Prairie Wind

Flint Hills, Kansas (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I grew up in Kansas. I consider myself a Kansas girl even though I've not lived there for nearly 30 years.  

If you've never lived near the open prairies, you can't begin to understand the winds of them. 

With no trees to break it, the wind buffets you everywhere you go. 

My high school was made up of many different buildings--one per subject. We left each building after class to walk to another building. To this day I shudder with the winter memory of walking to class in the biting cold Kansas wind. Sometimes the walk took up to seven or more minutes. (Now that school has enclosed all the walking areas!)

What about you? Have you ever experienced a prairie wind? How would you describe it? 

Map of Tribes

Source: Lewisandclarktrail.com

The above map contains educated guesses as to where the different Mandan and Hidatsa villages were located when Lewis and Clark visited them for the first time. As you can see, Sacagawea's village was on the Knife River, a tributary of the Missouri River. Also, notice the different spelling of her name: Sakakawea. There are three spellings recognized as correct: (1) Sacajawea (2) Sacagawea and (3) Sakakawea. All are acceptable. I will post more about this later.