Fwd: [bike] partings

Silly me, I forgot to send this out. This is from 3 days ago.

------------------------------------------

The day after the Sweat Lodge, we rode through the Black Hills and into Rapid City. Seager was waiting on the street corner for us when Shawn drove past. Shawn is a super bike enthusiast. He is a bit obsessed about fixing bikes. When he saw our loaded bikes, he immediately invited us over to his house, especially because he saw that my front brake wasn't perfect, and he insisted that he fix it. Shawn offered us full bicycle facilities: shower, laundry, bike fixing, dinner. His garage was a full-fleged bike shop, with over 200 bike frames. The next day, he brought us to a diner for breakfast, and then a hike in the Black Hills. We nicknamed him the "bike whisperer" because he knew EVERYTHING about bikes.

 

After several days of crazy adventures, we finally got some "normal" days. We passed the Badlands and the Pine Ridge Reservation. We ended up at a small town called Wood the day before, where we spent a pretty depressing night. Seager had to leave us, possibly for good. His landlord back in Eugene decided to evict him and his wife from their residence (for no reason). There are some unkind people in this world. The next morning Shawn came from Rapid City to pick him up, and Seager flew back to Oregon. But Shawn also was so kind to bring us care packages, and did some bike maintanance for us while he saw us again.

 

Yesterday we rode from Wood to Winner, SD--a short day because of the Seager situation. We took showers at the local pool and cooked dinner at the park. As we were sitting at the park, baseball practice ended for several kids, and their parents came up to us and asked about our trip. After a long conversation, they invited us to see Harry Potter at the drive-in theater that night. Of course! we agreed. They treated us to concessions and we stayed up very late watching the new Harry Potter movie. We camped out at the drive in theater, and in the morning, the same parents brought us to breakfast before we headed off.

 

What have we done to make people treat us so nicely???

 

Love,

MinWah

[bike] holy moly

The best thing about biking across the country is that you never know
what's going to happen when you wake up in the morning. This trip is
getting wilder and wilder each day!

We started biking at 5 am from Alzada, MT to beat the hot weather.
Within three hours, we have left MT, passed through Wyoming, and
entered South Dakota.

We got to Nisland, SD before noon. We ran into a lady outside the
cafe, and after we told her what we were doing, she immediately gave
us 20 dollars! So we used the money to sit down at the cafe and buy
ourselves a nice lunch. A couple walked in soon after and sat at the
table next to us. We all started talking: they were ranchers that
lived not too far away. Before we know it, they invited us to stay at
their ranch that night; they said that way we didn't have to pitch a
tent and fight with the mosquitos.

What an adventure the ranch was. We all climbed in Judy's SUV and they
gave us an entire tour of the ranch. They showed us their cows, how
they bale hay, and irrigate the farm land. We even helped them dig out
irrigation ditches. After all that, they let us take their four
wheeler out for a joy ride. I drove the four wheeler around the
fields, got lost several times, but always managed to get myself back
to the dirt road. I felt like I was at an amusement park.

The next day we were exhausted, so we had a short bike ride to Bear
Butte Campground, then hiked up Bear Butte. Deacon Joe had recommended
we hike it. The mountain is a sacred place for the Plains Indians.
They held tribal council meetings there in the old days, and even now
all the Indians still fast and pray there.

That afternoon, an Indian drove by our campsite. He sat down by the
lake, had a smoke, then said "Hi" to us. He drove away, and came back
an hour and a half later. He said: "The four of you make a great
group. This group has a very special aura. I can feel it." He then
invited us to a Sweat Lodge that night. "Cool, a Sweat Lodge," we all
thought.

That night, the Sweat Lodge was the most powerful experience I've ever
had. We all entered into a dome built with sticks and covered in
layers of blankets. The Indians built a fire to heat up the rocks, and
when the ceremony started, they took the rocks inside and closed the
door. The Sweat Lodge is a place where Indians pray, and speak their
words to the Creator. An Elder leads the ceremony. As we all sat in
the dark, sweating, they sang various Indian songs, and banged on
their drums. To make it hotter, they added water to the rocks. We all
had a chance to say our prayers. There were several rounds of
sweating; the sweat lasted for about an hour and a half.

It's so hard to sum up all the crazy rush of feelings and emotions!

for whether we are white or copper skinned

"Lame Deer (name of a small town) is a dangerous place for three young women." "The reservation is really rough." "I wouldn't stay at Lame Deer if I were biking through." This is the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation from what we have heard about from asking the locals in Montana. Many people advised us not to stay there. We decided to take our chances, especially since Seager was a male and he could protect us.

 

As we ride into Lame Deer, the sight is new to me: trailer parks, beer bottles along the side of the road, cars with fenders hanging off, cars driving by with rusty engines.

 

Deacon Joe is white. The first name that the Indians gave him was "Eat and Run". He kindly allows us to stay on the lawn outside his Catholic Church. He tells us that it is no trouble at all, but warns us of his many grandchildren running around. Taleeah comes running out the door. She is dark-colored. "There's one of them!" exclaims Deacon Joe. She likes to play peek-a-boo and run around in circles with her own stroller in her hands. Her mouth is smeared in chocolate frosting. 

 

As we were lying in the hot hot sun outside the church, Deacon Joe invites us to relax inside, and offers us a room to stay in for the night. His big family soon arrives for dinner at the church. All 15 of them are dark-skinned. We see that his wife is a Crow Indian. They all welcome us to the Cheyenne Indian Reservation and invite us to eat dinner with them: heaps of potato salad, hot dogs, steak, jello, corn, and chocolate cake.

 

After dinner, Deacon Joe shows us his church. The space is covered with extraordinary Indian art. The chairs are the vibrant colors of the Cheyenne culture. In front of the prayer room is a handcrafted miniature teepee. The paintings of Jesus and Madonna on the wall depict an Indian Jesus and Cheyennese Madonna. I learned a lot about the spirit of the Cheyenne Indians that night as we all sat in his church, him telling stories of the Indians.

 

Later that night we join him and his big family at the local park for the huge July 4th fireworks display. It is not like the crowds in the city. It is like a family gathering for everyone in town. Suddenly, on the loudspeaker is an announcement: "We have 4 bikers traveling across the country with us here today. Join us in welcoming them to Northern Cheyenne!" Many cars honk. Then more cars honk as excitement for the fireworks builds, the time is getting closer and closer!

 

After the wonderful fireworks display, we all go back to the church. The grandsons are very hyper at the prospect of launching their own fireworks. They leap on each other's backs in excitement. I befriend his grandsons, and we all launch fireworks together in the grass behind the church. One of his grandson's name is Minrod. We laugh that MinWah and Minrod might be related. We even have our hair parted in the same way.

 

I wish I could take those Cheyenne Indians back home with me! 

[bike] what divide by what?

Hurray! We have crossed the Continental Divide!! What a day to get over those mountains!

 

I guess I'll start from where I left off at Missoula. Geraldine (the lovely woman who let us stay over: she's a bike tourer herself) bid us farewell. We got a late start from her house because we were still getting used to the time change...we are in mountain time now. At some point we stopped at a gas station because Karen broke 1000 miles!! We celebrated with ice cream. I don't know how many miles they rode before Portland...so I don't know how many miles I've ridden.

 

We stayed overnight at a ranch town called Ovando. It looked exactly like a town from the 1800s: it had saloons and a small store. We got a chance to visit the museum to see how people out in the rural/ranch/rodeo towns of Montana lived. We camped next to the museum: nice except for the lots of MOSQUITOS!

 

Next day we biked to the Continental Divide! The entire way was rolling hills; the uphills were steep, and the downhills weren't very satisfying because they weren't very steep and we had a head wind. The head wind got stronger during the day; I was so frustrated going at 7 miles an hour on flat land...Even worse was that we had climb over McDonald Mountain Pass to get to the Divide line. That meant climbing a steep hill, with a strong headwind, after 53 miles of biking already done that day. I had to give my legs and my bike a lot of encouragement to get up to the top. But I did it! without walking my bike and only one stop to take a short breath. I was proud of myself.

 

We camped on the Continental Divide where there were also a lot of mosquitos. Today we biked only 50 miles from the Divide to Townsend, via big city Helena. The first miles down from the Pass was super fast. I LOVE downhills!! But it was such a hard 50 miles afterward: the weather was sweltering hot (100?) and the strong head wind did not go away. I felt like a bull, trying to barrage my way through. The miles went by very slowly, so slowly I stopped trying to count down the miles. Now I'm exhausted, but glad that this library is airconditioned! Woohoo!

 

why is Montana so big?

minwah 

 

 

[bike] continued

From Pomeroy we headed through Clarkston and Lewiston into Idaho. We picked up a huge box of unopened fruit snacks that were dumped on the side of the road. After sixty odd miles, we arrived at Lenore, Idaho where we spent the night. We found a camp site off a gravel road next to the train tracks at Lenore. The only thing in that town was a post office.

The next day we continued along Route 12 to Lowell. I have a newfound respect for Idaho...the mountains,hills, trees, and rivers were unlike anything found on the east coast. Along the way there were a lot of historic signs that told you about the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the native Americans that used to live there. That night, we stayed up to wait for Ariel to come back! Her family drove her out to Lowell and they brought lots and lots of food (leftover from her grandfather's funeral party): Barbeque pork, spicy hot dogs and shrimp, jello...etc. We pigged out right before we went to sleep.

Then we continued along to climb over those mountains: the next day we climbed a steady uphill to Powell, where we stayed at a campground. Finally today, we got over the mountains through Lolo Indian Pass. We were so excited at the top of Lolo Pass because 1) we didn't have to climb anymore 2) there was free hot chocolate and tea! It was so cold at the top, it was sleeting, snowing, and raining. Brr...

We came down the pass and ended up in Missoula, Montana today. On our way into the city, we bumped into a random woman on her bike at an intersection. And just like that, she offered us her house for the night. She had done a lot of touring before, so she knew that we were looking for a place to stay. Montana is so wonderful!

I posted new photos at teamroadshow.com!

-MinWah

[bike] destination: montana

When I said Pomeroy, Oregon, I actually meant Washington. We crossed the border so many times I was confused. We actually had an interesting night in Pomeroy. We talked to the Sheriff and he let us stay in the city park. At the park, some people were holding a party, and we got there just in time when the party ended, so they gave us a huge stack of leftover BBQ ribs, German cake, and apple and peach pies. mmmm. We slept under a small gazebo, but in the middle of the night, the sprinklers came on! So at 2 in the morning, we scrambled to saved our stuff from getting wet: one of us stood on a pot over the sprinkler, while the others moved our stuff to the sidewalk. It was a funny sight.  

 

We have now passed through Idaho, and into Missoula, Montana. Idaho was such a beauty. The desert changed into the forest, and the ride was absolutely gorgeous. We biked along the Clearwater River, and over the Lolo Indian Pass. Our route from Lewiston, Idaho to Missoula was a historic Lewis and Clark trail...

 

have to continue later, must get off the internet

 

-MinWah

ida-what?

Hello once again!

 

We are now in Pomeroy, Oregon. By tomorrow, we'll be in IdaHO!! Since Umatilla, we have had some adventures. We stayed at Hat Rock State Park with an old man who we have nicknamed "Wacko". We didn't want to pay for the campground there, so we asked him if we could stay in his front lawn. He talked, and talked, and talked, and went off on a lot of tangents. It was less of a conversation between us, but more of him just going off about things. But he was nice enough to let us stay there.

 

The next day we woke up before 5 am to beat the heat. It got up to over 90 degrees. We rode through Touche (prounounced Too-shee, Talia: not two-shay) There was a big store there so we got some water and continued through Walla Walla (where we had lunch) and finally ended our day at the bottom of a long downhill in Waitsburg. As we were picking up groceries, we met an old man named Roger who overheard us talking about finding a place to stay, and he offered us his lawn. He and his wife, Laura were the nicest people I've ever met!

 

They took us to the local swimming pool, then Karen, Seager, and I were craving burgers (protein!) so we treated ourselves to a huge sub and lots of mini-burgers. Then we went back to Laura and George's place and they had baked strawberry shortcakes for us. They even served it on their nice china that they bought in Europe (they also served us drinks in Murano glass, for those of you who know what I mean). We all talked a lot about our families and traveling. Finally, we were tired and they offered us their basement to sleep for the night. In the morning they cooked us a wonderful breakfast (oatmeal, toast, fresh fruit) before we headed out.

 

You should visit teamroadshow.com for more stories. There is just too much to talk about!

 

Love,

MinWah