Currently I am sitting at the El Rancho hotel in Williston North Dakota.
Two days ago I made a 55 mile day to place myself in a good position to meet Tom the following. I stopped at Fort Union (an old trading post that has been remodeled) during the day. Getting there was no easy task. Tom had texted me telling me it was “hard to reach and be prepared to get wet”…he was not exaggerating. After crashing through some baby willows i got out on a slightly steep bank, hiked waste high through a 100 yard swamp. I had just entered North Dakota less than 20 minutes before and it was though every mosquito and their grandmother was waiting to greet me. I walked into the fort soaking wet and was greeted warmly by the knowledgeable staff who showed me around.
I paddled to a location Tom said was good to camp and reached there by 8pm. Although my kayak was only 20ft away from where i pitched my tent, i probably walked 2 miles while quickly setting up camp just to dodge the mosquito’s. To say the least, i am becoming one hell of a good dancer and could probably set the record for breaking down and setting up camp with a Eureka Zeus Classic tent. I was suppose to meet a man named Stan Anderson their but he never answered. Instead i sat in my tent dripping in sweat just to avoid the mosquito’s while a storm approached. It hailed for three hours. At one point i was under my sleeping bag plugging my ears trying to sleep.
From the time i got out of my tent to the time i pushed off into the water it was only 9 minutes and 5 bites the next morning. I reached Tom’s campsite around noon and was greeted by some of the local campers. After some food and reorganization a guy (Ken Hall) let me drive his diesel into town to go to the store and get some food. Later that night i learned how to play “smear” (a local card game) and turned out to be pretty good at it. It was the campground caretakers birthday so we drank and celebrated. My partner(a camper, tom was asleep) ended up drinking to much and went out to go to the bathroom. After about 30 minutes we began wondering about him. He had been complaining about the fireworks during the game and eventually showed up to the trailer with a guy none of us recognized in his grip. “What’s going on?” i asked the man we didn’t know because my partner was on the phone talking. “I have no idea.” He was obviously scared and then i realized that my partner had dragged this man over hear after seizing his possessions (pills, keys, drugs, etc).
Things progressed quickly and Sheriff Bob showed up and took control of the situation. At 230am i found myself with 15 other campers filling out wittiness reports and drinking whiskey, all in shock at how the night had turned.
I had two packages sent to Williston that i was suppose to get yesterday but only one arrived. So now tom and I are stuck here until the post office opens after the holiday so i can pick up my new tent (thanks dad), and not have to worry about mice getting in anymore.
Norm Miller has been helping us out by sending texts with the current weather expectations. David Millers book is becoming more and more useful. I glance at it for the maps but refrain from reading to much just so there is still a mystery ahead. Either way these two are helping us greatly.
So yeah….i’ve shot a gun, been hailed on, stayed on the reservation, saw elk – bison – deer swimming across the river – danced the jig around mosquito’s – created many new songs and poems and met tons of people (some i am fine not meeting twice)…not a bad week.
Every time people ask why I don’t have a trolling motor on the side of my kayak to help with the wind. I try to describe the connection with water you obtain from constantly paddling while sitting below the surface of it. sitting here at this computer for only 30 minutes i already miss it, but no worries, she’s waiting for me.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Ghandi
- Charles