Fill in the blank: God ____ America.

I actually have a strict time limit at the library here, so I have to be quick.



Riding a bicycle across the country is without a doubt the best way to travel. My slow pace gives me plenty of time to stop at almost every scenic lookout, historical marker, and major museum along the way. But it goes far beyond the stops. Just being on the bike, every one of your senses is exercised. I am able to see animals on the hillsides and in creek beds that most cars zip right past without noticing. I am able to hear the birds sing. I am able to feel the weather as it really is... cold at the mountain passes, misty in the mornings, hot and dry some afternoons. I am able to smell the good and the bad, the wildflowers and pine trees as well as the chicken coops and hog pens. I'm not too thrilled about knowing what all sorts of bugs taste like.



On this trip I've been able to travel to many places that I've never been before- in fact, everything after Tallahassee is new for me. I've seen lots of this country. And it's been amazing... I've truly gained a new appreciation for the beauty of the land and the kindness of the people I've met along the way. I've had an incredible glimpse not just down the backroads of America but also into the family rooms of America. I've attended a kindergarten graduation ceremony, witnessed that gift of a new car to a community servant, and seen three kids hanging all over dad explaining their unintelligible drawings on their handmade Father's Day cards.



But there is a strong tension brewing. There's this love and appreciation growing... but then I've also actually stood on the ground where so many atrocities were committed by this country. I camped on the Mississippi River at the exact spot where the Cherokee tribe spent a winter during their forced removal from the southern Appalachians to Oklahoma. I overlooked valleys that once held millions of buffalo, all slaughtered not just out of greed for money but in a purposed attempt to destroy the livelihood of native tribes. I used the same mountain pass as Chief Big Foot and his Lakota people used just days before being slaughtered by the US Army at Wounded Knee. There is something powerful about actually standing in these locations. I've never been, but I have to imagine it's something like visiting an old Nazi concentration camp... you can read about the history and be aware of it... but then to see it firsthand, an incalculable depth is added.



Even Mount Rushmore itself is an abomination in so many ways. The US Government signed multiple treaties with the Lakota Sioux tribe, the latest of which was in 1868, that guaranteed the tribe would retain possession of the Black Hills- a sacred spot to the tribe. But then in the mid-1870s, General Custer found gold and a rush of miners and settlers arrived, breaking the treaty. A new treaty was forced on the Lakota by withholding food supplies (since the buffalo were killed, the US Govt began using food stipends as incentive to convince tribes to give up land), and the Black Hills- remember, sacred ground to the Lakota- were very much stolen by the government. Then a few decades later, someone came up with the grand idea of plastering massive busts of four of the guys most responsible for this greedy land takeover and genocide to set up on one of the highest peaks, overlooking the whole of the Black Hills... finishing off the desecration of this once sacred land. It really makes for a bittersweet sight to say the least.



I've more or less been following the Lewis and Clark Trail to the west coast. I assure you, if it weren't for the repeated help from many Native American tribes along the way, that whole expedition would have died several times over. And in exchange for that help, what did those tribes receive?



I have to imagine that this weekend, "God Bless America" will ring throughout every city. History isn't over. There really isn't anything new under the sun. Iraq war. Torture. Corporate greed. What do you think the chances are that we get honest and change some lyrics to "God Have Mercy On America"?



That's just a piece of the whole. My time is up but my thoughts are not and the bike journey certainly isn't either. Saturday I'll be going to Great Falls to get some new tires, then I'll be heading north for Glacier National Park for a week or so. It looks like I have only about 1100 more miles left until the Pacific Ocean!