July 4, 1998 - Hardin - Lame Deer

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 0 Miles

TIME: 0 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 0 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Very hot and sunny for the entire day.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Good roads with good shoulder for the entire trip. They are well maintained and great compared to some of our roads.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: A few hills along the way but overall the terrain was very easy. However the heat that was encountered made it a very difficult day.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
Today we got up at 9:00 which was a great relief. I didn't have too much trouble getting up which I was surprised about since I really wanted more than 8 hours of sleep. I took my time packing up and then going to take a shower before loading up the van and getting everything that we needed for the day. I decided not to ride since I wanted to give my leg a rest for a few days. Brad, Anthony, and I first went to an Exxon where I got a juice for 50 cents and a 44 ounce slurpee for a buck. We then started and intended to pass by all of the riders for the first time but saw a supermarket and decided to stop and buy some food so that we could cook dinner for a few nights. We spent about 45 minutes there and bought lots of food including 48 packages of ramen soup. It was only a dollar for 8 packages so we figured that it was a good thing to buy since so many people like it. After buying all of the food that we needed and 7 cans of propane, we finally were on our way to find our riders. The first people that we saw were stopped at a local store fixing a flat tire that Tami had gotten due to the liner between the rim and the tube breaking. The tube got pinched on the spokes and popped in 4 places. We bought some more food for personal needs such as more candy and then drove on again passing the Little Bighorn Battlefield. We didn't see many of the riders so we figured that they had gone to the battlefield to see what was there. We continued on and only passed 5 more people on the way to Lame Deer where we turned and headed toward the Pow Wow where we thought that we were supposed to meet. We got there and found that there were many people and we had no idea of where to go. We had an announcer ask for our contact Richard Foote to come up to the front but he wasn't there but fortunately his wife was. She told us to go back to the Boys and Girls Club where we were supposed to meet. Finally we saw David and started to unload all of our gear so that people could take showers and get ready for the 6:00 dinner that was scheduled for us. I tried to connect to the Internet but because the club had multiple lines, I couldn't get a dial tone so I had to wait even longer to finally get on. Around 6:45 we finally were able to eat dinner which tasted much better than normal even though it was only spaghetti. However it had tons of meat which is very unusual for us along with some cake. After this we decided that we were going to go to the Pow Wow and watch the celebration. We arrived and began to watch the competition for the $1000 prize. Some of the costumes were great with eagle heads on sticks (which were actually real) and many other elaborate designs. Finally we sat right under the announcers box gaining the perfect place to watch from. A little while later, an eagle feather fell off of a costume and the dancing was immediately stopped. We had no idea what was going on and later found out that the feather was sacred so they had to do a special ceremony. Five traditional men dancers did a series of dances until they were finally able to pick up the feather and return it to the owner. It was interesting to see how much they respect this one feather. We later learned that they believe that it is just like a fallen soldier. They don't go on until it is picked up and saved. The dancing continued and they had an intertribal dance where everyone was able to dance (yes that means us too).(Picture52,Picture53) Everyone in Bike-Aid got up and danced the best we could which was very pathetic compared to the Indians. Another aspect that added to this was that we were surrounded by clouds that were full of lightening with flashes at least every 5 seconds. It lit up tons of the clouds making the background look incredible. Finally when this was over we went and looked around to see if we wanted to buy any food and some people bought Indian tacos or caramel apples. As we were eating, the wind picked up quickly and it felt like it was going to rain. 20 minutes later we had the first drops of rain which went away very soon. We went back into our teepees where we were to stay for the night trying to make sure that all of our gear didn't get too wet if it decided to rain. A few minutes later the rain stopped and I quickly threw on my shoes and shorts again since I had taken them off when I thought that I was going to be sleeping soon. We got out of the teepee once again and went back to the dance ring where we were able to see the older and more experienced dancers.(Picture54) We finally were able to go to bed around 1:30 after wishing Matt a happy birthday since it was now the next day.

TRIP ROUTE:
Get onto Frontage road South and follow until you must get onto I-90. Here get onto I-90 and follow until you get to the 212 Junction. Turn left off of off ramp and follow past Little Bighorn Battlefield (Custer's Last Stand). Follow until you get to Lame Deer.