Wednesday, June 5, 1996
Day 25
Badlands, South Dakota to White River, South Dakota
Today's Miles: 74
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 1605
Degree of Difficulty: Easy to Medium
Terrain: Rolling Indian Reservation
Find of the Day: The Ghostlands of South Dakota
We had planned on cycling only 75 miles today, so no one was in a hurry to break camp. I left between nine and ten o'clock, stopping often on the gentle incline out of the valley to look back at the peaks of the Badlands. The dusk ride last night had been magical, but even in the light of morning, the mystery of the valley is still there.
The Lakota Indian Reservation begins immediately after leaving the park. The land begins to flatten out, not even so much as a telephone wire interrupting the view. The hills continued in an unbroken undulation as we passed through mile after mile of...what?The feeling of riding through Indian reservation land is a duality. On one hand there is the respect of the Indian culture of the past, which is tempered with the knowledge of the treatment of Indians in the late 1800's, early 1900's. There were only two stopping points along the way, each disturbing in their own way.As I rode into the dirt/gravel parking lot of the only store in Wanblee, it just didn't feel right. It was stocked worse than a 7/11, not even having the essentials to make a decent meal. There was a defeatist attitude about the people there that stayed with me for the next two hours of the ride. I couldn't shake the feeling. It was depressing to see firsthand, people who had no hope, not even the knowledge of hope, to help them escape from the life they had been handed.Twenty miles down the road, not marked by any town, was a store on the side of the road that looked like it MIGHT be open. Sure enough, there was the Bike America van in the parking lot. Dave Blair was waiting for me at the door, trying to shade himself from a sun that hadn't letup all morning. The dogs in the dirt parking lot were already using the van for shade.
Mark and the owner of the store
I walked through the door and stood as my eyes adjusted to a 30 by 20 foot room that was virtually empty except for a candy rack holding gum and candy bars, an empty drink cooler case and a table to hold the cash register. It was the first day for the store to be open. The owner said she would have sandwiches by this time next year if we came through again. I wish her well, but I don't know how you make a living when the average sale is a 25 cent pack of gum.
Riding towards White River, the landscape changed a bit, rolling a little more and included a couple of ponds. We're staying at the park next to the rodeo stadium in a town of 500, so there'll be no showers tonight. Hopefully, we'll find a place for showers and laundry tomorrow night...but I wouldn't bet on it with what we passed through today.
Bike America Tours
dblair@wtp.net
1-800-738-7271