From Kansas City, KS to Sioux Falls, SD
From Kansas City, KS to Sioux Falls, SD
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Today is a full day of interstate travel. A lot of ground to cover and the interstate is the best way to go. The weather report this morning looks good so I should have a nice dry day. As I'm having breakfast, compliments of the Days Inn, I read that this weekend is Gay Pride weekend in Kansas City. I wish I had known, I would have made an attempt to go out last night and see what the town was like.
For those of you that don't know, June is generally the time for gay pride celebrations in the United States. The date was set by a handful of angry drag queens in New York in the late 1960s. They didn't sit down around a cosmetic mirror and say 'Hey Girls, when should the big parade be?' It seems that back in those days, it was not unusual for the New York Police to come into gay bars and roust the clientele. I think it was a kind of sport for these men. Well this night it didn't work. The clientele, mostly transvestites, turned on the police and set off three nights of rioting. Those were the Stonewall Riots and they mark the first time that gay people in the United States demanded anything approaching equal treatment.
The celebrations tend to be staggered throughout the month of June to allow people to travel regionally to several events. In California, Long Beach tends to have the first celebration of the season. San Diego moved the pride festival to late July in 1996 to coincide with the opening of the Republican Convention when it was held in San Diego. Desert communities like Palm Springs and Phoenix hold their celebrations in the spring or winter when the weather is best. Ron and I went to Australia in February for the Sydney celebration. The parade is a nationally televised event! In the end, the parade and festival in a particular town are interesting. They tell you a lot about the size, diversity and maturity of a particular gay community.
My impression of Kansas City as I drive around it is pretty positive. It looks like an interesting city. I may need to come back here at some time in the future.
The interstate isn't so bad. There is very little traffic and the road is only two lanes in each direction. While the interstate runs roughly parallel to the Missouri River, the road is not near the river. The streams and rivers that feed into the Missouri are running very high due to all the rain in the past two weeks. The countryside alternates between relatively flat farmland to rolling hills that overlook the river.
At Hamburg, I exit for a gas stop. A couple from Georgia have just filled up their Gold Wing (with trailer) and I pull up to them for a quick chat. They are headed from just north of Atlanta to the Black Hills of South Dakota. This is an annual holiday that they usually take with his mother and father. When they travel with his parents, the trip is done in a van. When his parents became ill and couldn't make this year's trip, she suggested they 'take the bike, take the bike!' They have traveled the 900+ miles in two days and since it is early afternoon they will make more mileage yet today.
Near
Council Bluffs, Iowa, I pay a visit on the National Historic Trails
National Monument. The purpose of this National Park Service facility
is to document the history and impact of the westward migration, in
particular: The Oregon Trail, The Mormon Trail, The California Trail
and the Santa Fe Trail. This is done using static displays and first
person accounts and recordings of the participants experience.
The museum actually goes further than that. It really documents four phases of migration that continue to current times. The earliest phase is the migration by wagon train. Three things caught my eyes from this period. The first was the real hardship involved in this migration. There is a display about Independence Rock in Wyoming. Overland travelers believed that if they passed this landmark by July 4th, they were likely to make it across the Sierra Nevada mountains into California before the first snowfalls of the season. The rock itself is carved with thousands of names of overland travelers that passed this point on the way to the west.
The second item has to do with the Forty Mile Desert crossing in Nevada. By now, a westward bound traveler has been moving for months. Many were malnourished or sick. Their pack animals may have been sick and underfed. Their wagons were battered by the long overland trek. Now they come upon this forty mile stretch of arid desert with no water and little vegetation. A contemporaneous diary entry describes the scene. The trail is littered with belongings that have been tossed off their wagons in an effort to lighten the load an make it across this godforsaken patch. Dead animals are everywhere. She counts over 100 dead cattle in a one mile stretch. How horrifying this must have been after suffering so much indignity and discomfort. What motivated these strong men and women?
The final item that caught my eye was a quotation by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians. He is reported to have said, "They will teach us to quarrel about God, as Catholics and Protestants do on the Nez Perce reservation and other places. We do not want to do that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit. We do not want to learn that."
The second wave of migration was enabled by the railroad. The railroad also enabled the hunting of the bison in quantities so great that it would approach extinction. German chemists developed methods to tan bison leather for use in shoes. This mass hunting further disrupted Native American traditions to the point that their communities as they existed before the coming of Europeans was ended.
The
third wave was the automobile. The assembly of the first national
highway, the Lincoln Highway, is documented. Early travel by
automobile was tough. The role of the car and truck in the migration
west following the dust bowl of the 1930s is discussed. The last wave
was the building of the Interstate starting in the 1950s.
Between the museum building and the Missouri River, a part of the park is restored prairie land. The wildflowers were gorgeous on the bright afternoon. This was a very satisfying visit.
Heading north again, I roll through more Iowa farmland. Years ago, a friend rode his bicycle in a seven day noncompetitive event called the RIGBRAI. I remember him clearly telling me how tough the western part of the race was due to hills and heats. The race could have been today. The temperature is high and the western part of Iowa is much hillier than I expected. It is beautiful countryside.
Sioux City, IA looks like an interesting town. The interstate runs right on the river front. There are a lot of activities focused on the river: boating, fishing and jet skis can be seen. Into South Dakota, I'm getting close to my destination.
Just north of Elk Point, I duck into a rest stop. There is some fairly nasty weather just ahead. The sky is dark as coal. I ask the woman at the tourist information desk but they say that there won't be any bad weather until the evening. I mention that the weather seems to be here NOW and within twenty miles. Two of the women head out with me for a look. There is no lightening visible but the crackle of thunder sounds almost like static on the radio.
This is the first time I hear about 'the calm before the storm.' They tell me that everything is fine as long as the wind keeps blowing. Usually just before a tornado, the weather will calm down and then it is time to be concerned. After thirty minutes of stalling, I decide the system has moved east and its now safe to pass.
Tonight,
I will be hosted by Steve another person that I have met since
starting this trip. Despite construction problems on I-229, I manage
to get to Steve's house about a half hour late. We talk for a little
while and then head out for an tour of Sioux Falls on our bikes. The
main item is the falls that are in the center of town.
After some more sightseeing, we head to dinner -- some fine Mexican food. Then it is time for a couple drinks at Sioux Falls' gay bar. It is Saturday night and a large crowd builds as the night passes. I meet a bunch of Steve's friends. It is really interesting to hear about living in a small city or the surrounding countryside.
We
leave the bar around midnight. It is a beautiful night. The wind is
blowing, the temperature is nice but it is slightly humid. I notice
the name of a convenience store. I think it is so hysterical, I
demand that we come back in the morning for a picture. We get back to
Steve's house and sit down to chat some more. We have the atlas out
and Steve has me recounting parts of my trip. I notice that there is
a lot of lightening outside. Steve is relatively unconcerned. Then it
starts to hail. He's upset because his Firebird -- one of his pet
projects might get damaged. Steve decides it is time to turn on the
weather channel for an update. Well we are in the midst of a tornado
warning. Doppler radar indicates a possible funnel cloud about six
miles to the north. Steve thinks we are safe because tornados tend to
move north and east as well as it is very windy outside. I hear about
the calm before the storm again. On television, we can see the
Doppler radar image of a north to south line of thunderstorms moving
at 50 miles per hour across the Dakotas. Nearly as quickly as they
arrived, they are gone and we are safe again.
Tomorrow: Off to Pierre, SD
Depart Kansas City (Lenexa) heading north on Interstate 35 heading north.
Cross State Line into Missouri
In Kansas City, Missouri, transition from I-35 to I-29 heading north.
Cross State Line into Iowa
At Council Bluffs, IA exit Interstate to Historic Trails National Monument.
Continue on I-29 heading north.
Cross State Line into South Dakota
Arrive Sioux Falls
(c) 2001 Thomas N. Engler Revision Date: 06/15/2001
