Several big horn sheep (no rams unfortunately) were obviously not camera shy and posed beside the road. After we started down Sage Creek road, we came across this bunch of hams.
We stopped to eat lunch in the Sage Creek campground which was dotted with buffalo chips and prairie dog holes. Ditto took a special interest at this stage.
We saw a sprinkling of buffalo along the way, but they were all too far off for my little camera. We did see a beautiful view of the Badlands we had not seen before. We decided it ought to be a jigsaw puzzle picture. It would be a tough one to work.
We dropped out of the southern end on the Badlands and headed on into the Pine Ridge Indian reservation - of Wounded Knee fame. We drove on down to the Wounded Knee site. We has passed through there yesterday and on one side of the road were several souvenir peddlers, on the other side was the Wounded Knee museum. We didn't stop yesterday and today, being Sunday I guess, the peddlers were gone. There was a large informational sign describing the scene and happenings at Wounded knee in 1890. The sign had so much information on it, it was continued on the back side. So, we had to get out of the Jeep and walk around behind. While viewing the back side, a young Indian kid came literally running up to us and began telling us the story. He was quite learned on the subject. As we talked with the youngster, we found out he was in the 8th grade. He did his job well and convinced us to visit the museum. He ran the several hundred feet over to the museum while we drove the Jeep over. He told Joyce about the souvenirs his family makes and she sent him off to get one. He ran about 1/8 mile down a hill to an old blue mobile home. Soon he was back with his wares and Joyce bought one. There were several Native Americans standing around outside the museum and we chatted with them for a while.
As it turned out, one woman was visiting her mother on the reservation. She did not live there, but was moving back soon. She was very pleasant and talkative, yet very militant in her description of how the U.S. government had treated the Indians over the years. She, and others standing around, then spoke about how crooked the tribal council was and how the council took some of their land by decree. If Joyce or I had spoken Sioux, I'm sure we would have heard some very colorful language concerning the tribal council (Bureau of Indian Affairs - BIA). There was about as little love loss there as there was for the broken treaties and the U.S. government. We toured the museum which was mostly militant descriptions of the history of the Lakota Sioux and the U.S. government. But, much of the stories told seem to play out as true. A sad state of affairs. We bought another souvenir at the museum - a dream catcher representing the home and water. We got it for a friend back at Cedarcreek who is taking care of Oxford (the cat) and Joyce's chickens. Then one of the Indians told us about the pow-wow going on at the Porcupine school a few miles away. So, after we left the museum, we drove to Porcupine. It was worth the trip. Unfortunately, my camera person didn't get as many photos of the goings-on, but we did get a couple. Inside the gymnasium they were holding a dance contest. No, not the two-stop or polka, but Native American dance.
We didn't get there in time to get pictures of the dances, but here's a shot of some prizes being given for their efforts. When we first walked in, a dance had just completed and an older fella in costume came huffing and puffing to a row of lawn chairs along the gym wall near us. He was red in the face (no pun intended) and we weren't real sure he was going to make it. But, his wife (squaw) was there with a big bottle of water and after downing it and resting a while he looked much better - and became quite talkative and helpful in describing what was going on. All-in-all, it was a neat show for the white eyes. As we left, I ran into some real Native American beauties who graciously allowed me to photograph them. I promised not to keep their spirits locked up in my camera. Notice their moccasins.
It was a really good day that ended well.
Tomorrow we head for Ellsworth AFB and the Rapid City area. We are looking forward to more days like today.
