Trail of Hope

Yesterday morning I departed from a little town just outside Indianapolis and headed towards Lebanon, Indiana. The weather was kind of nice however there were two thunderstorms which I encountered along the way. It was late in the morning and suddenly the sky became very dark and the first storm hit. Both storms brought marvelous lightening and heavy rain for about a half and hour each. The second thunderstorm arrived in the early afternoon.

Fortunately I was able to find shelter along the way. While I was “hiding” from the storm in a nearby business, I had the chance to talk to a bunch of different people.  There were a group of young people hanging out where I was at as well. I talked about the Trail and explained the different elements about it. The group became excited and was very interesting in hearing about the Lenape and the places I have been. It always energizes me when I meet different people along the way. Their interest in my journey and energy they have are very uplifting to me.

Today I am a little tired therefore I am taking a day of rest. I’m staying in a little town just outside of Lebanon.

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​FEAR is the kryptonite of the human spirit. It is always destructive while love is always creative. Love creates the courage to change the things we can. Fear cripples our soul and builds walls of limitation, preventing us from changing anything at all.

​Most people either try to deny their fear, or they wallow in it. You do not want to surrender to fear. By surrendering, you find that you actually amplify the power of fear.  At the same time, you do not want to pretend that fear does not exist. The only way to conquer fear is to acknowledge it and defeat it.

​Fear of failure is the main culprit that stops us from having an adventurous life. Rejection, failure, and defeat are all weapons fighting against our free spirit. We were all born for adventure, to make the most out of life and explore our hearts deepest desires. It is our destiny to embrace a world of human spirits. Yet failure flirts with our integrity, causing us to succumb to dreams without actions.
​Prevailing over our fears will not happen overnight. It could turn out to be a long and epic battle. We must make strides each and every day to literally defeat our fear. If we try hard enough, we can become fearless. It is important to remember that fearlessness is not the same as recklessness. Recklessness is a complete disregard for caution.  While fear is considered to always be destructive, it is a survival mechanism derived from a perceived threat.  Fear it innate and experienced by every human person.

​Being fearless means not just watching or imagining adventure. It means actually doing it with an air of caution. You are taking steps and moving forward instead of thinking about doing so. You take these steps now, not tomorrow, for there are only so many tomorrows.

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1,000 Miles Down, 1,000 Miles Left to Go

​Today I reached a major milestone on the Trail of Hope. I have officially walked 1,000 miles since starting the journey 59 days ago. I am deeply touched that my buddy John Connors was able to fly out to Indiana to share this moment with me.
​The walk has been amazing thus far. I am very pleased with my progress. Though at times mountains were challenging and the rain wouldn’t stop, I don’t regret a single moment. The memories from each place I have visited will stay inside of my heart. Each encounter I have had is now not only a part of the Trail but a part of me as well. I am very happy that I have started this walk and I’m grateful for the random acts of kindness, especially every meal “on the house” that I have received.
​Today John and I visited Conner Prairie, an outdoor living history museum, in Fishers. The museum had various points of interest, including the Conner Homestead and a re-creation of a Lenape Camp. Actors dressed up in authentic attire traversed the museum grounds and interacted with delighted tourists. It was an amazing place to visit. While there, we met a wonderful man from Lenape tribe, and we spent whole afternoon together.​

We also stopped by the Landmark for Peace Memorial located at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park on the north side of Indianapolis. The memorial is mad up of two wall like structures with out outs of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy reaching out to one another across a brick walkway. It was very moving to stand at the site were Robert Kennedy gave a speech, using his time to speak of Martin Luther King Jr. rather than his own personal presidential aspirations.

​All I can say is 1,000 miles down and 1,000 miles to go.

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Indianapolis is the capital of Indiana and is the 11th largest city in the nation. Originally inhabited by the Lenape Indians before they were driven further west, Indianapolis became the state capital in 1820. Indianapolis is the closest capital to being placed in the exact center of its state. It was founded on the White River both because of the incorrect assumption that the river would serve as a major transportation artery. However, the waterway eventually proved to be too sandy for trade. Jeremiah Sullivan, a judge of the Indiana Supreme Court, invented the name Indianapolis by joining Indiana with polis, the Greek word for city.

Indianapolis is home to the Landmark for Peace Memorial which is a sculpture at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park on the north side of Indianapolis that honors the contributions of the slain leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. The sculpture, which features King and Kennedy reaching out to each other, was designed by Greg Perry.

At the site of the memorial on April 4, 1968, Robert Kennedy gave an impromptu speech to an inner city crowd about reconciliation between the races after he learned of the assassination of King. Kennedy was told riots had broken out in other cities and he was advised not to make the speech yet he refused to change his plans.

Yesterday I traveled through the suburbs of Indianapolis. Honestly, there wasn’t much to look at. I saw many houses and shopping centers and that is about it. I just kept pushing forward and thinking positive thoughts. For one, my buddy John Connors is flying out to visit me! Tomorrow we’re planning on visiting Conner Prairie and the Peace Memorial in Indianapolis. This visit from my dear friend is what keeps a smile in my heart as I pass through the ordinary suburban landscape.

John and I will be staying in Fisher’s and I am pleased to announce that Fisher’s Indiana is the official halfway point for the Trail of Hope. I’ll be able to say I’ve walked 1,000 miles! I’m looking forward to the joy that the day will bring.

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Fishers, Indiana is located in Fall Creek and Delaware Townships and is considered a suburb of Indianapolis. Fishers was originally named Mudsock. The name was eventually changed to Fishers Switch, a railroad reference. By 1908, the town became known just as Fishers.

On October 3, 1818, the Treaty of St. Mary’s was signed. This treaty stated that the Lenape Indians agreed to give up their occupancy rights to all the lands in Indiana. In return, the government would reimburse the Inaidans for the lands they were vacating and provide them free of charge new lands west of the Mississippi. The Indians were given three years to vacate the lands they were occupying along the White River. The Indians also received some goods for vacating the land.

Serving as an interpreters and witnesses to the Treaty, were brothers John and William Conner. William Conner, whose Lenape common-law wife was names Mekinges, were living with the Lenape at the time. William Conner was considered an influential individual at the time. In return for his services with interactions and movements regarding the Lenape, he received a portion of land in present-day Fishers, Indiana. He and his wife lived in what is now known as the William Conner House until 1874. The house is believed to be one of the first brick buildings built in central Indiana. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Conner Prairie was founded by pharmaceutical executive Eli Lilly in the 1930s. In 1964, Eli Lilly transferred the William Conner house, which he had restored and related outbuildings to a public charitable trust of which Earlham College, a Quaker liberal arts college in Richmond Indiana was named a trustee. Earlham elected to retain the farmland around the house and expand the museum constructing a 1836 village, Prairietown using funds from Lilly.

Today the museum and village are popular historical places where tourists can visit to view a piece of great Indiana history.
 
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After my post entitled “The Beast,” someone e-mailed me a link to a very intriguing story which could possibly be connected to the mysterious beast I met along Route 26.

It was early in the summer of 1872. William Lingle and a few of his friends including a town judge, a professor from London and two reporters came to visit Lingle in his house overlooking the Wabash Valley.  During their visit, the men began talking about ghosts and paranormal experiences.  The men became captivated by Lingle’s story of a haunted house nearby.

The men decided to check out the dilapidated house that evening. They sat amongst the rubble and talked about the ghosts and spirits legends had promise that they hoped to see. They waited and waited until suddenly, a bluish light illuminated the area around them and out of nowhere appeared a stunning white wolf.

The wolf, ignorant to the humans around it, lifted his head for a long, mournful howl and then transformed into a strange looking creature that resembled a giant frog. Before the men could process what had just happened, the creature transformed into a Native American holding a tomahawk.

The professor was a man who experimented with dark arts and black magic. They men quickly returned to Lingle’s house to retrieve a metal wand that one of the men had brought along. They returned to the haunted house, and the professor drew a circle in the dirt with the want, sketching images inside of it. The Native American rose from the center of the circle and began a dialogue with the professor in a language unknown to man.

Intrigued and in awe, the mean requested the professor to translate the communication between him and the spirit. The ghost had been referred to as “White Wolf” when he was living.  He had been buried in a reservation cemetery just outside of Lafayette but a development began in the city and his soul was brutally disturbed by the metal shovels digging in the dirt where he lay.

This story has been passed down through generations and is one of the most intriguing ghost stories in Indiana history. While Lafayette is to the western part of the state and I was traveling on the eastern part, there is one mysterious coincidence among Lingle’s experience and my own.

I was traveling from Fort Recovery to Portland Indiana on Route 26. The route where I stumbled upon the beast is the same exact latitude as the location of Lingle’s mysterious encounter.

If you would like to read more about the White Wolf, here is the link that was shared with me: http://lafayette-indiana.funcityfinder.com/the-white-wolf/

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The city of Anderson was named after Chief William Anderson , whose mother was Lenape and whose father was of Swedish decent. The Lenape village was known as Anderson’s Town; however Moravian Missionaries called it “The Heathen Town Four Miles Away.” Chief Anderson was described as “plain but majestic looking old man about 60-65 years of age and the principal chief.” 

According to the Madison County Historical Society, the Delaware/Lenni Lenape established around fourteen villages along the Wapihanne’s banks.  The villages extended through what is now Delaware, Madison, and Hamilton counties. Chief Anderson/Kikthawenund’s village, which would later become Anderson, was formed around 1794-5 and was called Wapiminskink meaning “chestnut tree place.”  

 ’The village was described as being surrounded by dense forests, dark and shadowy, unbroken except by Indian trails; through these tangled woods ranged bears, deer, wolves, and panthers.  Civilization had not yet left its imprint upon the landscape…

  ’…Wapiminskink was first settled by no more than fifteen or sixteen families.  The site was selected in keeping with three criteria important to the Delaware.  It must be elevated which allowed them to see an approaching enemy, have an abundant water supply nearby, and have fertile soil for growing food.  The site chosen afforded all three as the village was situated on bluffs 75 feet above White River.  Scattered throughout the site were numerous springs flowing with fresh water.  To the north of the village was a flat fertile area where corn and other vegetables were planted.  The surrounding forests were teeming with game and numerous blackberries, and the river had abundant supply of food.

‘We know the Indians maintained a large field in the rich bottom lands on the south side of the river stretching from about the intersection of Fifth and Main Streets westward along the river.  …as the population of the village grew to about 1,000 in 1818, more food was needed and the planting ground was expanded westward to almost Madison Avenue.

 ’There was another important consideration in the Chief’s mind when he selected the village site.  Two forks of a famous trail that was vital to travel through the wilderness converged here.  The trail was called the Conner Tail and it followed an already historic Indian trail which started at the mouth of the Miami River near Cincinnati wending its way past John Conner’s trading post southeast to Brookville.  

‘Not only did this important trail allow the flow of goods between John and William Conner’s trading posts and points east, it was the major route traversed by the Indians when visiting the villages along the river.  Chief Anderson chose wisely when he placed his village at the junction of the forks of this historic trail’

Not only did Chief Anderson recognized the importance of this location, but also did Captain John Berry,1777/9-1835. As stipulated by the 1818 Treaty of St. Mary’s, the Delaware/Lenni Lenape were required to vacate their lands in Indiana’s New Purchase around 1821.  It was in March of that year that pioneer John Berry, purchased from Chief Anderson’s son-in-law William Conner (of the Conner trading post mentioned above) the chief’s village referred to by white settlers as Anderson’s Town/Andersontown.   Berry, in the summer of 1823, laid out the original plat for Andersontown.  The plat followed the same design as Chief Anderson’s original Delaware/Lenni Lenape village and trails.  In November of 1827, Berry donated the land for the public buildings with the condition that the county seat be moved from Pendleton to Anderson.      

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Yesterday I had a great walk. The weather was a mixture of sun and beautiful clouds. It was my biggest walk so far in terms of mileage. I completed around 34 miles in total yesterday!

As I was walking towards Muncie, Indiana, I found a very small town that was just a little ways off of my Trail. I decided to take a few moments to venture into the town and explore the area before returning to my normal route. The town was made up of a few streets and some houses. In the center of the town, like similar towns I’ve encountered, there were railroad tracks running through the middle.

I was exploring the little streets when a cop rolled up beside me in his car. He pulled over, rolled down the passenger side window and said “What are you doing?” I paused for a moment, feeling a little caught off guard, and responded “Walking.” His next question for me was “Where to?” I smiled, and briefly explained to him what the Trail of Hope was about and that I was headed towards Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He paused, and then asked “Do you do this often?” Now I was really caught off guard. I knew the answer to his question but I didn’t quite know how to go about it. After a brief moment I responded “No, this is my first time.”

The cop took this into consideration for about half a second and then said, “Well, I’m gonna have to write you up. Do you have ID on you?” Slightly confused at what my transgression might be, I obliged and gave him my ID.  While he was a very polite cop, I couldn’t understand what I had done wrong. He wrote something down on a piece of paper and let me go about my way.

I left the little town and reconnected with my route. As I walked I pondered the incident that just took place. Perhaps it would be easier if there were multiple choice answers to the cop’s questions. When a cop pulls over and questions a solitary traveler if they walk 2,000 miles across the country often, he could pull out a sheet of paper with answers to choice from such as A) this is my first time, B) once a month, C) once a week and D) everyday. This would be beneficial for everyone involved. That way if someone says they are walking 2,000 once a week or everyday, the law enforcement officer should be suspicious. In my opinion, this would be a very productive system which would weed out the criminals from the everday peace walkers.

Appeal to the Great Spirit

Muncie

The area was first settled in the 1770s by the Delaware Indians, who had been transported from their tribal lands near the east coast to Ohio and eastern Indiana. They founded several towns along the White River including Munsee Town (according to historical map of “The Indians” by Clark Ray), near the site of present-day Muncie. The tribes were forced to cede their land to the federal government and move farther west in 1818, and in 1820 the area was opened to white settlers. 

Contrary to popular legend, the city is not named after a mythological Chief Munsee, rather it was named after Munsee Town, the white settlers’ name for the Indian village on the site, “munsee” meaning a member of the Delaware tribe.

Munsee, (also known as Munsee Delaware, Delaware, Ontario Delaware) is an endangered language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a branch of the Algic language family. Munsee is one of the two Delaware languages. It is very closely related to the extinct Unami Delaware, but the two are sufficiently different that they are considered separate languages. Munsee was spoken aboriginally in the vicinity of the modern New York City area in the United States, including western Long Island, Manhattan Island, Staten Island, as well as adjacent areas on the mainland: southeastern New York State, the northern third of New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania.

Munsee is now spoken only on the Moraviantown Reserve in Ontario, Canada, by no more than four or five elderly individuals.

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