The Grasshopper March
Let’s catch up, shall we?
May 16 Nebraska City to Council Bluffs. 53 miles.
(I hope at a later time to write about Lewis and Clark at Council Bluffs)
In the meantime, enjoy this photo of the chewed up road I tried to ride on: (It was too muddy to ride, but I only had to walk about a half-mile.)
May 17 Council Bluffs to Onawa (Blue Lake) 70 miles. Strong tailwinds.
May 18 Onawa to Sioux City. 35 miles. The winds stayed strong, but changed direction, made for a punishing ride. I stayed in a hotel at Sioux City for 4 days, sheltering from thundershowers. I needed the rest anyway.
May 22 Sioux City to Vermillion, South Dakota 46 miles.
I know you want to hear about my adventures on the road, but can I tell you about Miss Goode, my fourth grade teacher? I know this is unbelievable, but I think she had close to 56 students. The exquisitely lined rows were eight desks deep. And I think there were at least 7 rows. Maybe there were a few empty seats, but…. When the bullied boy across the room shouted Goddamm You! and broke into tears, I could not see him through the mass of giggling humanity. (Miss Goode was well-named. She did not reprimand the bullied boy for swearing. I don’t remember what she did to the bully or bullies that caused the scene.
We were probably settling down for reading time when all that happened. Miss Goode read all the books of the Little House in the Prairie series to her fourth grade class. We were allowed to read along if we had a copy. We were also allowed to lay our heads down on our desks. There’s a scene somewhere in the series, about grasshoppers. Maybe my head was down. Maybe the scene entered my mind like a dream, but I remember apocalyptic swarm of grasshoppers chomping their way through the community’s hopes, devastating crops, locking everyone into a winter of poverty.
All that came back to me in Jefferson, South Dakota, where I learned of a grasshopper infestation in May, 1876—and the religious response to it. Catholics from the French community and Protestants from—Germany?— I don’t know— marched 11 miles in prayer for their crops. Apparently, the result was positive.
There was a cross at the church where that sign was posted. I found another one some miles away. Apparently there is a third one somewhere.
May 23 Vermillion to Midway Gulch cabin. 41 miles.
I stayed 2 nights in the cabin, because of the thundershowers, but also, my energy is still low, legs and knees are sore, so I’m trying to take it easy. If I had been feeling stronger, I would have loved to take a detour at Yankton to see the Spirit Mounds. Slaveowner Clark made some interesting deductions in his journal about this spiritually significant site. I had wanted to see it for myself, but I just wasn’t up to it. If I remember correctly, Lewis didn’t make it up that hill either. It was a very hot day for them, and I think that was when Lewis sniffed some ore he found and it made him sick. His dog Seaman tried to make the trip, but it was too hot for him as well.
May 25 Midway Gulch to Greenfield. 26 miles. It’s been windy, and I am still trying to take it easy. I have a hard 50 mile ride tomorrow. In the meantime, this is a very interesting read, and it will give some background about where I’m camping tomorrow: https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-36-2/awe-lost-our-way-of-living-the-inundation-of-the-white-swan-community/vol-36-no-2-we-lost-our-way-of-living.pdf
See you up the road!
"Apparently, the result was positive." When praying for grasshopper relief, positive is good, unlike tests that have plagued all of lives the last few years! :-)