Friday, June 17—Saturday, June 18: We left Edgewood Church for Re-Member at about 8:00, half an hour later than planned due to late arrivals. Marv & I are riding with Ed & Jackie, and the other 14 people are in two minivans and a truck. Friday was a VERY long day of driving, with brief stops for lunch and dinner. We arrived in North Sioux City, SD, barely inside the state line out of Iowa, about 10:30 “our time”. The Comfort Inn & Suites was very nice, with an indoor pool, cookies, and a large room for Marv and me to share. After a good breakfast we got back on the road. We saw a lot of evidence of the record flooding of the Missouri River in the area and even had to take some detours to get around closed roads and exits. Most of today’s driving was on highways, not freeways, and we had little traffic and only a few small towns across Nebraska as we made our way to Pine Ridge. When we arrived we found we were all staying in the smaller, “extra” building called Kiksuya. There is more than enough room for us there and it gets us away from the bustle of the main building, where they are dealing with an infestation of bed bugs. At our orientation we were warned about that and also learned that the Director is gone this week, fetching his family to come live with him here. That leaves about 60 volunteers, mostly youth, in the hands of about 6 college-age workers. We had dinner then went to a Pow-Wow, held at the nearby Oglala Lakota College (Associates, Bachelors, & Masters Degrees). It was interesting and entertaining to see all the dancers in their Regalia and some of our group joined in on the dancing. Marv and I especially enjoyed going from Drum Circle to Drum Circle and watching them. We got back to Re-Member late enough that we met only long enough to get our Prayer Partner gifts and go to bed. With a fan in the window making white noise and ear plugs in my ears I was soon asleep in a room with 4 other women.
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