The Pilgrimage Begins! - Deb Lee Carson

The year was 2002. That spring, the Queen Mother’s funeral took place at Westminster Abbey in London, a tiny country called East Timor regained its independence after two and a half years of United Nations administration and twenty-six years of occupation by Indonesia, a penumbral lunar eclipse was visible in eastern Asia, Australia, Pacific and western Americas, the first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous system of two humans was carried out in the United Kingdom, an object with an estimated diameter of ten meters entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Mediterranean and exploded in mid-air, and the Wuhan Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market opened.

Closer to home, North Dakota was facing a spring of unusually dry conditions after ten months of consecutive below-normal precipitation ranking it 19 on a scale of 1 (driest) to 108 (wettest) and a colt was the fifth foal born in the rugged badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and he would become known as Blaze.

Now today, January 8, 2022, moving into the fifth year since Blaze changed worlds, we begin the pilgrimage back in time to share some of the little known historical tales regarding the rugged land and the humans who called it home. These tales will culminate on March 19th when we reveal the next phase and second most important endeavor to the final dream in honoring this blue-eyed, smokin’ hot, wild spirit and all he and his wild brethren represent to the land, the history, and the ongoing fight for freedom.

Each of you are invited on this adventure into history, to travel with me back in time, as we move forward to March 19th! As I told a friend yesterday, my stomach is in knots — excited about this journey, intimidated by the daunting task so that each of you will feel connected to the place Blaze roamed wild on during his fifteen short years — the incredible spirit filled badlands of western North Dakota — and how important your love, admiration, respect will be in this next phase.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!

Deb