#188 Browning MT Sleeping Wolf RV park one night

Whenever we left the area where the Nugent’s we would pass the east side of Glacier National Park. The drive is surrounded by a National Forest and it’s pretty dang sprawling. When you get over there to the eastern border of Glacier the first bit of what looks like civilization or small-town life is Browning Montana.

I came to realize this is Blackfoot territory. A year prior we saw the largest herd of Buffalo near Browning as we went up the hill to Many Glacier. It was a reminder of what it would have been like before we killed them all a hundred or so years ago. There used to be herds in the millions.

Many times, when I'm out west I feel like the native population has every right to hate anyone who has pigmentation like me. It just goes with the deal. I'm always cautious that somebody wouldn't mind killing me because they just have a really hard time of it.

I have found the opposite to be true. A lot of the native people I meet seemed very neutral to the whole hanging onto the hatred thing. I'm sure the PTSD is there but the folks I talk to are way more friendly to me than I deserve.

There was an image I saw in downtown Browning I thought was so cool.

I'm just kind of going through town in my truck towing the RV and going down the middle of the street is a 20 ish native guy. He had long black hair and no shirt but has blue jeans on. He's just riding his horse bareback at a slow and steady walk like plowing horse speed. He might be a little stoned, I don't know. The part I liked so was, you're dang right this is what it looks like where I live.

I think it was just because he was so laid back. He seemed like he had just ridden up from a hundred fifty years ago going into town to get maybe a root beer I don't know.

A little towards the outer part of town we found the place called sleeping wolf RV Park. It was a large field and everybody had plenty of room. It wasn't bad like 20 bucks or so.

I need to be less diligent now but back then I was walking 7000 steps a day or at least every other day.

I saw a guy out in the yard and he seemed local. I said you know I'm just passing through here and I want to go on a little walk. Would you say I'm in any danger of crime or is it a big deal or anything? He said I wouldn’t worry about the people but there's a guy down there with a mean dog and I'd be kind of wary right in there. I said I'm surely not going to go in his yard. He said then you’ll be fine.

I went down and the left and went down to the main Highway. I walked about a mile and a half down and all that back. I noticed a kind of an Adirondack at the entrance to the park. It was a rock formation and best as I can it was kind of in the shape of a sleeping wolf.

I took a picture and a video of how disrespectful the general public had been with the shine and rock formation. There were cigarette butts and candy wrappers and all kinds of garbage everywhere. Bad Humans.

When I was walking back to the RV, I caught a really pretty sunset on the Great Plains.

While I was in Browning the only kind of civilization kind of small-town stuff was in the area near a casino.

I was thinking about playing Blackjack because I was doing that a little bit now. I would spend 20 and try to win 20 to eat for free when there's a buffet. They only had cheeseburgers so I didn't bother.

I learned that Montana didn't do video Blackjack it was against the rules or something. When I go to casinos that's the only thing, I do is video blackjack.

It’s the only thing I’ve ever won any money at. So far I think I have lost more than I’ve won. Over 3 months were only talking about 60 dollars. It was in the next state over that I realized I was losing every time I played. I decided to stop the gambling as they say the house always wins and I beginning to believe it.

I went over towards the Blackfoot museum and I met two Native people selling their wares out in the parking lot. I talked to them for half an hour or so. One was about thirty and the other guy was maybe about 55. They just said why don't you buy our stuff because it's half the price of the museum. It's made by the same people.

I bought a book called Unification by the younger fellow. It was written by him and recently published. I had a really good talk with both of them. I bought a thing called a touch stick by the older gentleman and he told me what it was. It's kind of a shepherd's hook wrapped in leather and some feather-looking stuff. He would describe it as having a tradition of power. If you could go to your enemy and find them in their sleep and touch them and then quietly let them see that you touch them and then do nothing they would know you own them. What that represents is if I got close enough to touch you, I could have cut your throat, but I didn't. He said that creepiness is as powerful as having done something.

I talked to them about white guilt and they said they understood and that the best thing we could do is just try the all get along. I talked about what's it like on the reservation. I think from my perspective Casino money had made it free living.

He said that's a myth its probably more like subsidized housing but you got a landlord you got you got bills. He said we got all the same issues as everybody else. It's a myth that we're all living free. I'm sure there are some reservations like that for us that's not true. Later I read in an article those guys at the reservation got a one million dollar check from the casino. The lady who spoke from the chapter house says yeah and that’s great but did you realize that will only pave a ½ mile of a road. It not like yay were set for life.

I think it opened my eyes then it's not a free ride at least not there. I bought the book and I still haven't fully read it but it seems like a good read.