May 2010 - Posts

Monday, May 31, 2010 3:20 PM

Memorial Day's Wallace to Wallace Tour

It's official!  The Sullivan's got 'er done!  In late 2009, your Region C Family of the Year set a goal to visit and ride through all 7 states and 2 provinces of GWTA's Region C while serving as Family of the Year.  During our trip to the Region C Rally in Wisconsin, we traveled through the majority of the Region C states.  With this in mind, we looked for an opportune time to fill in the missing states in a grand tour.  We named our trip the Wallace to Wallace Tour because it started in Wallace, Nebraska, and would end in a Manitoba municipality named Wallace. On Memorial Day weekend, we (Doug, Michelle, and Hannah) accomplished our goal with a 4-day ride through the Nebraska sandhills, both the Dakotas, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.  (Alas, Brittni is still in Kentucky preparing to take her CPA exam.)  It was a beautiful journey through a variety of terrain with mostly (Note, I did say mostly!) good riding weather.  We followed Highway 83 for most of our route... which was appropriate for this holiday weekend since the road is also designated the Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Highway.  If you ever want to get on the bike, pull back on the throttle, and just ride... this is your road.  It has lots of long distances through beautiful countryside with good pavement and few slow-downs or big cities.  And it will take you all the way to the US/Canadian border and up through Canada.

Some of the road took us alongside the Missouri River and right through the heart of Lewis and Clark country.  We spent the first night in Washburn, North Dakota, at a privately-owned hotel right near where Sakakawea lived and joined the famous explorers' party.  It is also the beginning of the Sakakawea Scenic Byway.  Our second day's journey began with ominous clouds but the weather held as we rode north through Minot and on to the International Peace Garden bordering the United States and Canada.  The border crossings are located right at the entrance of the Peace Garden.  The Garden is easy to get into, but it is the visitor's responsibility to have and present the proper documentation in order to return to either country.

The International Peace Gardens is an awesome place to visit, even early in the season or when the weather is cool.  We arrived after the park employees had just finished cleaning up all the dead limbs and debris from an early morning thunderstorm.  The employees said the lightning and thunder were so violent that the ground shook constantly until the front passed through.  The park is filled with many one-way roads which allow vehicles to roam freely at slow speeds and enjoy the scenery.  There is also a cafe which accepts both American and Canadian money.  Our family had a lot of fun by straddling our bikes and our bodies on both sides of the border and having our pictures taken.... how many people can say they've been in two countries at once... or had their picture taken while the rider was in Canada and the co-rider was still in the States???  We spent a few silent moments at the Peace Tower, gazing at the metal taken from the 9/11 World Trade Center Towers debris and incorporated into the garden towers. 

After the Peace Gardens, Hammy got her first experience of using a passport and passing through customs and being questioned by the border patrol.  We didn't really have any problems; politeness, respect, and direct answers to their questions got us through quickly.  The rest of the day was an experience in wet weather riding... Canadian style.  We know all about stormy weather on the plains, but this day brought a whole new meaning to "reading the clouds".  We learned very quickly that northern storm fronts and cloud formations take a whole new direction from what we are used to.  Dark clouds hovered low and looked full of bad karma... yet, we passed through these fairly safely even with all the street lights tricked into lighting up as if evening had already begun.  The really bad weather hit us when we thought we were coming out of the storm and back into the light.  The rain poured down in blinding sheets and the wind gusted from every direction leaving us no visibility and no place to take cover.  Thank goodness for good rain gear and good tires.  The climax of the storm hit and the thunder rattled our rides as we passed through the Wallace area.  The area had been inundated with wet weather and a low was forecasted to hover over Virden with similar storms for the next 3 days.  We may not have had beautiful weather for the afternoon ride or been able to capture a lot of pictures of the two provinces, but we approached the Saskatchewan border with an adventure to remember.  From there, we raced the sunset to our port of entry (open during daylight hours).  I think the US border guard felt sorry for us and took it easy on us with few questions and just a basic pat-down of our bike compartments... Our GWTA business cards came in handy and helped confirm our answers when the guard came across some of the cards stuffed in my trunk.  'Nuff said; welcome back!

After grabbing one Minot hotel's last available room, we opted for pizza, comfy beds, and a late morning before church.  Then on to explore the Native American Scenic Byway and Sitting Bull's resting place.  Highway 1806 is an awesome ride through the Standing Rock Reservation.  The weather was beautiful; we seemed to have arrived at a perfect time of year... everything was lush and green.  As we pulled into Fort Yates and the site of Sitting Bull's incarceration and first burial site, we got lost.  Doug stopped to ask directions while I explored another avenue.  Soon, an extraordinary young lady offered to get in her car and show us around.  Lexie was fantastic with her local knowledge and her hospitality.  We had arrived at the end of the annual Chiefs Ride honoring Sitting Bull and other chiefs.  Horseback riders rode into town and assembled for good food and fellowship.  She pointed out several places of interest that we would have missed and answered all our questions.  Thank you Lexie!  This young lady would make a great guide!

Our route after Fort Yates left Hwy 1806 and detoured  deeper into the reservation lands.  The scenery and the weather made for an ideal roadtrip.  At the end of the detour, we came upon side-road leading to Sitting Bull's current resting place and the Sakakawea memorial.  This has to be one of the most beautiful 4.5 miles of road in the whole country.  An undeveloped stretch of pavement rides right along the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, almost right up to the burial mound.  To get off the bikes, remove your helmet, and hear absolute silence... just the wind blowing through the long grasses is unforgettable.  As we approached the burial mound, we were welcomed by a man there on a private visit... after a while, he started offering us bits of the site's history and finally shared with us that he was the last living member of the original caretakers for the memorial.  His stories made the visit much more personal.  He showed us the bullet holes on the memorial and the repairs that had been made to the carved bust.  Tom, thank you so much.  PS: This statue was carved and signed by Korczak Ziolkkowski, the same sculptor who started the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills.  We left the monument near dusk and spent the night in Mobridge at a great privately-owned hotel that had just been renovated.  The Wrangler's Inn reminded us of the vacation hotels of the 60's.  What a great place to stay with some great prime rib.  Yes, we decided to treat ourselves to a relaxed sit-down meal next door at the Grand Oasis... with its fantastic view overlooking the Missouri River and the bluffs at sunset.

Day 4 was all about getting home, we enjoyed the Dakota scenery and noted that the area was still struggling to dry out enough to get last year's corn picked.  One farmer had his combine, his semi truck, and his planter out in the field all at the same time... not a sight you often see.  Much of Hwy 83 had water right up to the roadway in places and I could see how a person could get trapped during a rainstorm and risk trying to escape by crossing a water-breached highway.  With the ground so saturated, I'm glad we weren't scheduled for another pouring rain.  The lilacs were in full bloom and mile after mile was ridden with their perfume filling the air.

I could go on and on, but in short... Region C, you gave us a wonderful holiday weekend to remember.  It has been an honor to serve as your Family of the Year and to explore your roads, meet some wonderful "Destination Friendship" people, and enjoy your respites after a hard spring of fieldwork and planting.  The Sullivan's say "thank you".

If you'd like to see the Hammy Cam Slideshow, click here:  http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow.aspx?i=1&db=1&pw=fFxJbfzE&a_id=4696780

For the pictures from our Wallace to Wallace tour, click here:  http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/fFxJbfzE/1/4696780
posted by U2Farmer with 0 Comments