scenic pine ridge south dakota

last weekend i was leaving hot springs s. dak and decicied to take the southern route as i have never been that way, but have treveled i90 lots of times.

i had been warned to stay out of pine ridge indian reservation, but i thought how bad can it be? so, off i go, after getiing accross some badlands, i drop into a beautiful area of buttes and valleys, the valleys green and lush. great roads twisting gently through this area of the state.

as i neared pine ridge, i noticed more and more small third world villages of trailier home and shacks that had at least one window boarded up with plywood or were burned out or obviously abandoned. this in contrast to the beautiful aountryside around them.

i needed to fuel so when i got into pine ridge proper, i gassed up and decicided to take a break. as soon as i pulled from the pump, a strung out looking native walks over and says hey ya got five bucks? i said no but i had two ones in my roll, so i ask is two ok? and he smiles and says yeah, my name is roger blackduck, and thanks brother what is your name? i say tom zanter, and we start bs'ing about weather and stuff and then another native comes out he too looks pretty strung out and he says hey brother, got a smoke? i say yeah and shake one out for him, but one drops and the ground and he says when one drops on the ground, you are supposed to break it in half and toss it to the wind, so i give him anouther and he does the break in half and toss into the wind thing. he then introduces himself as white calf. all this time i am the only white (sort of, i am not true blooded of any type) guy around and drawing a crowd, but so far i am just diggin it and not nervous, also i am armed with my little .25, not much but a hell of a confidence builder just in case....anyway next out comes an FBI (fuggiin big indian) and he walks up to my bike and looks at the plate, and then he says wisconsin? i have been to wisconsin. so i say oh yeah where?, and then he says oxford federal prison. i say, yeah i know where that is. and we start bs'sing about prison and cheesheads, green bay packers, and how he is recovering droug and alcohol addict and now an artist of native stuff. well one of the ohter two is messing with my sissy bar bag, and i say to him nothing in there for you man, and he quits, but as soon as i turn my head he is back at the zipper, trying to open the bag. so i say again nothing in there
for you man, leave that alone. He gives me a dirty look and walks over to a car full of young indians and starts to bs with them and leaves white calf and fbi bsing with me.


so anyway i say got to get moving and i shake hands again all around, say it has been a pleasure to blah blah blah, and take off. the white car full of young indians follows me out, and i think, oh ****, this is it for me. so i drive out of pine ridge east, leading a car full of native, who i think are intent on doing me harm or at least trying to scare me. so i run it up to about 70 and just cruising when i here sirens and see lights, so i start to pull over and then the carload speeds up and passed me!!! so i stay off to the side while the tribal police rip by me after the white car.


this is the end of this story, i can only imagine what was really going on there.but it should just go to show you there are good people everywhre, and assahts too. when traveling alone through most resrvations, you wouldnt even notice too much, but pine ridge is a rough place and maybe it would serve you well to keep that in mind when traveling in this beautiful area fo the country.


wibiker

[thrasher]

Wow! Glad you were able to keep your cool through all that and you didn't have to confront any of them....

[Dirty Dan]

Good story, Tom. Sounds like it was an adventure.

[hornrocker]

Glad to hear it worked out....





























Could have been a little nasty....

[Big Tom]

I drove thru there a couple times on the way to Sturgis about 10 years ago. I was told to make sure I had gas to go all the way and NOT to stop. I see some things dont change.

[TerryMiller]

I've been told the same thing.

Guess it's true.

[d j]

Been thru there several times.Never stopped,but I saw those same types staggering around.

Pine Ridge is a nasty-ass place!

[Berserker]

Maybe you should listen to others advice.

[Scabbydoo]

Tom, glad it turned out to be but a good story for around the campfire.