Dakota 38 + 2 Memorial Ride 2014 - Day 12
Rest day in Morton

We started the group off in 2008 for the 2008 Ride, just to organize food and lodging in Pipestone. That first year was the year the Movie 'Dakota 38' was filmed, Silas Had visited with us in Pipestone and asked for our support for the Ride, he said they would be videoing it the whole way as they wanted to make people aware not only of Jim's dream and the Ride but of the 1862 history as well. A history that very few people knew about even those living where it happened. As the history of Chuck's People was dear to our hearts as well we said yes straight away, we would do what we could to help them. In our Little Feather Center in Pipestone we used to teach about the history of 1862, and I was always amazed at how few people had even heard about the hangings. In the early summer of 1862 Chuck's family from Granite Falls area, (Upper Sioux) were in Pipestone quarrying for stone so they could make pipes for the people. In 1862 they reached the stone in record time and left for home, but on the way they saw smoke on the horizon, thinking it was a prairie fire they got worried and kept watching it but it didn't seem to move, they carried on. Closer to home someone told them that there was some trouble in Morton, (Lower Sioux) and they should leave the area. They listened and buried the stone they had and continued travelling out of Minnesota. They didn't return until much later. I believe that Chuck realized that if they hadn't carried on one of them could have been one of the 38, and he may never have been born, and so he wanted to support this Ride, that could have been happening for his family.

Chuck passed away of cancer in 2010, and before he passed both his sister, Alice Erickson, and myself promised him we would continue to support the Ride each year. That year's Ride was lead by Peter and he told me that the Ride would always stop at the Little Feather Center because of Chuck. I was lucky enough that year to travel with the Ride from Pipestone to Marshall, and it was amazing. The people were so lovely, warm and friendly and I realized what a unique thing this Ride was, and wanted to do more for it. However after Chuck's memorial in 2011 I returned home to England but told Alice I would continue to keep this group going to help them, at that point we didn't have many members. It wasn't until the movie 'Dakota 38' came out that we had an influx of people on here, and that has continued since then. This week I added the 6,000th member.

I am very proud of the people in this group, they are very caring, sensible, wise, human beings. I have seen them talk to someone who is in despair, and make them feel better, I have seen them find a place for a homeless woman and her dog many miles from where they themselves lived. They may have been in CA or FL in the warm sunshine, but they cared for a woman and her dog who were sheltering in her car, in the snows of MT. They got together behind the scenes, contacted the place where she was parked, purchased some food for her and the dog, filled her tank with gas and while that was going on, others were finding her a shelter to go to so that she would be warm and safe. We sat up all night watching this woman get to safety, and when she did we got a phone call from the place to say she was safe. I don't know about the rest but I cheered and cried. We heard from this lady this year and she had stayed there for a few months, until the weather warmed and then she moved to a place of safety. she sent photos of her and her dog near her new home in the mountains in MT, it looked beautiful and I was so pleased for her. I have seen the prayers sent by so many for those who needed them. I alone have made so many friends who mean the world to me on here, from so many different places in the world. Two of those friends are on the Ride, Sharlene from South Africa, who joined us last year and was determined to get there to Ride, she made us all laugh with her 'x amount of sleeps before I leave for the Ride' she is there now on a horse called Di, fulfilling her dream. Joy is another friend who is there, she came up to SD from GA on a bus, almost on the spur of the moment, she was met by Keith and they along with Josette and Sharlene traveled together to the Lower Brule. These people believed in Jim's dream, in the Ride, and they trusted us to share their dreams with. This year people have been helped through one situation or another by this wonderful loving group of worldwide souls. I am so very proud of them all.

Jim and Alberta have asked me to continue to run the group as I have been doing over the years. I have said I would. I believe in respect for each other, and continuing my promise to my late husband Chuck Derby who was Dakota.

Although I am in England I find it pretty easy to keep up with the group and the Ride. At this time of year I live on American time so that I can catch the photos or words that I put on the group page, once I have enough I make up a web page each day, well 2 am to 5 am my time, and publish it on line before I go to bed.

Up until this year I have been the only Admin for the group, but this year I asked Lou Fuentes if he would back me up in case I couldn't get on line for one reason or another, and he said yes, so he is the second Admin, and we both keep a close eye on the group. At this time of year Lou is a great asset to the group, making the map and keeping an eye on the weather.

Sharlene calls this the best family ever, and I know Lou and I feel the same way, we are a group of people who are more than strangers joining up for a subject we believe in. We are like a family, we care about each other, we pray for each other, and during this Ride I suggested we do a prayer together at a certain time of the day so that we are all together praying. The feedback of that is wonderful, the people feel like they are closer to the Ride and each other by doing it that way. It is very powerful.

Love, respect, caring, spirituality, understanding, positivity, and wisdom abound in this group, this family, this Tiospaye. I feel very honoured to work on here for you and the Ride, and Jim's dream.

Mitakuye Owasin

Gloria