After two nights and three days of roughing it, then six days of hotel stays in Ft. Collins, Custer State Park, Rapid City, and, finally, two nights in two different Denver hotels, it looks like Adam and I will be roughing it again (that's if you don't count two or three nights where Katie woke up and kept (mostly) Abbie, Adam, and I up).
Abbie and Katie leave tomorrow morning, rather early. Adam and I are then heading out on the last part of the trip. This appears to be half-way. The rough plan I put together this evening was to go through Nebraska, with a possible stop at Ft. Robinson (where Crazy Horse was killed), through Wounded Knee to see the memorial of the Massacre at Wounded Knee which ended the Indian Wars of the late 1800's, then on to the Badlands for some badland camping.
We will end up going through Custer State Park, seeing Devil's Monument, Bighorn Canyon, the Little Bighorn Battle Monument, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and a few more sights.
At the halfway point though, it's difficult to write about how I'm feeling. It is clearly a big country, and I'm so happy to have seen so much of it, especially with friends (this, I realized too late, was the problem with my California trip last year. A good road trip needs good friends). It is difficult to talk about any of this without sounding heavy-handed. We are just grossly social beings. The stories I loved so much about my Death Valley/Yosemite trip (besides nearly being eaten by a mountain lion and then coyotes) were the stories of when I met people in Yosemite, if only for an hour at a time, and then hung out with Mandy and Jake. I've loved the minuscule little interactions I've had with people on this trip. If there is a downside to traveling with friends, it is the lack of a need to interact with new people on the trip. I've mostly felt unwanted by the locals until we got to South Dakota, but seeing the rare east coast resident, and having ever so brief a chat, or telling the barkeep at Coors Field that I'm from Maryland has been so much fun. It was what I enjoyed so much in Boulder, UT and missed out on in Granada, Spain. Meeting up and enjoying the company of welcoming people.
It is also the benefit of bringing your own welcoming company with you. I tried on the California trip to share what I was doing with friends, but I was, ultimately, by myself. This trip, whether the blog posts or facebook updates went through or not, I've had someone around, and that makes trips fun.
Next time, though, I'm going on this trip with Kate.
I wish I'd had the courage to go on this trip in 2009 like originally planned. I think it would have been successful as it is easy enough to find a place to sleep and to find the next adventure. The mini trip that Tito and I went on was a blast, but we could have been grander. Even that trip, though, was only successful because of good friends.
I had intended to write this post as a description of the odd spirituality that this land brings. There is something magical about South Dakota, whether in the Black Hills or in the Badlands. There was something sort of magical about sleeping on the edge of that lake in Kansas (whose name escapes me). I guess, for now, the thought of friendship and companionship is with me most as Abbie and Katie leave us to go rejoin their lives.
No matter what I attempt here, I'll never feel satisfied with what I've written, as I've left out too many people, and too many thoughts, and too many feelings. I'm going to sign off now, and go read "The Journey of Crazy Horse" as that is probably the book I'm most trying to mimic at the moment.
Signing off, ever so incompletely,
Matt (in a hotel in Denver).
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