2011 Ride

Day 13: I asked my tour “advance man,” Ron Seifert, how he would describe the day we just experienced. His response summed it up beautifully: “emotional tornado.”

Woke up to a cold rain outside the motel room, with talk of snow in the forecast and many miles to pedal to keep to our schedule, but had too many media calls to make to worry about the weather. Started cold-calling the Rapid City media to see what kind of interest we could generate in the ride being in town. That done, rolled the rocket trike down the hall to the motel conference room where I had been asked to speak about the “Tour of Resistance” to the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association. What a privilege it was to address this august body of visionaries. I shared what was in my heart, and felt the heart connection in return. My only regret was having to leave immediately without having a chance to meet everyone one-on-one. Hopefully this can happen at a future date.

The sun poked out of the clouds as I raced down to Rapid City’s beautiful new town square for interviews with FOX News, the Rapid City Journal and South Dakota Public Broadcasting. The interviews went well and some locals had gathered to express their solidarity with the ride, which was very heartening. By now, though, we were a couple hours behind schedule. Then just a few miles out of town I hit a rock lying in the shoulder of the road. The second I hit it, I knew it was bad. The rear tire (the one that’s very difficult to change) was pancake flat. So called roadside bike assistance and got a tow to a bike shop back in Rapid City, where I checked my messages to learn that the flight Harvard Ayers and Paul Bassis had been working on so hard to arrange for Daryl Hannah to join us at a solidarity ride at Pine Ridge had been canceled by the airline. No choice but to put the disappointing news out of my mind and keep moving. By the time the trike was repaired, there were less than two hours of daylight left and I was back to where I started. The good news is I made the 20 miles to Hermosa without incident, where Ron had found an open campground for us to stay. Upon pulling in, checked my messages and learned that Daryl’s flight was back on, so she would be joining us on Thursday after all! Here’s an article describing our upcoming visit to the Pine Ridge and Rosebud tribal communities: http://tinyurl.com/3tejqc8.

So here we are, 15 miles later, happily sitting in our makeshift “office” (a small concrete-floor paddock people must squeeze by to get to the bathrooms and showers) where the campground host gave us permission to throw down our sleeping bags and spend the night, sheltered from the cold, biting wind outside. The tornado has subsided.

Day 12: Challenging day. Spent the morning and early afternoon tracking down media outlets and working on the upcoming solidarity ride at the Pine Ridge and Rosebud tribal sanctuaries, meaning we didn’t hit the road for Rapid City until mid afternoon. Given the lateness of the season, this left very little cushion for error. Rob got a flat tire right out of the gate, which wasn’t a good omen. I rode on ahead, only to discover the back roads we had planned were impassable. With the window of daylight starting to close, had no choice but to hop on I-90 and ride on the shoulder for about 10 miles. Not fun, with the semis blasting by and rumble strips to contend with every 20 yards or so, but made up the time I needed. A frontage road finally appeared, but a fence in the median blocked my path. Finally found a break in the fence, popped out and rolled the trike down the embankment and up onto the frontage road, for an uneventful ride into Rapid City. A Highway Patrol car was waiting for me on the side of the road when I rolled into town, but let me continue on my way. Raced through traffic and made the motel just as the light was beginning to fade.  Today’s 42 miles somehow managed to make yesterday’s 110 look easy.

A very interesting thing happened today. Separately, Rob and I both had horses run with us while riding. First time that has ever happened to either of us. Something’s in the air.

Have been wanting to share this article about a recent study suggesting the worst-case spill scenarios contemplated by TransCanada are grossly underestimated (like that should surprise any of us):  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/11/keystone-pipeline-leak_n_894526.html. Does the Obama White House even care?

Day 11: First century ride in the rocket trike, logging 110 miles on the day. Started the day in Montana, traversed the Warrior Trail Highway in Wyoming, and ended the day in Whitewood, South Dakota. Ron rode out twice to meet me along the way. Had to get close to Rapid City to make the most of the first major media market of the ride.

Here’s a piece on the ride that recently ran in my hometown newspaper: http://tinyurl.com/3kqpmkr.

Day 10: Rolled past the 30 MW Diamond Willow wind farm on the way out of Baker this morning. A beautiful sight to behold in this oil town, and promising sign of good things to come. Strong gusting winds blew me across the road like a drunken sailor, making for tough pedaling. Got recharged at Medicine Rocks. Then finished the mad dash to Ekalaka in time for a planning call. No cell phone coverage in town, but Ron found a working phone in an old phone booth with a chair inside, so set up shop there. Later talked to some guys down the street at a garage who were interested in hearing the facts about Keystone XL. Like most people we’ve met along the route, they were not aware of the true dangers of the proposal.

The Forest Service campground we had hoped to hit by nightfall didn’t exist, so we had to drive for a stretch in the dark, eventually pitching our tents next to some hay bales on the side of the road, 57 miles later. Peaceful, starry night under the Big Sky.

Day 9: The momentum against TransCanada’s toxic tar sands pipeline continues to build inside the beltway. Politico today reported that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voicing a range of concerns about the environmental impacts of Keystone XL: http://tinyurl.com/6lxm29j.

Meanwhile, in communities along the proposed pipeline route, we continue making new friends who are helping in various ways. Last night, Darlene Brown, owner of the Beaver Valley Haven campground where we stayed, was kind enough to store the trike in her garage overnight and recharge its battery. The morning was spent rolling past the gorgeous buttes of eastern Montana towards Baker, where Ron met up with me 10 miles outside of town on his road bike to pedal with me back into town. Once there, stopped into the office of the Fallon County Times and stumbled onto Lawler’s Coffee Shop, where we ended up setting up shop for the afternoon, fine-tuning the route. Despite the coffee shop not being officially opened for another eight days, the owner, Connie Moore, and Jessica Wagner generously served us free gourmet coffee drinks in exchange for our being tasting guinea pigs. Let me just say they’ve got it down. Got a motel room to get cleaned up and to do some more route planning, which is coming together nicely. Hope to have a route map loaded onto the website soon. More good conversations today with local residents about Keystone XL. Logged a total of 47 miles on the day.

Day 8: Highlight of the day was meeting and talking to Chuck Nerud, a third-generation rancher from Circle, MT who not only had some sharp words for TransCanada, but issued a powerful appeal to President Obama. Look for his interview to be posted soon.

The day started with an interview with the Ranger Review in Glendive, followed by a phone interview with the Circle Banner. We’re doing our level best to get the facts out about how this pipeline would impact the communities we’re traveling through. Before leaving town, rolled across the Yellowstone River on a beautiful old steel bridge preserved for pedestrians and bicyclists. Had a chance to reflect on the Exxon-Mobil oil spill earlier this summer and what could be in store for this and so many other of our beautiful rivers and streams if TransCanada gets its way. Then did a friendly phone interview with Wallace Snowden from Mix 103.7, a radio station out of Fort McMurray, Alberta. On the way out of town, rolled up to the drive-up window at Crazy Woman Expresso, where Darlene Cornelia was kind enough to treat me to a mocha for the road.

The ride day was a relatively short one (32 miles), but not without some intrigue. The first 12 miles east out of Glendive required riding on the shoulder of Interstate 94, which I try to avoid at all costs. In this instance, there was no other way from point A to point B. So Ron trailed me with hazard lights blinking and I knocked out the 12 miles as fast as I could (Ron said he clocked me at 20 mph most of the way). A highway patrol officer slowed down as he was passing us on the other side of the highway, but didn’t pull us over.  Was relieved when the frontage road finally appeared.  This eventually led to a dirt road, which Ron (an endurance athlete) scouted on foot (running), to assess the conditions. Deciding it was better to risk a flat on the gravel than push out luck with the Highway Patrol, made it into the town of Wibaux with some careful riding, where we found a friendly campground and a gem of a microbrewery called the Beaver Creek Brewery. Love that I’m able to post this blog from the cozy comfort of my tent.

Day 7: Writing you tonight from my tent in a campground in Glendive, MT.  Ron Seifert arrived last night to provide ride support, so the transition has been seamless. Pedaled a relatively flat 50 miles today from Circle to Glendive. Rolling into town, crossed the beautiful Yellowstone River, which Exxon-Mobil spilled an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil into earlier this summer. The prospect of another even more toxic spill by TransCanada’s Keystone XL should be enough to stop this pipeline proposal in its tracks. We must protect our national treasures. If you haven’t seen it, be sure to check out this New York Times op-ed video posted by Robert Redford yesterday opposing Keystone XL:  http://tinyurl.com/3zuszkq

Day 6: After a hearty breakfast at Jonny’s, videotaping some powerful words from Jake Goodbear, and saying farewell to our wonderful hosts, it was back to Frazer to retrieve the trike from the school garage. There we were met by a police car that trailed me with lights flashing the 18 miles from Frazer to Wolf Point.  My thanks to Officer Drew Acheson for the escort, and to Jonny BearCub for arranging it. It’s always comforting knowing someone has your back. Then did a fascinating interview with Drew’s wife, Julie, about building their home green. Later stopped into The Herald-News and local radio station KVCK in Wolf Point, which Harvard had driven ahead to arrange prior to my arrival, before he had to leave for home (sad). I can’t thank Harvard enough for his amazing support this past week.

Rolled up to the Wolf Point Cafe for a quick lunch before hitting the road south, only to learn that they didn’t accept credit cards. As I was counting my quarters, a local farmer sitting two seats down at the counter kindly offered to buy me lunch. I told him I should tell him why I was riding before he agreed to do that, but despite his desire to see the Keystone XL pipeline built, Craig still bought me lunch. By the time we finished eating, we found we agreed on much more than we disagreed, including the Wall Street protests, and even found some areas of common ground around the pipeline issue. If only Congress would engage in this kind of civil dialogue, many of America’s most pressing problems could be solved.

Rolling out of town, I came to the mighty Missouri River. Before crossing the bridge, I walked down to water’s edge to take in the beauty of this magnificent force of nature that would be threatened by TransCanada’s tar sands pipeline. From the Missouri River south, it was long rolling hills all the way to the town of Circle. The seemingly endless ridge lines made for one of the toughest ride days I’ve ever pedaled.  Helping lighten the load were two more hawks, 3 curious horses that I thought were going to run with me and more thoughtful-looking cows than I could count.

70 miles later and totally exhausted, finally rolled into Circle as the sun was starting to set, only to learn that the only motel in town had no rooms available. When I told her I would take anything, she offered me a room that hadn’t been cleaned (for $20). I gladly took it (it was clean). A real stroke of good fortune.

Day 5: Pedaled a relatively short 14 miles in the cold this morning to the Frazer Public School, where the entire K-12 student body of about 100 students assembled in the gym for a talk about the Keystone XL pipeline tour. In addition to Jonny BearCub, I want to thank Dean Blount, Tommy Blount, Melanie Blount, James Delterrera, Julie Flynn for their help in arranging my talk. Thanks, too, to Jewell Ackerman for bringing her kids in the local Head Start program by the school. The best part was the inquisitive questions posted by these young leaders of tomorrow. The rocket trike was the star of the show, but it felt like my message of why I was riding to block Keystone XL got through.

Leaving Frazer, we shuttled the trike (thanks to Reese Reddoor and Larry Wetsit) to the Poplar Public School, where 200 of the school’s 5th through 8th graders assembled in the gym. On the way, we stopped by the tribal government office, where Vina Smith introduced me to several Tribal Council members, who were happy to inform me they had taken a formal position against the Keystone XL pipeline. This was wonderful news to learn. We then met with Walter White Tail Feather, Director of the Fort Peck Development Office, who educated me on all the work the tribe was doing to become energy self sufficient. This includes residential geothermal, wind power, solar plans, possible tidal power plans and more. We can all learn a lot by studying what’s going on at Fort Peck.

Thanks to Vina and Kevin Kenelty for arranging my talk at Poplar. Like at Frazer, the questions posed by the youth gathered were insightful and varied. My favorite was wasn’t I too old to be riding a trike? My response was you’re never too old and how old did everyone think I was anyway? This set off a frenzied round of guesses from the kids that ranged from 20 something to 87(!). After the event, a young girl came up to me to share with me her feelings that President Obama should be doing what we ask him to do, since we’re the ones who got him elected. As I was leaving, she came up to me to tell me the President enjoys a nice life in the White House because of us, so he should help us in return. What a wise girl.

Had a wonderful farewell (for now) dinner with Jonny, Phyllis, Jake, Janet and Harvard tonight, where lots of laughs were shared. I am deeply grateful for these new friendships being forged.

Finally, here’s the piece that ran on the Great Falls, MT CBS News affiliate last night, entitled “Cross-Country Biker Protests Proposed Pipeline”: http://tinyurl.com/3lysozg.

Day 4: Spent most of today holed up in my guest room “den” at Jonny BearCub’s home tackling a backlog of videos piling up and in need of editing and posting, but not before first being treated to a hearty breakfast and more great company (including George Redstone and John & Linda Grandchamp). Shortly after breakfast, a call came in from KRTV Channel 3 (CBS News affiliate for Great Falls, MT) wanting to do a piece on the ride. Ended the day with an amazing home cooked dinner of potatoes and squash from the garden and local venison (garlic lime, sesame ginger, and buckaroo style).