Post by Adam

So let me reiterate how cold it is here in South Dakota. The temperature at it's lowest was a whopping 5 degrees...This got us on the crew thinking about specifics on the road and how we'd best be able to hold interviews with the riders, with the least amount of time spent on set up as we know the weather will be a factor. Solution. An RV, that's what where looking for. An RV for the crew to set up camp with that will be a roving production office/spot for interviews/place to sleep for us. The quest begins...Today was a productive day at times and very relaxing with needed rest at others. Time has seemed to slow already and the day seems longer with conversations moving in and out of specifics about the ride to the history of the Native American people as a whole, is that Pineapple ripe and can we have it for desert tonight. Pretty standard really. Today's first stop was to interview Sid Byrd who is the eldest male at 90 years old of the Santee Sioux Tribe here in Flandreau, SD. "Sid was raised on a reservation in South Dakota, where, early on through the guidance of his grandfather, his life became a bridge between worlds, that of his Lakota people and that of the white man. Later, as his life unfolded, he came to hold the common ground among some native peoples, marrying a Hopi wife. The path of his heart, which Sid has pursued through his deep Christian conviction and his work as a Presbyterian missionary, has been his way. His stories and education are an inspiration..." (introduction from Stories of a Lakota Elder)

Silas, Sarah and myself went over to Sid's apartment and set up the camera. He was very enthused to be speaking with us and embarked in the telling of a slew of jokes throughout the morning and breakfast at the retirement home where we originally met him...The session and the stories lasted for an hour and a half and his stories ranged from the Great Wars of 1862 and the Dakota 38, to larger thoughts on Native Americans and their history here on this their original land. There were many touching moments, many passionate moments, and I look forward to looking at the footage in the near future. Before I move on I do want to mention one point that he mentioned that stuck with me. Out of the 38 men that were hung on Dec 26, 1862, 36 of them had converted to Christianity during the time of their imprisonment.

After we packed up the gear, we next moved on to Sarah's high school alma mater The Flandreau Indian School. There we met with Stuart Zephier the acting Principal of the school. After showing him the promo video, it became evident that he had never heard of the "Dakota 38"...The story was not a part of his history. I had naively assumed that all native american history would be universal and would be reproduced in the same way that my version of American History was in textbooks when I was a kid. This is not so. There are so many different tribes with so many different written and oral history's that it makes sense that not every story would travel across tribal lines. As I learn more, I'm getting the feeling that every tribe will have their own similar stories of triumph in the face of great adversity as the Native people have had that heaped upon them truly not shortly after the first Thanksgiving.

Stuart was excited about the project and the conversation got rolling with ways of getting the school, the community and most importantly the youth involved in this historic ride.

Dinner tonight was a chicken salad, Apple juice, followed up with Pineapple. An interesting mix indeed, but it all seemed to come together nicely. There was doubt in what we both wanted to eat but Silas just started moving forward and pretty soon something was there to eat. I like that. Moving forward, taking an action, even if that action is nothing. But choose it. If you want to relax, relax, if you want to run, run. If you want to be indecisive, then that's fine too. There's a time and a place for every emotion, every feeling that you have within yourself to just be and for you to be ok with it. I needed to hear that today so I'm glad I wrote it.

Tomorrow we leave at 6am for a 12 hour car trip, (Sarah bought the new Honda btw)to Canada to film a very important horse ceremony. Our good friend Jim Miller will be attending a funeral tomorrow and will be unable to attend but a phone conversation that Silas had with him earlier today has renewed the juices in the tank for the team and we're ready to go...