June 27, 2009 Cavalry Days

Fort Meade Cavalry Days; Bear Butte - Hold the Presses on the Rambow story

Morning was spent at the Harley dealership in Rapid City for an oil changes and while I waited, the floor rep suggested that I try out new 2009 models, no strings attached. All I needed was a MC license and a helmet. Having both, I tried out a Fat Boy on a suggested country road - it was very sporty, and I took the wrong turn and ended up on a road with horse farms, “North Fork” and beautiful scenery. I returned and they asked me to try a “geezer cruiser.” So I took a fully equipped Ultra Glide, and it rode beautifully. And it should for the price of $24,000, more than what I paid for my first house (now that’s a geezer comment).
After lunch at Rosco’z again, we went back to Fort Meade for cavalry days. Most of the festivities had already taken place by the time we got there, but we did see girls dancing a 1880’s type dance in costume, met some gunslingers and then went to see an Indian with his Appaloosa. He was entertaining your cub scouts. His cell phone rang and he answered it, saying that he was in the middle of entertaining some young and not so young children, and then he said he had us all “surrounded” and that they better send the Army. He was dressed in leggings and was bare chested, with long black hair, and a missing tooth or two. He was very good with the kids, and he mounted his Appaloosa bareback so we could take a picture. A lady asked him what type of saddle he used when he went riding. His reply: “A whattle?” She asked again. He replied again, “A whattle?” And then he explained that he didn’t use saddles on his horses; they didn’t like them and it was much better for his physical strength not to use a saddle. He babies his horses. Are you listening, Miss PETA? We walked back down the hill to the 1861 Delafield cannon which Bobby got to load and fire. In fact, he was thrilled with the whole thing.
Bob, Bill and I (Griff having gone there before we got here) then rode several miles to Bear Butte, the sacred mountain. We had quite a chat with Moanee, an Indian woman, about Sweet Medicine and the stories Chuck Rambow had told us. According to her, Mr. Rambow was full of it. When I asked what tribe he was from, she smiled: “German.” This teacher of Native American history who has a pony tail like an Indian, was a ranger at Bear Butte in the summers for years and has written about Bear Butte is a GERMAN? “Maybe Prussian, “ she added. She showed us a picture of the Medicine Circle north of Sheridan, Wyoming, a larger one than the one at Bear Butte. So the moral of the story is don’t assume that a person is something just because he can tell a good story.
We had seen a picture of an Indian named “Young Man Who is Scared of His Horse.” We thought that it would be awful to get a name like that, and to have to live with that for the rest of your life. We asked Moanee how he got that name, and she explained that it meant that their enemies didn’t want to see Young Man’s horse in battle because he was such a good warrior. Quite a different meaning to his name than what we had concluded. We thanked Moanee for her information and departed, feeling more respect for the Indians and their spirituality and courage exemplified by the Cheyenne and Sweet Medicine. Indians still come to Bear Butte seeking visions by fasting for 4 days and nights, the hunger and thirst causing hallucinations or “visions.”
New quiz: What do you call the wooden pieces of a cannon that are located on and hold each side of the barrel of the cannon?
This was Bobby’s day, as you will find out later. Good night.