Realizing We need to slow down

SLOWING DOWN

Sometimes I feel like I just need to let it all out.  My random thoughts must mean something to someone out there.  And since I love lists, here is a list of my random thoughts today.


1.  The west coast is EXPENSIVE!  Add 30-50% to pretty much the cost of everything that we pay in the Midwest. (Even more in California). As much as I loved the coast, I can't even imagine having to try and pay for living there.  Which is sad, because I could so live there...at least during the summer.

2.  But NOT on an island!  We spent a month on Orcas Island and it was beautiful...but I felt TRAPPED!!!!  I need to be able to get in my car and drive somewhere.  All there were was dead-end roads and "no trespassing" signs.  I couldn't live where a ferry was required for me to get somewhere.

3.  My joints are not a fan of humidity.  I felt so good in the desert.  Anyone know a desert with a beach?

4.  We are going to slow down.  We are.  We really are.  Just after we drive to Arkansas for appointments and family, to Pensacola for a wedding, to Texas for Thanksgiving and to Arizona for the winter.  But really, we need to slow down.

5.  We do need to slow down.  Google Maps told me that I spent 60 hours in August sitting in a vehicle traveling.  That seems like a lot.

6.  So, I tell Chuck we need to slow down and he says "Let's get a camp host job, so I won't be bored if we stay in one place."  We're looking....hosting will give us a free campsite.  So, I just need to tell myself that cleaning bathrooms is worth not paying for the campsite.  Or figure out how to make sure that Chuck does all the bathroom cleaning, so he doesn't get too bored.

7.  In our first 15 months, we have been to Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa.  About 15,000 miles or more.  Did I mention we need to slow down?

8  Speaking of slowing down, I have a 15-year-old dachshund who has slowed down a lot.  He is also drinking way too much water and sometimes having a hard time breathing.  He gets a bit offended because he barks at everyone and they smile and say "aw...isn't he cute".....guess we have to see the vet and see what we need to do to keep him happy through the rest of his golden years.

9.  Speaking of golden years, my husband will be 69 in a week and 2 days.  Time flies.  That's really close to 70.

10.  The  UPS Store in Fayetteville was a bad idea for mail forwarding.  Our mail has been lost twice.  We're afraid to even ask for it to be sent anywhere anymore.  I should have a month or two of mail when we get back to Fayetteville.  I need to find another service.  Not looking forward to that.  Sorry to everyone whose bills I have missed.  Sorry to anyone whose bills I will miss with the next service we try.  Sigh.  My least favorite part of this lifestyle.

11.  In addition to trying to get some camp host positions, we're going to try the 4,3,2,1 rule.  No more than 4 hours of driving, arrive where you're going by 3 pm, stay 2 weeks, do 1 new thing a day.
12.  I love finding and sending postcards.  I love that my friends love their postcards.  It'll be fun to find postcards when we stay in places longer.  It's fun to find obscure places that have their own postcards.

13.  I really don't want to give up our 2 months in Tucson that we have scheduled.  I'm kind of curious about what Tucson will be like.  I think there will be a lot to do there.

14.  Next month is Pensacola Beach for 2 weeks!  Hurricanes, stay away!

Big Horn National Forest and Medicine Wheel

Bighorn National Forest and Medicine Wheel

 (Photo is  a resource found at www.native-americans-online.com)

On the recommendation of a good friend, while we were in eastern Montana, we took a day trip to northern Wyoming to see the Medicine Wheel.  All she told us was "you won't regret it, it's an amazing experience."  And so it was.  The drive up was the first amazing thing.  No straight lines for us!  Highway 14 took us up a steep grade and around curves with breathtaking views all along the way.  From Dayton, Wyoming at 3,921 feet to Medicine Mountain at 9,642 feet was 48 miles of views and more views.

The drive up to Medicine Mountain is beautiful.

While on the way up we saw this guy soaring around from his launch site at about 6500'

Finally, we arrived at the Medicine Wheel:

There is no charge to enter the site.  There is a parking lot with bathrooms about 1.5 miles from the wheel site.  The walk has some pretty good up hill sections in both directions, and being over 9,000 feet in elevation, was a pretty challenging trek.  The wheel is at the top of the mountain and is fenced.  Only Native Americans are permitted within the fenced area.  Photographs are not allowed if someone is performing any spiritual practice within the wheel.

Walking the perimeter of the wheel, we felt some different energy sensations.  It was a spiritual and energetic experience we were glad we did.

The Medicine Wheel in the Bighorns attract quite a diverse group of people.  Some make the pilgrimage daily, others yearly and some like us visit for the first time.  When coming to the wheel there is a interpretive ranger at the gate who will explain the significance of the wheel and the mountain. There are also some informational kiosks there. 

The walk from the ranger station is about 1.5 miles each way. If you can't make the walk and have disabled plates on your vehicle they will allow you to drive to the top of Medicine Mountain but you may have to wait a bit as there are only three parking spots at the top and the rangers regulate who drives up and when.

History of the Medicine Wheel 

The Wyoming State Historical Society website states that the wheel was constructed 500 to 1500 years ago, and is 80 feet in diameter, consisting of 28 alignments of limestone boulders.  The area around the wheel has been used by Native Americans for centuries and has been a venerated site.  Go-Wyoming website states that the wheel's spokes are astronomically aligned with the rising and setting sun of the summer solstice, with three stars that fade as the sun rises on a summer morning, and the days of the lunar month.  There are about 100 medicine wheels in North America, and the Bighorn Medicine Wheel is considered the type (model) site.

(Source: atlasobscura.com)

Visiting The Little Big Horn National Battlefield - Crow Agency, Montana

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Little Big Horn National Battlefield - Crow Agency, Montana

Little Big Horn National Battlefield

Little Big Horn National Battlefield is a place that I have heard about off and on throughout my lifetime. If you're like me you won't expect to be emotionally affected by the actual battlefield because you were taught about it, you read about it you saw movies about it and feel you know almost everything about the battle and its cast of historic figures . However, going to the actual battlefield you're left with a somber feeling. Looking out over the rolling hills of arid prairie brings to life to the battle.  Reading the signs at significant spots in the battle field created vivid pictures and movies in my mind. 

When visiting here one thing is quite clear, the Native American dominance of this fight was impressive and Custer's mismanagement of his troops cost he and his soldiers lives.

A History Lesson

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought on June 25, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, pitted federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839-76) against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Tensions between the two groups had been rising since the discovery of gold on Native American lands. When a number of tribes missed a federal deadline to move to reservations, the U.S. Army, including Custer and his 7th Calvary, was dispatched to confront them. Custer was unaware of the number of Indians fighting under the command of Sitting Bull (c.1831-90) at Little Bighorn, and his forces were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed in what became known as Custer’s Last Stand.

Battle of the Little Bighorn: Mounting Tensions

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse (c.1840-77), leaders of the Sioux on the Great Plains, strongly resisted the mid-19th-century efforts of the U.S. government to confine their people to reservations. In 1875, after gold was discovered in South Dakota’s Black Hills, the U.S. Army ignored previous treaty agreements and invaded the region. This betrayal led many Sioux and Cheyenne tribesmen to leave their reservations and join Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in Montana.. By the late spring of 1876, more than 10,000 Native Americans had gathered in a camp along the Little Bighorn River–which they called the Greasy Grass–in defiance of a U.S. War Department order to return to their reservations or risk being attacked. Several members of George Armstrong Custer's family were also killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, including two of his brothers, his brother-in-law and a nephew. Accounts of the battle from survivors and the oral history of the Sioux place a Native American Warrior named "White Cow Bull" as Custer's assailant.  He was also the nephew of Sitting Bull.  Although this story of White Cow Bull has been authenticated there is no solid proof.

(Source: Astonishers.com)

The Worst US Army Defeat In The Long Running Plains War

In mid-June, three columns of U.S. soldiers lined up against the camp and prepared to march. A force of 1,200 Native Americans turned back the first column on June 17. Five days later, General Alfred Terry ordered George Custer’s 7th Cavalry to scout ahead for enemy troops. On the morning of June 25, Custer drew near the camp and decided to press on ahead rather than wait for reinforcements.

The Native Americans Warriors were led by (left to right) Crazy Horse, Chief Gail and Sitting Bull

(source: Google Images)

Battle Of The Little Bighorn: Custer's Last Stand

At mid-day on June 25, Custer’s 600 men entered the Little Bighorn Valley. Among the Native Americans, word quickly spread of the impending attack. The older Sitting Bull rallied the warriors and saw to the safety of the women and children, while Crazy Horse set off with a large force to meet the attackers head on. Despite Custer’s desperate attempts to regroup his men, they were quickly overwhelmed. Custer and some 200 men in his battalion were attacked by as many as 3,000 Native Americans; within an hour, Custer and all of his soldiers were dead.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called Custer’s Last Stand, marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The demise of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations.

(Source History.com)

(Source History.com)  Painted by Edgar Samuel Paxson, 1899. (Credit: GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Mass Suicide On The Battle Field?

Rumors persisted for years after the battle that many of Custer's men committed suicide rather than be taken at the hand of the superior force of Native American Warrior's. 

Native American oral histories often assert that Custer and his men committed suicide when they realized they had lost. One account from Wooden Leg, a Northern Cheyenne Indian, describes a chaotic scene up on the ridge: “Right away, all of the white men went crazy. Instead of footing us, they turned their guns upon themselves. Almost before we could get to them, every one of them was dead. They killed themselves.” 

But archaeologists have often wondered at a lack of physical evidence to support the story. Though 14 of the 30 written battle accounts from Native American fighters tell tales of Custer’s men killing themselves with revolvers, this doesn’t bear out in the scant evidence available. During digs in the 1980's only three soldier suicides were discovered from self inflicted shots to their heads.

If you are near Crow Agency, Montana take the time to visit the battlefield. It is of great historical significance and worth the entry fee.