Day Six: Cruising and I'm over you Iowa

[WARNING: Upsetting photo ahead] To drive this pipeline means a constant adjusting to straddle the line, moving back and forth as much as possible, on the lookout for telltale signs of the construction work and places that are safe to pull over for a photo. Not an easy thing with a cell phone for my map and camera, voice recorder, learning to geotag, fumbling for hot coffee and watching for road signs and slow moving tractors. You can see my current location in South Dakota tonight.

I wasn't able to stay on the backroads and county roads all the time. I had to make decisions based on making a certain distance, finding a place to sleep, and seeking out key locations that needed to be observed. While I'm very tired and my pony (The Great Blue Viber) is showing me she's ready for some rest by flashing the check engine light at me, I am fully aware of the gift this has been. I have learned so much about the way a pipeline is built, seen this impressive region up close, been welcomed by strangers, and am ready to arrive tomorrow at the Standing Rock Reservation.

I am grateful for these seven days of intense connection with this Earth, which was not easy to understand many times and was not all beautiful or uplifting. Such was the case this Sunday morning. I began to notice that the hog confinements/factory farms kept getting bigger and bigger. Nearly everything has become a commodity, something to bring in money without regard to its beauty and value as a form of life that shares this planet with us.

Cruising a back road, I caught something laid out on the small dock of one confinement operation. I turned the car around to check if what I thought I saw was real. It was a sow put onto the concrete dock possibly the day or night before. I stopped to say a prayer for this pig and all those inside whose only crime was being born into a situation which they did not choose. And when she was no longer 'productive' she was laid outside like trash. It may have been the only time she had experienced sunlight in her entire life. I don't know. Was it a dishonor to take this photo of a pig's death? (No, I didn't trespass; I took this from the road.)

I took that photo to remind me that animals aren't merely resources, they should be honored for the gift of their life and no animal should be drug outside to hang over the edge of a loading dock like a piece of carpet. There is much more to heal in the heartland beyond pipelines.

For every harsh reality and confrontation, there are always gifts. My gifts along the way have been the fortuitous meetings, connections that seem so random yet mean so much, the ability to slow down and sense the Earth more fully.

This journey would not have happened in this way if not for this guy, Nitin Gadia. His life in Ames, Iowa, is not always recognized for the contributions he makes. His skills at adapting complicated statistics and data into map is nothing short of extraordinary. We only had a little time together and I hope that others will contact him and learn from him about the important work of mapmaking. Maps are power. Maps are keys to our world. Nitin is more than a mapmaker, he is a storyteller. And that is what makes his work so powerful. Thank you, Nitin.

Nitin introduced me to KHOI Community Radio in Ames and the station manager, Ursula Ruedenberg, who took me into a studio and began a conversation/interview that opened up a lot of emotion I was carrying about this trip. She also took me home, fed me and gave me a home for the night.  Thank you Ursula and the great folks at KHOI.
Here is the link to the interview plus several more include the amazing Nitin.

And to all the cashiers at gas stations, the coffee vendors, the waitresses at restaurants, the person who fed my meter in Ames, the bald eagle that graced my vision in Illinois, the rivers that seemed to laugh with me when I wanted to cry for what we do, for Joseph who keeps me grounded with talk of home and makes me laugh every day and all the people who read this blog or see my post on Facebook and comment about what I'm doing and where I'm going, well, thank you.
 Yeah, western Iowa gave me some harsh lessons but it also provided time with family, cousins and an aunt, I haven't seen in several years. I guess there is grace in every situation.

And so it's good night from South Dakota....tomorrow, Standing Rock.

"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home." - Gary Snyder