Chris Nadovich's 2009 Transamerica Bike Tour.

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Indian Reservations

Today we passed "Devil's Lake" and through the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation. This is the second major reservation we have crossed.

As with Ft Peck, we had several "white men" warn us about problems on "the rez". Typical comments were like the following. "Lots of murders there." "They are always stabbing each other." "Those people have no manners." "Do you really want to ride through the rez." "Don't get a flat." "If you get hurt in the rez you'll have no insurance and nobody will help you."

Maybe all these comments are accurate advice. I have no way to decide. But hearing this sort of prejudice over and over is starting to bug me. The people of native American descent living on "the rez" are people -- humans like you and me. I don't know all the legal details, but from what I do know, the "white man's" dealings with the Indians are nothing for whites to be proud of. If there are problems on these reservations, the blame for those problems likely should be shared by more than just the people that live there. And fixing those problems likely requires more than just deploying more cops and advising travelers like us to transit quickly and watch our back.

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