Touring Dakota

We have officially moved into the tourist mode as we travel through the Dakotas. Medora North Dakota was our first destination. It is a very cute tourist trap in Western North Dakota. It reminds me a little bit of Sisters, Oregon. All the buildings are constructed in Old Western Style. Medora is famous for cowboys - the Cowboy Hall of Fame, a Cowboy play that runs all summer, and lots of Cowboys walking around. The plays don't start until next week, but a large group of cowboys were walking out of the theater when we walked by.....a meeting of the Herder's Association, I believe.

Medora is also famous for being the home of Theodore Roosevelt. He had two ranches in the area and because of his attachment to this beautiful country, he started the conservation movement in this nation and the national park system. We spent a couple of hours driving through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the evening. There were beautiful vistas of fascinating rock formations, prairie dog towns (they were all out of their holes looking and talking to us), wild horses, and buffalo. (We actually went by a lot more buffalo leavings - piles of it, than actual buffalo.)

We headed directly South this morning on Hwy 85. It goes on and on across the prairie - some rolling hills - a vast ocean of land stretching out to the horizon. The landscape is all dressed in green now - the color of early spring. The snow has been gone just two weeks. We saw lots of cattle in the fields, and a few herds of antelope. At one point I asked Paul if he knew if we had crossed the border from North Dakota to South Dakota yet. He checked the map, and discovered that we had actually been in South Dakota for about 50 miles.

At the end of the road, the Black Hills came into view. We stopped in Spear Fish, South Dakota.

This afternoon we took the scenic Spear Fish Canyon Drive. It was the first time I had felt sort of at home in the Dakotas. The landscape looked very Oregon like....lots of rock canyons covered with fir and pine trees, a lovely creek running by the road, and a water fall here and there. 

The road led to Deadwood, the infamous town where Wild Bill Hitchcock was shot and killed. They play this legend to the hilt. Historically there was a street of saloons, gambling and prostitution. In its modern form, it is casino(smoke filled) after casino - and more people than we had seen in one place on our entire trip through the Dakotas so far. After taking in some of the local color, we headed on back to Spear Fish for dinner and a quiet evening. We will be in this area for the next several days as this is where all the exciting things to see are in South Dakota. The family will becoming to join us on Monday.

Indian Tacos

Our last evening on the reservation involved one last feast. This time we had been promised Indian Tacos. In case you haven't guessed, Indian tacos have the same ingredients as other tacos, but the ingredients are the topping on a generous piece of fry bread....and the fry bread was in the largest pieces and the most tasty yet.  (Thank you Hilda and Jesse!)Paul and I had spent all afternoon preparing strawberry shortcake to share. We also had june berry pudding and the coconut cream pie! 

The dinner had been scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Indian time, but of course we didn't eat until 7:00 p.m. Meanwhile, at 5:00 p.m., the food pantry was reopened and a few more people came to receive food boxes. Also a team of interviewers came out to meet with some of the recipients of the food. By the time the interviewers arrived it was mostly Red Fox family members to be interviewed, which they were. The many children played in the field and on the slide and swings. Paul was drawn into a game of kickball, survived in one piece!

So the dinner was finally served. We stuffed ourselves again. Then we moved to the sanctuary for a short prayer/ recognition service. We were thanked numerous times and prayed over as many as well. Then we were presented with a number Indian craft items to remember our stay at Bdecan. We found it very difficult to say farewell to our friends and hoping that we can return in the future.  We were told that in the Dakota language there is no word for "good-bye." The parting expression is "I'll see you again." We shall deeply miss those we've come to know and continue to be grateful for our time with them.

We leave behind a twice mowed church yard, a cleaned-up play ground, two new closets (one as yet without a door.) and a newly moved coat rack......and some terrific sisters and brothers in Christ. We bring with us many momentos from our time on the reservation, some wonderful memories, and at least one wood tick that decided to tag along with us!

We headed out across the prairie early this morning. We found ourselves just outside of Bismark by lunch time.  We also stopped there at a car wash, and said farewell to the mud and bugs we had picked up during the last two weeks. We moved on to just outside of Modera on the Western part of North Dakota. It is warm here today. We are taking a break at the Cowboy Hotel, and just enjoyed washing ourselves off by shower for the first time in two weeks. It doesn't get much better then that! 

Opening the Food Pantry

Tuesday evening was food pantry evening. We have no idea what the communication system is on the reservation, but it appears to be very effective. The rule generally is that events start on "Indian Time," that is, not when the clock says to start, but when people show up. However, not so with the food pantry. On the dot of 5:00 p.m., there was a huge line ready and waiting to get their food boxes. We worked like mad for a little over an hour... running back and forth to the freezer in the church to grab frozen chicken and beef, restocking the shelves with the canned goods that were flying out of the room, ripping open boxes for more supplies, carrying boxes of food out to cars for people. In the first hour, we sent out about 70 boxes of food.

Things slowed down considerably the second hour, meaning we could keep up with the traffic a little bit. By closing time, we were out of many items (though we still have about 20 frozen chickens, and several cases of canned corn, and a few boxes of Rice Krispies! We didn't have much time to talk to people in all the frenzy and few bothered to say thank you. However, one woman followed me around for several minutes expressing her gratitude. She said, " I just want to thank you so much and to tell you what a difference you are making in this community." Her words made the whole afternoon worthwhile to me.

Following that two hours of giving out food to hungry people, Paul and I rewarded ourselves by driving over to the casino for the $6.00  all you can eat buffet. How fortunate we are to have more than enough food to eat!

The food pantry will be opening for two hours again this evening (Thursday). I'm assuming the huge crowds will be gone and only a few will dribble in. We may be surprised. However, I'm not sure how it will go tonight as much of the food is already gone and supplies have not been replentished. I'm really glad to not be the decision maker and to be the laky who just does as she is directed and watches.

I'm really sure, however, that there will be food aplenty over at the church following the food pantry's closing tonight. Our hosts are putting on one last feast for us. This time we will be treated to Indian Tacos and I'll describe those at another posting after I've tasted. Paul and I decided it was time for us to contribute to a feast, so we are buying ingredients to provide strawberry shortcake to the event. There should be about fifty people there, but over half will be young children, as usual. 

Feeding people and being abundantly fed..... that has been our experience here. We are sad to see it end and are already imagining returning someday.

Memorial Day Give Away

Memorial Day weekend on the "res" was just huge.... three days of feasting!

Saturday was graduation day at Warwick High School. We were invited by Bethany and Renell's families. It was a very sweet ceremony with twelve graduating seniors. They put together a power point presentation of each of the graduates from birth until now. We felt that be the end of it, we actually knew each one. After each was presented with their diploma, their families presented them with at least one star quilt. I have photos of each one of the quilts for the three whose graduation parties we attended. At the end of the ceremony, the graduates processed out to the drumming and chanting, and just about everybody in the gym lined up to congratulate them.

We then went to two parties. The first one was held at the church for Maressa, one of the salutatorians, and Rennell. It was a feast of heavy food, including fry bread. Then we went to the Spirit Lake Casino where there are rentable log cabins.... very nice ones, and had another party at one of the cabins overlooking the lake for Bethany. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day or setting. It was truly a great accomplishment to celebrate for these kids, many of whom have been brought up by extended family members, and have children of their own. All the girls whose parties we attended have children. I wonder if this is an unspoken requirement for high school graduation here? All of them are planning on attending the community college on the reservation in the fall.

Sunday morning was regular worship service. It is scheduled for 11:00 a.m., but it actually starts on Indian time.... closer to 12:oo. Not very many people came, so I was glad we were there. One of the members leads the services as they have no minister at this time. They did ask us to give some prayers and to introduce ourselves. Most of the hymns were from the Dakota language hymnbook, so at least we learned how to pronounce a little of the Dakota language. The worship service was followed as usual by lunch... soup, fry bread, and a couple of desserts.

Everyone left about 3:00 p.m. We made a run into town for some supplies, and spent the rest of the day quietly.

Monday, Memorial Day was just huge. We got up and did a little work on the closet building before people started arriving. It was pouring rain and the dirt roads were already becoming mud holes. Some how, the rain eased off when everyone had gathered and it was time to go over to the cemetery. Pastor Kevin from the Presbyterian Church in Devil's Lake gave a short prayer service. All weekend, people had been coming to clean and mow and weed in the cemetery, so the graves were looking really nice. At the end of the prayer service, people got into family groupings (actually, most of them are all related in some way.) and started putting gifts on the graves....food, candy, blankets, quilts..until nearly every grave was covered with gifts. Following that, Louis (the white Indian) began calling out people's names...to receive the gifts. I guess this is also a custom related to every funeral. 

We were very surprised to hear our name called and to have gifts offered to us. We got two baskets of food and candy and a star quilt! Our gifts came from the graves of Gertrude Red Fox, and Joan Red Fox. We were awestruck! These people do not have much money, probably because of the many gifts they are expected to give to others. This ceremony is call "The Give Away."

Following the "Give Away," we all retreated to the church, which was just packed with people... and lots of babies and little kids. And we had ANOTHER feast! This was the biggest feast of all...more fry bread, chicken, turkey, potatoes, other starchy, fatty dishes....and a whole table heavily laden with desserts. ( I selected the june berry pie and sauce.) 

After everyone had eaten more than they could hold and all the remaining food was sent off to those who are not able to get out, they all disappeared. Pastor Kevin stayed and talked with us for a couple of hours afterwards. The rain had come back full force and there was no incentive to go outside at all. Sleeping under our star quilt last night, I had my most peaceful night's sleep yet.

We're in Devil's Lake doing laundry, communication, and picking up more supplies, hopefully another door which we ordered last week. Tonight the food bank will be open and we will be helping with that. We are learning so much on the "res;" much more then we ever imagined and we feel we are fortunate to be so immersed in a different culture. 

Working on the Res

It's Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend. We've accomplished much this week! The church playground is weeded and the surrounding timbers that were in bad shape have been taken down. The churchyard and cemetery are mown. We had two lawn mowers going to make the work go more quickly - still it took over a day to mow. Much weeding has been done. Two closets are framed in and the sheet rocking is in process.  I've learn how to drill in sheet rock screws! 

We'd been warned about the wood ticks, but had been oblivious to them until yesterday, when they found us and we found them. They like to crawl on your clothes and under your clothes, on  your skin, and under your skin. After fighting them off all day yesterday, I was glad to do inside work today!

Yesterday was a food delivery for the food pantry. Four pick up loads of food suddenly arrived, along with about a dozen workers. We downloaded the food into the food pantry building and the church building. One whole load was boxes of frozen chickens and hamburger. We carted the heavy boxes into the church and stuffed all the meat that was possible into the freezers. There remained over two dozen boxes of frozen meat and other frozen food with no freezer space to put it. The food pantry won't be open for food distribution until next Tuesday, and we couldn't wait that long to get rid of the frozen stuff. Several people took a box or two to use or distribute. One member finally took all the rest and drove off into the evening to find people who needed/wanted it.

It was exhausting hauling heavy boxes all afternoon, after a morning's vigorous work around the church. I think if we kept doing this for awhile we'd really be in shape. My muscles are a little sore today. We'd heard there was a good buffet over at the Spirit Lake Casino, and decided to treat ourselves. We got a steak and shrimp buffet dinner for six dollars a piece. It was a treat!

After dinner we were offered a tour of the "Res" by our white Indian guide, Louis. We drove for miles and miles on the dirt roads, past the different communities, fields, lakes, and wildlife. Unfortunately the buffalo weren't out along the road so we missed them. Louis teaches carpentry at the Community College on the reservation. He showed us the school and his classroom/shop. It is very new with the latest equipment. It hasn't been long that community colleges have been located and available to Indian reservations. 

Louis' most thought provoking quote of the evening: "A reservation is really a refugee camp." We never thought about it that way, but see that this is true.

We ended the evening by driving Louis home since his truck was being used to deliver frozen meet, somewhere else. So we got to see the area where many of the church members live, and own much of the land around it. (It's the women in the family that own the property.) He says the house in which he lives is "Hilda's house" even though he paid for it.  He calls it "Red Feather Territory," because along that road live most of the members of the Red Feather clan. They all live in small houses by our standards, with several generations in each house. Sharon lives with ten or more grandchildren. Her sister, Hilda is Louis' wife. I asked Louis how many people lived with him. He wasn't sure. He said he thinks about seven right now, but it can be as many as eleven. Louis, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY,  feels that he has been blessed beyond imagination to have been able to live the life he has.  

Living on the Reservation

We made a really good choice on Sunday morning by deciding to attend Westminster Presbyterian Church in Devil's Lake. After the service we had a conversation with the minister, Kevin Kaufman, who told us that there is no Presbyterian Church in Warwick, which is where we were headed next. There is a Presbyterian Church in Tokio, however, and Kevin put all of our information together along with the information he received from the woman who we were to meet, and he sent us off another way. We drove out across the water...yes, the water. Devil's Lake has been growing bigger during the last several years and swallowing up much of the land around it. To get out to the Spirit Lake reservation (which was our destination) you have to drive over the levees and there is the lake, on either side of the roadway, without much shoulder. You can see fields and houses literally being swallowed by the lake.

We visited historic Ft. Totten on our way. It was there we learned a lot about the history of the area. The fort was once an army installation, and then at the beginning of the 20th century it became a school for the Indian children. It took me back to my days working at Chemawa. One of the old barracks has been converted to a charming inn, and we might go back and stay there one night during the next couple weeks.

Many thanks to Pastor Kevin's guidance, we found our way to Bdcaen Presbyterian Church in Tokio. The church was started in 1883. The old structure is still standing and is now used for a food bank. Next to it is a structure build 6 years ago by the Presbyterian Church of Fargo, N.D.

It is a struggling congregation, run mostly by one family, whose family gave the land for the church. Most of the members are women with huge families to support on not much income. There is much work that needs doing around the church itself and also in some of the homes. There are several church work parties from all over the country that are coming this summer. We two are about the first of the volunteers. 

I have taken on the yardwork tasks. There is a great deal of property, which all needs mowing and weeding. There is also a cemetary across the road that needs some mowing. The congregation has a tradition of gathering on Memorial Day to fix up the graves and have a celebration. I'm hoping I'll have things looking good by then. Paul is working on some tougher projects.... fixing up a playground and building some closets in the church.

We literally are out in the middle of nowhere... these were the words of one of our hosts. There is now cell phone or internet reception, no T. V. We really do have to take a break and be away from it all! We are actually living in the church building. We sleep in the sanctuary on air mattresses, and use the kitchen and bathroom facilities. It is actually quite comfortable and cozy. There is a wildlife sanctuary just down the road with tons of interesting birds. Very few people live near us. It is very quiet, except for the wind which howls all the time! 

Every evening our hosts, the main family of the church visits us. They are seeing after our needs and gathering the tools we need to do the work. They are teaching us a great deal as well. We have been invited to weekend celebrations....a graduation, and party, and the memorial day event. 

Every other day or so, we will be coming into town (Devil's Lake) to get supplies and to check in with the rest of the world.

 

Exploring North Dakota

The wind blows coldly across the North Dakota prairie in May! This morning in Fargo dawned brilliant and cold. It felt like the middle of January for these two Oregonians. The natives, however, wore shirt sleeves as we took pains to bundle up! After a shopping excursion to find a few more articles of warm clothing, we headed out across the prairie, driving north, along the Red River.

We followed the railroad, and trains, and grain elevators, all the way to Grand Forks, where we stopped for lunch and to stretch our legs at a lovely park in the center of town. Everything in Grand Forks seems brand new and well tended. Perhaps this is related to the flood of 1997 when 90 per cent of the population was evacuated, the largest evacuation of an American city since the Civil War. We walked along a creek. The leaves are just starting to burst out on the trees there. Gold Finches and Red Wing Black Birds flitted in and out of the branches.

We then turned westward, away from the Red River Valley, heading down route 2. There is no traffic in North Dakota. The speed limit is 75 miles an hour. The roads go straight through the countryside. It is easy to find your way. The wind was still very strong, though things had warmed a bit. We noticed one huge wind turbine spinning around in the wind and wondered why North Dakota couldn't invest in more wind and solar energy production. There was so much of both all around us today.

About 3:00 p.m. we arrived at Devil's Lake. This is the largest lake, actually a series of lakes in the state. The town of Devil's Lake we found delightful and we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the historic district. This is Ramsey County. And there is a Ramsey Drug Store, a Ramsey Photography Store, and a Ramsey Bank. Hmmm, I need to try to figure out who the Ramseys are here. There is a church on every corner, a post office museum, lots of grain

 elevators and railroad tracks, the North Dakota School for the Deaf, and North Dakota State University...all in a little town of 7,200. We had dinner at the Main Street Cafe....soup bar and salad...quite satisfying, and finished off the day at the cinema seeing "Demons and Angels."

As we walked out of the theater at 9:30 p.m., it was still fairly light...we must be farther north than we usually are. The wind has died down at last and the evening most is pleasant.

On the Way to Fargo

Our rental car turned out to be a silver Hundai Sonata! That's what we drive at home. So...as long as we're in the car, we feel at home.

It took about four hours to drive across Minnesota. The day started out clear and warm. We were so excited and we put on our summer clothes. From I-94 the view is mostly of fields and farms and silos...lots of them, and often a strip mall shopping center with store front you would find anywhere in the country.

We drove toward ever darkening skies. The wind picked up as we went. By the time we were approaching Fargo, we were in a driving, cold rain storm. We were glad to get off the road and take refuge in a warm dry room at the Motel 6. However, we were also ready to be out and about. 

We found we were in luck, in that one of the major tourist attractions of Fargo, North Dakota, is the Roger Maris museum and we are staying just a few block from it. He was a native of Fargo and broke Babe Ruth's home run record by hitting 61 home runs in 1961. So we learned a little more about baseball this afternoon, in rainy Fargo. The day is still young, who knows what else may be in store?

Day One

It's still hard to believe the Sabbatical has now begun! The first day couldn't have gone more smoothly. Don Ruff graciously offered to take us to the airport, and showed up 45 minutes early so we wouldn't be worried about the time. We also will forever be thankful that he agreed to look after our sour dough starter for two months without any warning. Happy Birthday Don!

We had no sooner gotten through airport security screening and settled in to wait our flight with Starbuck's cups in hand, when Scott and Frank Craft appeared. It turns out they were headed to St. Louis, but on the same flight to Seattle with us...and we were in row 11 and they were in row 12! So our time at the Portland airport and our flight to Seattle was made very enjoyable with such good company.

We went right from our plane in Seattle to board our plane to Minneapolis. We arrived in Minneapolis ahead of time. The weather is much the same here as in Portland when we left, only a little less rainy, and 59 degrees. The air is cool and refreshing after a day of stale airplane air.  We found a taxi and got to the Travelodge.

Tomorrow we'll get our car and head West through Minnesota most of the day. We are so excited to be off on this great adventure.