Table Of Content2
This Eye Classics edition first published in Great Britain in
2010, by:
Eye Books
29 Barrow Street
Much Wenlock
Shropshire
TF13 6EN
www.eye-books.com
First published in Great Britain in 2000, as Riding with
Ghosts and Riding with Ghosts: South of the Border
Copyright © Gwen Maka
Cover image copyright © Bryan Keith
Cover design by Emily Atkins/Jim Shannon
Text layout by Helen Steer
The moral right of the Author to be identified as the author of
the work has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means without the prior written permission of
the publisher nor be otherwise circulated in any form of
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binding or cover other than that in which it is published and
without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent
purchaser.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN: 978-1-903070-77-2
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Note on terminology:
While writing this book I have been conscious of the current
pressure to be ‘politically correct’ in the written and spoken
word. In the case of North American tribal peoples I believe
that ‘Native American’ is currently politically correct among
white Americans. However, not only did I find this at times
clumsy and impersonal, I also, in my travels, never met any
individuals who used this term about themselves. Rather, they
used tribal names or, more generally, ‘Indian’ or ‘American
Indian’. I also found this the case in books.
When I read of a prominent Oglala Sioux (Lakota)
proclaiming that ‘Native American’ reminded him of the
repressions practised against the Indian, and of his belief (and
of others too) that ‘Indian’ does not — as commonly stated —
come from Columbus’s belief that he had found India (which
at that time was called Hindustan) but from the gentleness of
those aboriginals encountered by him, so that they were ‘una
gente in Dios’ — a people of God, then I was satisfied that
these terms were not offensive in any way.
Therefore, in all cases historic I have used the tribal names or
‘Indian’. When referring to native people of the current era I
have again used the tribal name where this is known and
relevant, and interchanged Native American, Indian,
American Indian, tribal peoples and Native people, when
talking more generally.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For Ethan and Savannah.
Thanks to Dan Hiscocks of Eye Books for taking the risk of a
new edition and accepting my wish to do a vastly revised
script — and for his inspiring ideas and advice. To Helen
Steer at Can of Worms Enterprises for her hard work and
patience at my many script revisions.
Thanks to John and Jane Snow, Linda Raczek, Linda of
Coeur d’Alene, Selina, Martha, Armin and Maria, and many
others, for opening their homes to me. To all the wonderful
people I met along the way who constantly humbled me with
their many kindnesses and who never showed any resentment
of the fact that my ‘pains’ were personally inflicted and
voluntary. Their ability to keep laughing in the face of
immense daily difficulties filled me with admiration, brought
colour to my days, and made me realise that you can have
nothing yet still be generous with kindness.
My special thanks to Julian, for his endless inspiration and for
still being out there somewhere — still cycling. He made it
seem quite normal to get on a bike and cycle for a year.
But above all, I thank all those solo women travelling alone in
every corner of the world — by foot, bicycle, train, bus,
canoe, car, whatever — with confidence and courage and
flagrantly defying those doom mongers who are always
warning us what a dangerous place the world is. In my travels
these solo women always provided intelligent companionship,
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however short, whenever I met them. Christy Rodgers (who,
when not travelling, publishes the radical journal ‘What If…’
from her home in San Fransisco) deserves special mention for
her unassuming passion of quietly trying to make the world a
more ‘thinking’ place. Such women can truly motivate the
rest of us and show us that women alone, of any age, do not
have to stay at home, whilst the older among us can dream,
not of what we can’t do, but of what we can do — or more
specifically, of what we can try to do!
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CONTENTS
RIDING WITH GHOSTS
Introduction
Leaving Seattle
Hockney Landscapes
Big Hole Battles
Craters of the Moon
Shooting Stars
Road to the Rockies
Red Mountain Pass
Winter Wonderland
Mesa Verde
Hitchhiking Detour
Back to the Saddle
Canyon de Chelley
Navajo Days
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Hopi Horizons
Border Country
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
South of the Border
Floating on the Old Wharf
Beach Bums
Bag Lady
Copper Canyon
Doom Mongers
In the Steps of Pancho Villa
The House of Eleven Patios
Bad Decisions in the Valle
Testosterone Taxco
Bikini Anna
Confused in Guatemala
Pacific Waves
Rats at Sarah’s House
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Deep Waters
Sandinista Country
Down the River
Dripping Trees
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