The Standing Rock Bike Tour - Day 5 - Inner TurmOil (A Steemit Exclusive)

October 14th, Day 5

The next day I woke up to the sound of clinking dishes and warm rays of sunshine pouring in from the sliding glass door. By the smell of it, the girls were already up and it, seizing the day and seasoning eggs.

I sat up and looked around.

Seeing that I was up, Ember greeted me with a warm hello, “Good Morning Scottie Mac! Are you hungry?”

“Always” I replied.

Sarah, Ember’s roommate, dashed around the house and collected her loose ends while Ember and I took our breakfast to the back porch. Mountains were painted into the backdrop, and as I tore into my toast, we dug into another delicious conversation.

Then, as we finished off the last couple drops of our honey enriched, Ginseng tea, we finished up our conversation.

Ember had a full day ahead of her, and I still needed to find a hanger tab for my derailleur. And although she had to run, she let me stay at her place and make phone calls until I could locate the right part. A dozen calls later, I had a lead.

Apparently, it was a very model specific piece of hardware, and if I hadn’t of broke down here, I would have had a real challenge finding out in the Great Plains. The store was still a couple miles away, but instead of hoofing it, I phoned a friend.

My friend Silky lived not too far away, and I knew he’d want to see me before I left- so I gave him a call. Within an hour, he was in the parking lot, swooping me up in his Subaru.

I felt like I was in a space ship; cars were so foreign to me. On one hand, I absolutely hated being in vehicles- but on the other hand, I was on a schedule, and really wanted to get to Standing Rock by October 20th, to play a show at a "work festival" that my friends put on, called "The Standing Rock Love Movement: A Prayerful Music Festival"

Getting to the bike shop on the other side of town and back would have taken me half the day on foot, but with a vehicle, it took less than an hour. I was super thankful that Silky was willing to give me a ride, but those ten miles still tore away at me; I didn't want to feed the black snake at the gas pump.

After picking up the hanger tab, we returned to Ember’s house to install it. Silky didn’t have the time to get all greasy, so he left me to do the repair work myself.

I was getting royally hungry though, so I decided to delay the tinkering; I was on a quest for pizza! I still owed Ben a couple slices for helping me out earlier, so hopped on a light rail heading east, and I called him up. T'was time for a pizza party.

Less than a week after I had left for The Standing Rock Bike Tour, I was back on my couch in Denver, eating pizza with my roommates and friends. To my credit, I had gone already gone hundreds of miles, collected tons of footage, bottled sacred mineral water, and dealt with two break downs- so I wasn’t slacking off… I was just circling back.

Besides, I was carrying a ton of gear that no longer seemed useful. Like the three books I brought- as insightful as they might have been, all of them were shelved. The extra sweater and bag of art supplies didn’t make the cut either. I wasn’t sure whether I should leave my laptop or not, so I thought it over.

I knew that it was important to keep a record of my travels, but carrying around and having to charge a big ol’ laptop seemed like more of a burden than a blessing. Besides, there wasn’t much that it could do, that my smartphone couldn’t. So I left it.

My friends eventually scattered, and I stumbled downstairs to go to bed. There was only a mattress and sheets left in my rooms, so I grabbed the knit blanket that we typically lent to guests from the couch upstairs, and took it to my room, for one last night on a mattress.

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Just now tuning in? The Standing Rock Bike Tour is getting released exclusively on Steemit, day by day, for the next two months.

Previous Chapters Include-
Introduction- Igniting the Fire at Unify
Day 1- Indigenous People's Day
Day 2 - Musical Mantras
Day 3 - Bottling My Prayers
Day 4 - Glorious Heights

Learn more, and access all available chapters at-
http://www.righteousendeavors.com