was minimally impressed with the most populous city in SD. I don't know if it's just because they can spread everything out there because there is such an abundance of land, or what? But Sioux Falls SD is so spread out it's ridiculous. It's like one giant suburb over and over again. We ate at a local brewery, and headed back to the hotel. In the morning, we shot by the food co-op, Natural Foods, for some road trip food. The cashier was from the Flint area, small world.
We then headed to Pine Ridge, SD because I had heard and read some things about the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Let me tell you that it's worse than I imagined. The counties that the reservation sits on are among the poorest counties in the country. 80% of residents are unemployed, 49% live below the poverty level, the per-capita income is roughly $6,000 a year. The population on Pine Ridge has among the shortest life expectancies
of any group in the Western Hemisphere: approximately 47 years for males and 52 years for females. The infant mortality rate is five times the United States national average, and the adolescent suicide rate is four times the United States national average. Members of the reservation suffer from a disproportionately high rate of poverty and alcoholism. They also have a serious problem with gangs.
Seeing Pine Ridge myself was a life altering experience. It makes me feel very lucky. We then headed up to the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Wounded Knee is the site of a bloody massacre by the US of the Lakota. We indiscriminately killed as many men, women, and children. We took their land, murdered their people, lied to them, and stole from them. Seeing the Cemetery at Wounded Knee was moving, not only because it was the site of a massacre, but also because there were several young girls selling dream catchers. Normally, I wouldn't care, but as Sarah put it, "my white guilt runs deep." So we purchased 2 dream catchers from the young girls, then went down to the visitor center, which contained an array of native art and newspaper clippings about Wounded Knee. It made me feel ashamed to be part of a country, and of a group of people who committed such crimes. The Lakota Sioux have maintained their integrity while undergoing such painful neglect, and disrespect from the white man. The US Supreme Court has acknowledged that the area of the Black Hills was taken unjustly by us, yet they have not returned the land to the Lakota. The Lakota turned down a payment of over 100 million dollars because they believe that being bought out would be selling out. They will not accept money, they will only accept their land back. It is still being disputed today.
to be continued....
