Reznjun

having a good weekend breaks the monotony of the routine. i had a good getaway. only downer about the open road is having road construction going on. lotsa roads need work. i remember them saying the stimulus money was going fix them.

i got to camp at the lake where they said nankwe was when she had her vision. i stayed there for two nights. it was a nice campground. the first night was real windy. it sprung the tent stakes. no big deal except the next night it rained all night. the tent sagged from the wind stretching it all around. this caused it to leak. every now and then i would have a rain drop fall on me. i see why they stopped water torture. i would have signed any paper after awhile. the hostess lady brought coffee over to our camp the first morning. that was a treat. she was real nice. we had some good conversations over the course of our stay. one hot afternoon she brought bottles of cold water to us. that was one neat lady.

they had lotsa dancers at the traditional pow wow. i enjoyed watching them dance. they had a grass dance special. it was worth sitting thru the long winded speeches. i think they should leave all the talking out of pow wows. just let them sing and dance. one night of pow wow food convinced me to eat elsewhere. i had what they called a sioux dog. it was fry bread that was kinda raw inside covering a half cooked hot dog. i ate at the buffet at a casino next day. i scored two tshirts. one for joining the walk sponsored by the diabetes prevention program and one i bought for 10 bucks. you cant find tees for that price. it was made by local artists. it said ‘my home is turtle island’.

i went on a tour of the old fort site. i imagine that is where the soldiers came from who were killing off the indians at the time of nankwe. the guide took us into all the buildings.  one part outside the fort  had some teepees. this drew a few stupid comments about indians. back in my militant days i would have responded. but i know that does little good. best to let ignorant people stay ignorant. i took a few pictures. i also bought two strikers made at the blacksmith shop. got them for 5 bucks apiece.

after i left the pow wow i headed across the back roads of south dakota. it was a good drive. there were lakes everywhere. they had gotten 3 inches of rain before we got there so water was everywhere. so were many water fowl. never seen so many. i headed south to drive along the missouri river. it was wide because of the dam down stream. it was a scenic drive. i stopped at a museum along the river that was  good. it took over an hour to get thru it.

i checked out 7 casinos in the 4 days on the road. i guess you say i supported the local economies. the indians working there always checked us out. they probably knew we werent locals. the broasted chicken at winna vegas was the best meal of the trip. alot better than the sioux dog.

on the last leg of the trip i stopped at waubonsie state park. i spoke with a park ranger there. i asked about wabansi. he said that he had a tree burial. he was later moved to where he lived along a creek. he was buried there. i will contact the land owner later to see if i can visit the site. i have stood on many sites where potawatomis had their villages. i like to retrace our history. it is just an interest of mine. i know where we are, i like to see where we came from.

i got home tired from my trip. i slept for 9 hours. that is the longest i have slept in awhile. i covered alot of ground in the four days i was gone. sure enjoyed a good weekend. now back to the routine…..