What a day! so happy we made the detour down here to Kansas City while Brian was here. We ended up going to the Kansas City Chiefs game ❤️💛. This was my first professional football 🏈 game. It was super fun!! I think I’ve only ever been to Cal games before 🐻 💙💛. The energy in the Chiefs Kingdom was great and it was a super entertaining game to watch with the Chiefs winning by three in the last few seconds of the game. 26 – 23
how did we NOT get a picture with you Brian at the game? Don’t know how that happened or didn’t happen 🙁
Oh yeah, but this DID happen…
Even though the attendant at gate three told us the RV entrance was at gate four… Nope, incorrect. 9’ clearance at gate 4 and we are 12.5’. so I had to make a U-turn and three lanes of gridlock traffic trying to enter the stadium parking lot. Lovely. Thankfully I think most people felt bad for us and moved over quite easily as Edwin walked in front, but not so sure because I definitely did not make eye contact with anybody as I drove the 1/2 mile/mile drive out against the grain.
The most annoying part the whole thing was that it considerably ate into our pre-planned tailgating time 🙁
the girls were excited to have guests
Again, so happy we came down to Kansas City well Brian was here with a super fun day at the game and it’s always best to be in a town with somebody who grew up there. We ate awesome barbecue at Gates Barbeque. Worthwhile experience for sure!! Pretty sure my favorite part (other than the amazing bbq of course) was the woman behind the counter yelling at everyone about five people behind the front of the line “what do you want?
Kansas. 15th State.
no welcome to Kansas sign here but Brian did drive us down the middle the street so that 1/2 of us were in Kansas and either 1/2 were in Missouri. Fun times 🙂
We decided to go back to the State Capital Building to check out the library because in reality who knows if we ever make it back to Des Moines.
We thought we’d only go to the library part of the tour but we stayed for the whole hour and it was all super interesting. And a beautiful State Capital building it was. It was built back in the 1880s and most of it is still original and has not been modernized.
book on left ~ from the 14th century handwritten on sheep skin book on right ~ Benjamin Franklin printed this book on his own hand printing press over 4,000 crystals Czechoslovakia beautiful mosaic artwork
We were on our way to Omaha when Edwin sent this picture to Brian
I’ll be there in 8 hours. Perhaps we should’ve done a complete change of plan because we decided to continue on to Omaha, hit the covered bridges which resulted in a late arrival, early departure and not sure if we can really cross Omaha and/or Nebraska off of our list.
covered bridges of madison county
And maybe we shouldn’t have stopped into TJMaxx while Edwin was at the auto part store to get these unnecessary yet somehow much needed ugly sweater xmas skirts
Thanks James and Abby for letting us pop in. Your kids are adorable (as you would suspect a Doubrava/Kane cousin would be) The girls loved your kids and if not for our run down to KC we would’ve loved to stay for a bit longer.
and little baby Sawyerif the kids weren’t enough the ice cream sundae definitely won them overnothing like running into a someone throwing away all their “junk” into a dump
We had fun with Cunci and Mattia, picked up our packages and decided to head south to Des Moines, Iowa and visit our friend Rachel. Rachel and her 5 year old Kai already had plans for an all Saints Day party that we decided to join. We pulled into Des Moines at 4 and the party didn’t start until 6 and Rachel got of work at 5 so we went to the state capital to look around. Edwin remembers reading somewhere that there was a model of the USS Iowa, the battleship his cousin was on so we went to go check it out.
On our way out they asked if we had seen the library yet and responded “no” to and they said “oh you should come back tomorrow it’s the nicest library’s in the country number 37 on the top 50”. You could’ve told us this 10 minutes ago… but ok.
As we left and started driving through downtown along the Des Moines River we noticed all these Beto O’Rourke signs and a big grouping of people and cameras so I decided jump out of the RV and check it out as Edwin found a parking spot. As I jumped out of the car Edwin was telling me he just heard that Beto O’Rourke had conceded via CNN
So I had just walked in to Beto giving a concession speech to his staff and volunteers. kind of cool. kind of crazy. especially since we just walked into this scenario and neither Edwin or myself follow politics very closely. I started talking to a woman to get some info on what was actually happening and asked her if she knew/was expecting this. She said “No, I just flew in from Texas for this event. I heard on CNN about an hour ago but Beto kept his meet n greet appointment with his volunteers and staff to let us personally know. mean I flew for this. I’m devastated. I’m not going there tonight anymore.” “Where?” I unknowingly asked. “To listen to the candidates.” “Which ones?” “umm, all of them.” “seriously?” “Yes it’s the democratic fundraising and iowa caucus kickoff.”
We walked across the walking bridge which i later found out is the “Iowa Wonen of Achievement Bridge” and went back to the woman to inquire about tickets. How much were they? How can I get some? She straight away offered her ticket up and after I refused she repeatedly said, I can’t go in there, not now, not after what happened, and there’s no one in there Id like to support. I liked Beto that’s why i’m here. She then spoke to some of her friends and came back with 3 more tickets. So sorry Rachel but we have to go check this out. I felt sorry for Beto’s supporters who were down trodden and crying…but we did take advantage of the situation.
It was one of those random days that reinforce why we are on this trip, and helps you believe in the karmic balance of traveling, we didn’t know we’d be in Des Moines till yesterday…
What a trip, we not only listened to Pete, Biden, Yang, Warren, Kamala, Bernie, Bennett, Castro, and the rest of them speak, but felt them speak, felt their energy. It was a very cool experience for all 4 of us. Politically all I have to say I was bummed Tulsi wasn’t in attendance, but again very interesting. I’d say the girls would vote based on the free light up sticks or “colors” of the candidates.
I do have to say I’m continually concerned about the amount of throw away garbage we go through/buy. What about collecting these light up and boom sticks and giving them to a preschool or something before they get immediately dumped in a garbage can.
We did still made it to Rachel’s in time to have the girls fall asleep on the way and have some wine.
When we woke up in Dubuque, Iowa I have to admit I was wondering what in the world we are doing here but we had heard about the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium so…
I mean there was been cold, but now it’s just bitter cold. The museum was really well done, super hands on, and I’m pretty sure we had the whole to ourselves along with 5 other people.
Rivers have been pathways for exploration, trade, and culture. Have inspired writers, artists, and musicians. And also serve as major waterways for industry.
32 states are a part of the Mississippi River watershed basin.
The Mississippi river starts at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and empties into the Gulf of Mexico 100 miles from New Orleans.
The Mississippi River is the 2nd longest river in the country at 2,202 miles. (The Missouri River is the longest river at 2,341 miles). The Missouri River flows into the Mississippi river in St. Louis, Missouri. The Ohio River also flows into the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois.
our major rivers
The Mississippi river is divided into three parts. The Upper Mississippi, from it’s origin down to the Missouri River. The Middle Mississippi is from the Missouri River to the Ohio River. The Lower Mississippi is from the Ohio River down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Where the Mississippi river goes in to the golf of Mexico has created a Dead Zone. A dead zone in the ocean is because there is no oxygen available to support life. This is due to the amount of sediment and the levels of nitrogen from fertilizers that make its way into the water. There are 42 locks and dams along the Mississippi River to accommodate the industrial need if the Mississippi as a waterway. But there are things that we can do to restore to remove the dead zone from the Gulf of Mexico. Some include reducing amount of fertilizers at farmers use, restoring wetlands that can help absorb the sediment and nitrogen, planting within in the wetlands, reconnecting the wetlands to the Mississippi River system
The aquarium aspect was also pretty neat. The girls got to pet sting rays which is always super fun. But the highlight for sure was the 14 month otter, the girls named Oscar. He was simply the cutest and super social. The girls would run back and forth and Oscar would follow them. If they stopped, he stopped. He was highly entertaining.
We went to East to Wisconsin to see in Edwin’s fishing buddies in Madison. On the way to Madison we stopped at Taliesin, which was Frank Lloyd Wright’s first rural home/workspace/artists collective set on land purchased for him by his mother next to her family’s land.
Then we went to specks to feed the animals before we went to Ruth’s Christ’s Steakhouse. I had never been there before nor heard of it and it was a really nice evening.
a golden pheasantedwin & frauchi awesome opal collection
We started off the morning riding bikes along the banks of the Mississippi River. It was sunny out, but quite cold.
never too old for a diggerdaisy ran right into the water…i think suspecting it was land not water. she was quite surprised.that’s not grass to isabella’s left…the the mississippi with lots of green flowering plants (supposedly it’s not algae)
As we travel down the Mississippi we learned of the Black Hawk War of 1832. Black Hawk was the leader of the Sauk. For the 100 years before 1832 the Sauk, Mesquakies, and Chikapoos had migrated back-and-forth across the Mississippi River. Each fall they moved west and north to hunt and every spring they returned to their homes along the river for planting.
A treaty in 1804 said that they could go back-and-forth across the Mississippi and used to land until white settlers began purchasing the land. In 1832 they moved east across the Mississippi and found their homes destroyed in their land claimed by the white settlers. This was not understandable to the Indians as they believed land was there to be used not to be claimed. Unfortunately without proper interpreters, there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstandings between what Native Americans thought they were giving away and or signing in these treaties.
U.S. officials convinced that they were hostile and put together a front line militia. Black Hawk’s company did not want war with the whites and began going north to return West. Unfortunately they could not cross the Mississippi anywhere, they had to cross in an area that was safe and they were familiar with. There we’re times they fought back but it was clear that they were way out numbered. At the end when they attempted to cross the river waving a white flag they were gunned down.
Of the 1000 Sauks who crossed the river from Iowa in April 1832 not more than 150 survived to tell the tragic story of the Black Hawk War.
We then drove down into Iowa. 13th State. And went to Effigy National Monument.
This bridge was high and narrow and did not feel like we should be driving over it.
Who knew Iowa was so scandalous
Hi Harper ❤️ 🐶 🌈 🍦
At Effigy Mounds National Monument the Native Americans of the Woodland Culture buried their dead in “mounds” in the shape of something, often of bears and birds. Bears “die” each year and are reborn. Birds in the sky have freedom, dignity, and beauty.
We had a lovely weekend indoors this weekend, but time to start moving again, South this time. We wanted to go up North where the Mississippi headwaters are, but maybe we’ll leave that for the Springtime when we can enjoy it more. We did however go East to drive along and the Mississippi. This is the first time I’ve seen the Mississippi. It moves faster than I thought it would. It is big, wide, and brown. And pretty sure the water level is high because there is a lot of marshy land on the side and many trees within the edges of the river and doesn’t look like it is always like that??
The highway going along the Mississippi River keeps crossing the river into Wisconsin and back over into Minnesota.
Wisconsin. 12th State.
We ended up stopping in Wabasha, Minnesota where there is a National Eagle Center. Meet Donald, Columbia, and Was’aka. These eagles are here for various reasons that make them unable to survive in the wild such as being blind in one eye, being unable to fly after a broken wing, etc…
The main difference between Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles other than the obvious bald white head is that bald eagles are fish eagles, live primarily along lakes and rivers and feed on fish. Golden eagles live more in open spaces and prairies and feed on non-water fowl like rabbits and squirrels.
Was’akaDonald, a Golden Eagle, 8 poundsColumbia, cleaning herself, 11 pounds
Wabasha is in the middle of the Mississippi River Flyway pattern that runs from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and follows the Mississippi River watershed. Over 60% of all North American bird species and 40% of the waterfowl use this flyway. It is a vital “highway” for migratory birds moving between their summer and winter homes and provides critical places to rest and eat along their journey.
Eagles fly only as far south as they need to…to find food. At the town on Wabasha (other than being featured in the movie Grumpy Old Men) the river does not freeze over because of the deep Lake Pepin directly to the north and the Chippewa River flows in causing enough turbulence in the Mississippi that it does not freeze over.
An eagle’s feathers weigh twice as much as its bones.
Birds use their feathers to fly, but also so much more…can you name any others? See below for some others…
An eagle can see 5x as far as us and have 2 focal points. Humans have only 1 focal point so can use both eyes to focus on one clear image in front of us or to the side. Eagles have 2 so they can see what a clear vision of something directly in front of and to the side at the SAME TIME. Humans have to pick. Also, their eyes are HUGE compared to their heads. They have the same size eyes as humans…but much smaller heads.
You do not want to mess with the talons of an eagle. It can squeeze its prey at a rate of 400psi. For reference on the squeezing hand, I got up to about 45-50. Edwin got up to about 75.
We had dinner in La Crosse which was in Wisconsin so we had to order us up some cheese curds and camped just south of La Crosse along the Mississippi River at Goose Island Campground.
Edwin, Isabella, and Daisy go pheasant hunting. Edwin is determined to make our Reno Home Depot Parking Lot Special of a Rottweiler Chihuahua into a bird dog 🙂
Ugh. I’ve been delaying this post. There is a lot of difficult Native American History in general and a lot of the Plains Indians history is in this area. And I’m learning a lot of it now. I knew stories in general, but never with any real understanding. I know I’m far from that still, but feel like I’m finally piecing things together. We watched “Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee” last night with the kids. It was hard, they cried, but I feel like if they are old enough to watch the violence in Marvel movies, they can and should watch this kind of violence as well. It’s good to have perspective. We realized that this was definitely a Hollywood-ized version of the book, but it is a good overview and introduction to the topic and we wanted the girls to understand the importance of when we drove to Wounded Knee Massacre Site and why we were even driving there. It’s worth watching. I ended up staying up well past midnight doing my own research and trying to understand the timeline of what and why this all happened because the movie is not very clear in quite a few areas. Why Sitting Bull is famous? Was he killed at Wounded Knee? If he was the “last stand” for the Lakota and wasn’t willing to adopt the “white ways” why did we see a picture of him with Buffalo Bill Cody in the Wild West Show? Why wasn’t Crazy Horse in the movie. Who is Red Cloud and why do I keep seeing picture of him? What exactly happened at the Wounded Knee Massacre?
Hopefully I provide a timeline with some of the known people from the past and places without inaccuracies. I realize I still have some holes to fill.
It was fitting that as we drove down to the southern entrance of the southern unit of Badlands National Park which is co-managed with the Oglala Lakota Nation, we see the ranger putting up both the American flag and the OglalaLakota flag. The ranger was a 22 yo member of the Oglala Lakota tribe who grew up a few miles south of there in the Pine Ridge Reservation in Porcupine, SD and attended the local school on the reservation.
Many Lakota people do consider themselves Sioux Indians. The French gave the name to the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people the name of “Sioux Indians”. It is a very large band of tribes crossing a very large area.
Crazy Horse and Chief Red Cloud are a part of the Oglala Lakota people. Red Cloud is a generation older than Crazy Horse. Chief Sitting Bull is part of the Hunkpapa Lakota people and is younger than Red Cloud, older than Crazy Horse. Chief Big Foot is the half brother of Sitting Bull and was also a Hunkpapa.
Chief Red Cloud, was born in 1822 and died 1909 in the Pine Ridge Reservation. Of the above “famous Native Americans” he is the only one that died from old age. I don’t know enough of what happened before the Battle of Little Big Horn so I need to stay out of that part of history for now.
What I do know is that Chief Red Cloud fought the U.S. during what was known as the “Red Cloud Wars” 1866-68 led to the Native Americans having the “upper hand” in the 2nd Fort Laramie Treaty of 1968 where the “Great Sioux Reservation”, which included the Black Hills was formed. Both Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull fought in the Red Cloud Wars. Soon after in 1871 Red Cloud tried to help the transition of his people to a different way of life and began living in the “agencies” or the reservations.
In 1874 Gold was found in the Black Hills. In 1875 the U.S. was unsuccessful in purchasing the Black Hills from the Sioux and orders all Indians to report to reservations by January 31, 1876. Any Native not living in a reservation is to be considered a “hostile”. This led to the Great Sioux War of 1876-77.
The Plains Indians were nomadic who followed the bison and living in a home on a reservation went against every part of their culture. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are 2 of the most famous Plains Indians who were the last “hold out” for the Lakota way of life. Crazy Horse was considered the greatest warrior during the Battle of Little Big Horn. Sitting Bull was the “medicine man” of the Lakota during this time. The defeat of the U.S. in the Battle of Little Big Horn in June 1876 led the Americans to unleash a much larger force of their military against the “hostiles”.
Crazy Horse formally surrendered in May 1877, but was killed in August 1877 with a bayonet by Indian Military Police.
Sitting Bull refusing to surrender led a band of Lakota north to Canada in May of 1877. The lack of bison up north and the limited land they were given by the Canadian government he returned to the U.S. and formally surrendered in July 1881. “Sitting Bull said to Brotherton at Fort Buford, “I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.” To the Oglala Lakotas, Dakotas and Nakota, “to surrender my rifle” in this context meant “We have killed enough white men with your own rifles so I give this rifle back to you”.
In 1885 Sitting Bull joined Buffalo Bill and the Wild West Show for 1 season.
During these years living on reservations the health and culture of the Native Americans had catastrophic changes. Their emotional and physical health had been deteriorated. Agreed upon rations were cut and disease ravaged through. Attempting to live like the “whites” was not working for them.
In response, a new movement started, the Ghost Dance Movement. It called on the Indians to dance and chant for the white man to disappear, the rising up of their deceased relatives, and the buffalo to disappear. This movement scared the white people into thinking that the Native Americans would leave the reservations and begin a new war.
The Indian military police went to go arrest Sitting Bull because he was very much a respected elder within the reservation and didn’t want him encouraging the Ghost Dance Movement and there was a rumor he would leave the reservation. During the arrest Sitting Bull fought against the arrest and was shot twice and died. Sitting Bull was shot and killed on December 15, 1890.
The band of Hunkpapa Lakota who was living with Sitting Bull feared retaliation because 2 officers were also killed. They fled west to Chief Big Foot and along with Chief Big Foot and his band they all fled south to join Chief Red Cloud south in the Pine Ridge Reservation, crossing the badlands. Chief Big Foot was fighting pneumonia. They were captured and they surrendered at Wounded Knee.
The next morning on December 29, 1890 the U.S. cavalry placed 4 Hotchkiss Mountain Guns around the camp. The U.S. wanted to “disarm” the Indians. The story is that a “deaf tribesman reluctant to give up his rifle because he had paid a lot for it”. The rifle went off and the massacre ensued. The U.S. killed all 250-300 men, women, and children. It was a massacre. Half the Indians were shot close range within a very short period of time. The U.S. used the Hotchkiss guns on everyone, including the white people. Many women and children had run for cover. The military hunted everyone down. Bodies were found days later over 2 miles away from the original site. There was a blizzard the next 3 days and they were only able to return later to collect the bodies.
You can see the outline of the mass grave compared to the above pictureWe had some flowers in the RV to place at the gravesite.Chief Red Cloud is buried in Pine Ridge, South Dakota
As I’m writing this I’m really not happy with how I’m explaining this now, I may have to come back to this post, but its too late for me to think properly right now…but I highly recommend the book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee.
Badlands geology in short…2 words… Deposition & Erosion.
This hills of the badlands are sedimentary rock. Layers of sand, silt, clay, and volcanic ash from the west have been deposited over the last 75 million years, dating back to the dinosaurs. It is easy to look at the hills and see the layers of sediment that have been deposited over time. In fact this national park is easy to see the Law of Superposition which can be easily described as the oldest rock is on the bottom and the youngest rock is on top.
As the layers of sediment and minerals harden over time, they are subject to erosion. About 500,000 years ago erosion took over as the main geologic process. Erosion from wind and water. In fact the badlands are eroding at a rate of about 1” a year and the badlands may no longer be present in another 500,000 years.
Pretty sure Edwin’s spirit animal is the Bison.
this skeleton head was so heavy, easily 70lbs
The horns from the bighorn sheep are huge. Can you guess how much one would weigh?
The one Vera is holding is 22lbs. They can get up to 30lbs. Their horns weigh more than all their bones together. Imagine wearing 40-60lbs of horns on your head. If you ever wear a motorcycle helmet, your neck can get sore from 2lbs on your head by the end of the day.
Vera was really good at spotting the bighorn sheep
The Notch Trail
It’s kind of different worldly.
The badlands…
This is where Chief Big Foot, battling pneumonia, led his tribe and a remaining part of Sitting Bull’s tribe (after he was shot near the standing rock reservation) down through the badlands to find refuge at the Pine Ridge Reservation. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it and resulted in the Wounded Knee Massacre…will share more tomorrow as we head down there 😢 Pretty sure I was attempting to open my eyes through the wind“Yellow Mounds” when the black hills formed and the sea drained away, the black ocean mud was exposed to air and turned the soil yellow
The northern part of the badlands are right near Hwy 90 so we ran up to go see the Minuteman Missile and Wall, South Dakota which supposedly has a must see 20,000 sq.ft. drug store with a jackalope and 5 cents coffee.
The Minuteman Missile 09 site houses a 68 ton missile implemented during the Cold War. It had 200 x the power of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined and could be detonated from anywhere including any plane that had the correct radio frequencies. It could even withstand a direct attack. The door is 90 tons itself. It was put here because South Dakota was considered to have a low enough population so if there was a counterattack there would be low casualties. It is NOT active now.
The antenna
Wall, South Dakota.
The pumpkin ice cream and donuts were actually quite good
Back into the badlands to explore the mud some more and camp.
the Longhorn Saloon in Scenic, SDGood thing to have next to a saloonHeading up to Sheep Table Mountain
