October 16th, Day 7
Soft rose skies woke me up with a kiss and enough visual stimulus to paint a smile on my face. But it was still much too cold to climb out from my covers, so I closed my eyes.
I blinked, and two hours flashed by. By now the sun was up, the birds were singing and darting around overhead, and a boyscout troop had assembled a couple hundred yards away.
Perched up in a pair of trees, I dropped out of my hammock, and rose up into a full sun salutation. Somewhere in between a yawn and a roar, I bellowed out my morning tidings.
The sun was shining, and a light breeze rolled across my skin. Surprisingly, I wasn’t that sore. A couple extra stretches never hurt though. I did a little downward dog, and rose up as a warrior. Then I twisted from side to side, and touched my toes a couple of times. Within twenty minutes, I was back to floating like a butterfly.
I had an idea too! …As well as all the supplies needed to make it happen.
The concept was simple. Thousands of cars would be passing me as I rode up to Standing Rock. They’d see me truck’n along, out in the middle of nowhere, and probably wonder what I was up to.
My adventure was all about bringing awareness to Standing Rock, so I thought I'd clue the passing traffic into what I was up to. I'd harness the power of the almighty hashtag, and then make myself a "#No Dapl" flag, as well as a flag that read, "#The Standing Rock Bike Tour".
After using a massive stump to paint both of the flags, I looked for a sturdy branch to hang them from. Then, utilizing my pocket knife and some hemp, I tied everything together.
Mounting the flags was a bit of a challenge, and took a bit more time that I would have liked, but what could I do? With all the bungee’s I was playing with, I might as well been a yarn covered kitten on catnip.
After packing my bags, I somehow managed to erect the flag. All I had to do was film a quick video blog, and then I was set to go.
Today’s video was mainly about the flags. I wanted to introduce people to the idea of going on “Prayer Rides”. These events consisted of getting bikers together, to go on group rides. Everyone would have a flag that read like a protest sign, and then we would circle around government building and high traffic areas, promoting our message.
This way, we could voice our concerns to the masses, without ever having to grapple with the mainstream media. Without having to shout, we could get the truth out in plain sight, and hopefully educate some people.
I also talked about an encounter I had last night at a fast food restaurant in Greely. You see, I was leaving Wendy’s after a quick bite to eat, and I saw an old man unlocking his bike.
I start fiddling with my lock a couple feet away, and he pipes up, “Where ya headed?”
“Standing Rock,” I replied, with my habitual smile.
“Oh” he grunted. “So you’re going up to protest with all them Indians are ya?”
“Uh, yea. I’m going up there to see if I can help.” I cautiously replied.
“So you think we should just take the Muslim’s oil instead?” he brashly retorted.
“Umm, actually, we should all just ride bikes. But since that’s not always practical, we should be researching new fuel alternatives like biodiesel. I think I get where you’re coming from though- we invaded Iraq and much of the Middle East for oil. Tons of people died because of it, and it makes sense to avoid all of that, by just drilling here. What you gotta know though, is that this oil isn’t even going to go to U.S. citizens.
Energy Transfer Partners’ plan is to fracture the earth, to obtain crude oil from the Baken Tar Sands in North Dakota. Then, after it crosses hundreds of waterways, including the Mississippi and Missouri River, it'll get shipped to a refining plant in Illinois.
Assuming it doesn't all spill into our nation's rivers, lakes, and aquifers, they’re going to put it on the market, and sell it to the highest bidder. Whether it ends up in China, Japan, Germany, or the Gulf of Mexico is somewhat irrelevant. What matters, is that American soil in being put in jeopardy, for the financial benefit of a handful of CEO's and shareholders. (The Intercept)
You see in 1975, a bill was passed that banned the US from exporting its oil. But on December 12, 2015 a 887 page bill was passed that snuck in a little passage reversing this ban, creating a loophole that made all of this “legal”. (The Daily Haze)
Of course “legal” isn’t always the same thing as being moral, especially when gold becomes your god. “
By this time, the old man had rolled off in a bitter exodus. I was just ranting at the wind now.
I finished up the video and returned to my bike. I had a hundred more miles to go today- at least that was the plan. By the time I rolled out thirty of those miles, Grover, Colorado sprung up from the horizon.
I took a step back in time when I entered the town’s quaint, little corner store. From the wooden barrels of apples in the entrance, to the red and white plaid wallpaper, I had a feeling that this store hadn’t changed a dime since Teddy Roosevelt was president.
The clerk was friendly, and the food was fine. The fact that my tire was flat was less appealing. Luckily, I had Goo in the tubes, and in theory, should have be able to just pump it up, and cruise on out.
I did a quick test run in the parking lot, and surprisingly, the goo seemed to be holding up. I was still paranoid that it’d spring another leak, but continued on anyway.
Sure enough, two or three miles down the road I was back to riding on rims. Endless waves of wind barreled over me as I scrambled to find my pump. When at last I found it, my heart sank.
My pump was broke in two.
I would say “middle of nowhere” was a good cross section to pin point my location. Lost in an ocean of incessant wind, on a boat with no sail, I felt a bit helpless.
“Come on God, please help me fix this!” I prayed in desperation.
I took a second to breathe, updated my blog, then prepared myself to tackle the challenge.
My pump wasn’t actually broken- it had just fallen apart. Anyone with a clear head could see that.
Once I screwed one piece into the other, and tightened a gasket, I was set. I still had to wrestle a cold rubber tire to get everything fixed up, but I knew it was included in the price of the adventure.
Eventually, all my grappling paid off, and I was able to get back on the road. Now I just had to pray that everything would hold up.
As mile markers disappeared behind me, so did my worries. After a couple miles, avoiding a flat was the furthest thing from my mind- I was more concerned with settling into a cadence than anything.
There wasn’t much to the landscape except long expanses of yellow and green prairie grass, so I tried to make the best of it, and engaged in a moving meditation.
If I could forget about time, and ease into a trance, I could blast past all this nothingness. Yet, as I dove deeper in thought, all I wanted to do was embrace the “nothingness”.
It was a paradox- but that was par for the course.
As always, the sunset changed everything. With its long onset, the light blue prairie sky collided with soft billowing clouds, forming gentle pink and purple explosions.
A trail of dust kicked up behind me, and a barbed wire fence ran along both sides of the road. Off in the distance, a band of horses grazed. While most of them were caught up in chewing, one in particular seemed to be staring straight at me.
I locked eyes with the massive creature, and watched it, watch me. The black and white horse was powerfully built, yet had deep, soulful eyes. Without saying a word, I knew he was wise; he had been listening.
I rolled past him for a brief moment. Then he passed me.
His thunderous hoofs tore through the loose dirt, and alerted his friends. Then, they too came barreling towards me. As we raced along the fence line, excitement poured into our veins, and pounded in our hearts. For a brief moment in time, we were free; free to run wild again!
Yet nothing lasts forever. Just like the sunset, my mystical run with these horses had come to an end, and I rode off alone, into the dark night. The memory however, would last a lifetime.
I never would have guessed that Wyoming would be capable of unleashing such a profoundly majestic experience, but apparently, I had to give her more credit. Magic ran wild out here; I just had to look around.
As I scanned the dark featureless horizon, I kept an eye out for any road signs; it’d been hours since I had any real sense of direction. Occasionally, I’d see cluster of cattle or an abandoned shack on the corner of an unmarked road, but to tell you the truth, I was lost.
The thought didn’t bother me too much though. The stars were out, and The Big Dipper was leading the way.
I was exhausted though, so I decided to pull over and take a nap.
As tradition would have it, I woke up no more than an hour later, to red and blue hues flooding the sky. Two dark figures walked towards me, each wielding a blinding light.
“Uh, hello?” I said as I shielded my eyes from the piercing stare of their flashlights.
“What’s going on here?” One of the officers asked.
"I'm in the middle of a bike tour and got too tired to continue, so I pulled over to get some rest. Is there a problem?” I didn’t want to be disrespectful, but I could sense that he knew I was annoyed.
“Actually, we got a complaint from a homeowner in the area, and since all of this is private land, we’re going to have to ask you to leave.”
I rubbed my eyes, and tried to shake some coherence back into my skull. ” I though roads were public property? I mean, aren’t you allowed to pull over to sleep, if you’re too tired to drive? I’m exhausted.”
“Sorry kid, but you’re going to have to pack up and keep going. Pine Bluff is just a couple miles away. You can find lodging there.”
“But…ahh…arg. OK. Whatever you say officer.” I knew he was just doing his job, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t want him to pack up and get a different one.
I collected his business card, and packed up under the spotlight of their vehicles’ headlights. I took my time collecting everything, and threw back a handful of nuts before I whipped back onto the road. I attempted to leave them in a cloud of my dust… only to end up choking on their dust moments later.
The moon was full, which was helpful. Much like the mountainous roads I had bounced along a couple days ago, these roads were paved with all sorts of dusty hazards and surprises. I did my best to navigate the washboards in the dark, but at times, I just had to accept it’d be a bumpy ride.
I bounced around for a couple miles until the road split. I looked up towards the Dipper, then took a left onto the paved road heading north.
In the distance, I saw a giant bluff basking in the moonlight and observed the silence that blanketed the valley. Then, as field mice scurried through the surrounding prairie, a band of coyotes gave way to their ancient song, and cackled aloud to the valley.
I wasn’t sure what a kosher camping spot looked like any more, so I just picked one that I deemed "cozy". It was still off the main road, in plain sight, but it had to be around three or four a.m. by now. Who was I going to bother?
Just now tuning in? The Standing Rock Bike Tour is getting released exclusively on Steemit, day by day, for the next two months.
Previous Chapters Include-
Introduction- Igniting the Fire at Unify
Day 1- Indigenous People's Day
Day 2 - Musical Mantras
Day 3 - Bottling My Prayers
Day 4 - Glorious Heights
Day 5 - Inner TurmOil
Day 6 - Massive Strides
Learn more, and access all available chapters at-
http://www.righteousendeavors.com