It's Never Easy on the Rez...

Oh hey... so a week went by. Woops.

Really busy last week with a number of projects. I worked with three of our four construction crews Monday-Thursday: Jerry, Corbin, Mike and Chris. Over the course of four days, I worked at three different sites, spending two days in Pine Ridge (at the house I have previously written about -- Noah's -- as well as two other homes; one in Porcupine and one in Manderson.

I spent my weekend (Friday) up in Rapid City with our Executive Director and another summer staffer, Robin. What we expected to be a pretty quick and routine supply run turned into a thirteen hour trip to the "tenth layer of hell" (we noted this revelation while in the Wal Mart parking lot.)

On the bright side, I can now say I have been to Sanford's (pub and grub) -- a regional institution well known to previous SAC visitors.

We attempted to come back to the Rez via Red Shirt Table (an awesome overlook of the Badlands,) but the South Dakota highway department had other ideas by placing the devil in human form -- who was holding a stop sign -- in our way. As we approached her in our rather large truck, towing a rather small trailer, she asked "where are you going (the road only went straight...)

"We're going this way..." (we point straight ahead)...

"How far?" she asks...

"Uhh, all the way..." (there aren't exactly a lot of turn-offs on the road that goes through the middle of no where.)

"You're going to have to wait for the pilot car, our supervisor wouldn't just want cars out there roving around..." she replies.

This all goes down around 7 p.m. -- eleven hours after we had started this trip... needless to say, I was instructed to get us turned around and headed in a different direction...

Anyways, I went to a Starbucks on Friday in Rapid, and realized how out of place I felt. Guess the Rez doesn't take long to bring you down from your assumed "reality" to the "real world" where you actually realize what is important.

Six bucks for a bottle of water (to help save kids in Africa) and a piece of coffee cake? Thanks Corporate America.

We crossed back onto the Rez just as a massive thunderstorm, with some incredible clouds that we had been watching mushroom skyward for hours, was rolling through. The sky was turning a milky pink as we passed through the Buffalo Gap Grasslands and then across the far southern fingers of the Badlands. A great way to say goodbye to the fast paced city, and to get back onto Indian Time.

So that was my "day off." Saturday, we start anew, with sixtyish new volunteers, from across the country.

Here is a summary of the day.

The cook calls, her car won't start. I'm dispatched in our "Big Dog" (the new Chevy, 2500 disesel) to get her -- for a few reasons...

1. I can drive the truck
2. I know how to get to her house
3. Her driveway was a mud-pit, which required four-wheel drive, and a prayer to get to the top.

So, I get to her house, to find out she's not sure if she wants to come in. I eventually convince her that we're going to be really, really hungry if she doesn't come in...

We get back to Re-Member, and find our that our office manager was also having vehicle problems. She had broken down near the KILI radio station.

Back into the truck, now heading in the opposite direction, and starting to feel like the community taxi, I retrieve our staffer, get her back to HQ and devise a plan with Bryan (the other young guy here) on how we are going to get the van back to Re-Member.

On the Rez, there is a phrase: "Rez-taxi" that is used any time you witness one car towing another. So, after contemplating our options, we throw a few straps in the back of the truck and take off for the van.

After securing the van to the truck with the strap, and discussing our emergency bail-out procedures, we were rolling, van in tow, heading across the Rez.

All in a day's work...