12 Decisions
Dr. Yang stepped into the room shortly after ten. He studied a tablet that displayed the results from an early morning checkup. “You seem to be doing quite well for a man in your condition.” He spoke with a straight face that masked his feelings. “I’ve changed your medication and signed for your discharge. You can leave as soon as Ms. Graham has gotten your prescriptionsfilled.”
Kate took me to the Lakota Indian Museum for lunch and some light exercise. My right side was weak. My peripheral vision was non-existent. I couldn’t see things that weren’t in my direct line of sight. She smiled. “Those problems will probably clear up in a couple of days, but you can’t drive until they do.”
We toured the displays and checked out artwork. The gift shop had clothing and other handiwork on sale, but I wasn’t interested in souvenirs. I don’t know where we would have put them if we had bought them.
When we sat down to lunch, Kate said, “Mac, you have to make some decisions.”
“Such as?”
“Do you want to keep going?”
I tried to scowl. My face didn’t seem to work. I managed, “Yes.”
“Do you want to continue following the Lewis and Clark Trail?”
“Yes.”
“Where does your cousin live?”
I had to think about that one. “It’s on my laptop. Somewhere in Fairbanks.”
“Worse than I imagined.” She grimaced. “I figure we’ll need five days to reach Fort Clatsop.” She sighed. “And we would be no closer to your cousin than we are right now.” She put a finger to her lips, lifted her head, and turned slightly. She studied me out of the corner of her eye. “Going straight to Fairbanks would save at least a couple of days.”
“I just told you I want to finish the trail.” I stared at her. Clearly, something was bothering her. “What’s the problem?”
“Dr. Yang is worried about you.”
“Yeah. He wants to operate. That’s what he does.”
“He’s been in touch with your doctor back in Annapolis. The two of them teleconferenced this morning. They let me sit in. The tumor is growing back, and they couldn’t decide if the medicine Dr. Jacobs gave you is doing any good.”
“I’m still alive.”
“That’s what Yang said. He suggested another medicine that he likes. Jacobs agreed.”
“But you’re not satisfied.”
“These drugs are experimental. They have been shown to work in some cases. But they have also failed in many cases. There is no way to predict what this drug will do in your case.”
“I know what it isn’t going to do.”
Kate recoiled. She closed her eyes and said, “It’s a matter of time, Mac. Two or three days may be the difference between a good visit with your cousin and a wasted effort.”
Emptiness swept over me. I buried my face in my hands. This was absurd. What was the point? Nobody cared but me. And I would be dead pretty soon. The whole trip was a big nothing. I forced myself to breathe. To focus. To push back against the despair. I looked up. “This trip cannot ever be a waste.”
Kate was watching me. Poker-faced. Unblinking. I tried to smile. “You are sharing it with me. It feels like we have been together forever. That makes it worthwhile.” I took her hand and pulled it to my lips. “I am sorry, but this is our truth. There is no guarantee that I will reach Fairbanks alive. There is no guarantee that either of us will live through today, let alone the next few weeks.”
I stood and pulled Kate into my arms. “Let’s stick to the plan and see what happens.”
She put a hand on the back of my head and kissed me long and hard. “You got it.”
We walked arm in arm back to the camper. I needed her support. She helped me get situated in the passenger seat, then climbed into the driver’s seat and buckled up. She started the engine but sat staring into space. “Kate?”
She looked over and gave me a quick teary-eyed smile. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Let’s go check out that meeting with the Sioux.”
Kate turned on Hondo and started north following SD-50 along the east bank of the Missouri. At Fort Thompson, we crossed the river and picked up SD-1806. That took us directly to Fort Pierre, the approximate location of the meeting between Lewis and Clark and Chief Black Buffalo.
By the time we reached the fort, Hondo was in a pickle. He had killed Angie’s husband Ed in a shootout, then he was captured by the Apaches, who condemned him to a slow, painful death. He was spared when one of the Indians discovered a picture of Angie’s son Johnny in his saddlebag. But Angie had to claim Hondo was her man to satisfy Chief Vittorio. That left Hondo with the nasty task of explaining to Angie and Johnny what happened to Ed.
Fort Pierre is both a suburb of Pierre and a historic site. As an urban area, sitting across the river from Pierre, the county seat of Stanley County, it has a population of about 2000. As a historic site, it boasts several tourist attractions, including Fischers Lily Park, where the meeting with the Lakota took place. Kate was able to get us an RV pad at the park for our overnight stay.
##
We drove to Bismark and Fort Abraham Lincoln the next morning. The fort was initially built in 1872 to provide military support for the expansion of the Northern Pacific Railway into Montana. It was abandoned and dismantled in 1895. Teddy Roosevelt signed the land over to North Dakota to become the Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park in 1907. Reconstruction was begun by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934.
The original fort was expanded to house the 7th Cavalry in 1873. After the expansion, Lt Col George Custer was appointed post commander, a position he held until his death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
Kate insisted on touring the replica of Custer’s house. I’m sure she was trying to figure out what life was like for Libbie, the Colonel’s wife.
None of the exhibits interested me. I had lived in real army barracks for a couple of years. I didn’t need to waste time on replicas.
The reconstructed Mandan village consisted of several lodges, similar to the one we had toured at Nebraska City, arranged to look like a seventeenth-century Indian village. The Mandan settlement at that location had been abandoned by the time Lewis and Clark arrived in 1804. We checked out the mock-up, but it was a ghost town. It lacked the energy a thousand industrious people going about their daily business would have provided.
We drove about an hour north to the Fort Mandan replica near the site where the Corps spent the winter of 1804 – 1805. It is a crude log structure with a high wall surrounding a few rectangular buildings. The living quarters have been divided into apartments for the men of the Corps. Each of the captains had his own room. Other buildings were used as storage rooms. The center of the fort was an open courtyard.
The winter months from November 1804 to April 1805 were brutal. Still, the men built their fort in less than a month and prepared for the next leg of their journey. One of the key accomplishments was enlisting French trapper Pierre Charbonneau, who brought along his wife, Sacagawea. One story says Lewis hired Charbonneau only because he believed the Shoshone woman would be helpful in dealings with the Indians.
The following day we drove straight across North Dakota and Montana to Great Falls. Before we reached out destination, Angie Low had dumped Hondo for killing Ed and then changed her mind as he was about to ride off into the sunset. She then packed up and left with him and what was left of the Cavalry after a deadly battle with the Apaches. The Indians caught up with the fleeing Cavalry and settlers for one last battle. Hondo took command and led a successful stand against the Apaches. Hondo, Angie and Johnny made it safely to the fort determined to resettle in California.
The Missouri River’s Great Falls are a gift from the ice ages, but they were a nightmare for the Discovery Corps. Lewis and Clark spent a month getting their equipment past the series of five falls.
According to some geologists, the Missouri River originally ran northeast to the Hudson Bay. Successive ice ages created glaciers that pushed down into the northern United States and blocked the river’s channel. The water backed up, forming lakes that spilled into a new channel that carried the water southeast from Montana to St. Louis. The rechanneled river has supported plants, animals, Red men, and White men for centuries. We cannot imagine life on the American plains without it.
The Lewis and Clark visitor center at Great Falls was a welcome break from riding in the camper. A shortened version of the Ken Burns film on the expedition summarized the journey focusing on the native peoples and the incredible terrain. Another exhibit told the story from the competing perspectives of the Discovery Corps and the Native Americans. This exhibit chided Lewis and Clark for missing opportunities.
##
That night Kate said, “I’d like you to consider leaving for Fairbanks in the morning.”
“Why?”
“We’ve seen everything there is to see, and we can save hundreds of miles.”
“I set out to get a first-hand look at what Lewis and Clark did. I want to finish what I started.” I shrugged. “I have always hated to leave a project unfinished.”
“You’ve been disappointed at every stop. What makes you think that will change?”
“Nothing. But I always finish what I start.”
“Even if it means not making it to meet your cousin in Fairbanks?”
“We already talked about this,” I grumbled. “I can’t control how this plays out, so I’m going to keep going until I can’t.”
Kate closed her eyes and shook her head. “Mac.”
“Have you ever seen the Rockies?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“They’re spectacular. You need to see them once in your life.”
“That’s not important right now. I’ve got plenty of time.”
“We all have plenty of time. Until one day, we don’t.” I took her hands and kissed them. “We’re here now. We can take a couple of days to follow the Discovery Team to the source of the Missouri and then on to the Pacific Ocean.”
Kate glowered.
“I checked. We’re not far from the national park that marks the source of the Missouri River. You know what’s really interesting?” I nodded and tried to grin. “That’s where Sacagawea and her family were camping when the Hidatsa attacked them and kidnapped her.”
Kate stood and walked to the front to get her tablet. She came back and sat without saying a word or even looking at me. She played with Google maps for a few minutes before looking up. “That’s another thousand miles. Either two hard days or three easy days. I’d rather do it in two days, but I don’t want to push you too hard.”
“So, three days?”
She nodded. “I guess.”