Hospitality

Back in Cody again!  We spent one more night at Pretty Eagle Elementary, then headed east to the McCleary Ranch for breakfast and cuddling some baby farm animals.  THANK YOU, Mrs. McCleary, Katie and Austin!

 

(Q: What do you get when 25 people sleep in the same room?  A: Rainbow worms!)

Afterwards, we headed through some pretty massive flooding to Crow Agency in order to visit the Battle of Little Bighorn National Monument.  The wind howled and the rain fell, so we mostly kept to the visitor’s center (I’ve been up to Last Stand Hill many times before, so I felt decent skipping out on a soggy journey).  We listened to Steve Adelson’s battle talk (totally riveting!) and that was followed up by talks from Burdeck and Noel Two Leggins.  We made our last stop on the Crow Reservation at Putz’ Trading Post for buffalo burgers and Indian tacos before heading back to the Rising Star Ranch.

Laura’s parents graciously hosted a fantastic barbeque with all the best fixin’s, and even some twinkly lights in the trees!

 

(The gang gets cozy….thank goodness the rain stopped!!)

I can’t lie – one of the best parts of today was the very very end, where I got to grab a shower and sleep in my very own tent by my very own self.  Tomorrow we’re off for our first field session, so stay tuned!

 

(After storm light on Carter Mountain, Bear With White-Tipped Fur.)

MOIST-ure

The second day on the Crow Reservation made for the fourth consecutive day of rain…  but that never stopped a crew of archaeologists-in-the-making!  We talked to the students at Pretty Eagle Elementary school during breakfast (we’ve been sleeping in their community room), then headed over to Ft. Smith to check out Yellowtail Dam.

Being at the dam always gets me a little pissed off at politics, so I was glad we followed it up by meeting Kelly’s sister Tanya who brought us to Pretty Eagle Point, the grave site of Chief Pretty Eagle, whose remains were repatriated to the Crow Nation in 1990.  The view is spectacular (usually), and being there helps me relax.

 

(A soggy Becca stands in front of a mist-shrouded view of Bighorn Canyon.)

Today I felt quite wound up – as though I needed to finish what I was doing so I could move on and do something else, but whatever could that something else be?  After Pretty Eagle Point I calmed down and tried to get back to the present….which was rain-soaked.

 

(The crew listens to Tanya talk about Chief Pretty Eagle….in the rain!)

In the afternoon we headed back to Pretty Eagle School and got a very special treat.  The upper grade students showed us Crow hand games and the round dance!  I didn’t really get it, but it was still fun to see the kids so pumped up.

AND FOR DINNER, we had Chef Willy’s famous Indian tacos!  Burdeck and Noel Two Leggins, as well as a bunch of Kelly’s family and friends came to join us for dinner.

 

(A table full of tacos!)

A long day + a belly full of friend food = complete contentment!

5/19/2011

Elias Goes Ahead tells the story:

When Chief Plenty Coups was nine years old, he visited Black Butte, Montana and received a vision.  He would live to see the white men come, and he would live through their arrival.  He would be protected by the Little People and by the chickadee.  In his youth the eagle would give him wisdom, and then so would the mountain lion.

(The gathering room of Plenty Coups’ home.  A bust of Plenty Coups, rocking chairs representing the places of honor for past storytellers, and the head of a buffalo that fed 800 people in 1998.)

Plenty Coups was known as a great orator.  In 1921 Plenty Coups went to Arlington, Virginia and visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  In an unanticipated act, he went up to the Tomb, laid his war bonnet upon the grave marker, and gave a speech to the audience in Crow.  He spoke no English but an interpreter came with him everywhere.

After visiting Mt. Vernon, Plenty Coups was inspired to create a similar place.  He would build himself a house that would be both a home for his family and a gathering place for everyone who would come.  Decades later, his vision is still coming true at the Chief Plenty Coups State Park, where people from around the world gather to learn about the life of  the “chief of chiefs” and about the Crow Nation.

(The view of Crow country from the second story of Plenty Coups’ home.)

Into Cowboy Country... the End of the Road!

What impresses me the most about driving through Wyoming is the intense barrenness of the countryside.  It’s not to say there’s nothing going on, but the goings on don’t involve a lot of people or development.  Just miles and miles of cattle ranches and oil rigs….and nothing else.  There’s so much Nothing that the Nothing becomes Something.  The drive begins to feel like a race back to civilization before the Nothing swallows me up.

We successfully arrived in Cody today and linked up with the students from Memphis and St. Cloud.  I haven’t met the St. Cloud folks yet but their tents are pitched next to ours in our very favorite Ponderosa Campground.

Driving through the Bighorns was a dicey operation this year – driving through a rain storm which became flurries as we approached the mountain pass.  There’s still a lot of snow on the ground – the drifts were unbelievable for late May!

  

(Katie is a whopping 6 feet tall!)

Had a relaxing sit-down dinner with Katie and one of the older students – and it finally felt like I wasn’t moving at 75 mph.  Had me some buffalo – there’s lots to come by around here!

 

(It felt wrong not to have one shot of Devils Tower…)

It's a Wide State

Day Two of our westward migration went along with minimal bumps!  I met four Iowa farmers at the Onawa McDonald’s who have been watching our troop of students mosey on through the past couple of years – they had questions about what we do and it was a great reminder that we are officially in Small-Town-America!  Our first pit stop of the day was in Mitchell to visit Cabelas.

 

(I just like visiting all my stuffed buddies.)

I generally like driving through Lakota country (just to see if I can pronounce the names), but this time it was specially entertaining because of Katie’s and my own Lakota place names project we just finished up for Doug’s class.  On the way from Mitchell to Wall, we had a sub-emergency involving fast winds and a busted Jeep top – nothing a little rope and duct tape can’t fix!

 

(A student partakes in the Walliest of Wall Drug meals: free ice water, five cent coffee, and a hand made donut.)

We eventually made it to Devil’s Tower National Monument (the nation’s first!).  We fit in a short hike before the light officially left us, and grilled some hot dogs in the dark.

 

(Moonrise over my lovely palace.)

I am exhausted!

Blue Lake, Grey Sky

After thirteen hours on the road (thanks to a bizarre and lengthy detour just west of Des Moines) we arrived in the bustling metropolis of Onawa, IA, home of the lovely Blue Lake KOA (and my favorite KOA owners, Martha and Linda).  The rain in Indiana/Illinois was a big let-down, but at least I know that the bins in the back of my pickup are waterproof. 

 (One student contemplates Blue Lake, and questions why some RV owners felt the need to bring along potted plants?)

I almost forgot one field school student back at the Memorial Union parking lot (for future reference, we are a group of ten, not nine!) and fortunately she called to say she was very soggy and lost just as the caravan was pulling out of the lot.  The students did well with the long haul, but truthfully I was not sorry that they opted out of the traditional group dinner at the Country Kitchen (home of the infamous broasted chicken).

Stopped for lunch at the WORLD’S LARGEST TRUCK STOP!   

 (Not larger than the average Becca!) 

We arrived just after a couple busses full of pre-teen sized church groups: I was deterred from Taco Bell by a line of 30+ people.

The wind mills in Iowa are space age and surreal.

I am pleasantly surprised to find my nervous/anxious feeling left my stomach just as soon as we hit the road.

Speaking of hitting things, we are hitting the road again at 7 am sharp so I will hit the hay.

TESTING....TESTING...TESTING....

T-minus twenty hours to lift off!  So far I have packed only the essentials (namely, my yarn basket).  Just trying to get this blog up and hobbling along before we depart for All Points West.

R