I biked 57 miles today, from Shawano to Antigo, WI. The weather was mostly sunny and in the 70s. It was a great day to be on a bike, and I maximized the opportunity by getting lost a couple of times, which stretched out the day to 6:30 p.m.

Much of today’s route was within the Menominee Indian Reservation. I learned that the history of the Menominee Tribe is unique because its origins were geographically very close (only sixty miles) to the present reservation, which is not the case for other tribes in the region. The historical marker, erected in 1957, shown in the photo below describes some of the history of the Menominee. The marker indicates that in 1848, the U.S. government sought to move the Menominee to Crow Wing country in Minnesota, but the Menominee refused to move and under the leadership of Chief Oshkosh were able to remain on land along the Wolf River. The website of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin indicates that the Tribe “remains a proud and resilient people living on the most beautiful lands to ever grace this earth.”

I passed by the future home of the new Menominee Indian High School, which is under construction now. I like the statement on the construction sign indicating that “our commitment reaches beyond construction. Our passion brings dreams to life.”

I also passed by a large veterans’ memorial, which includes two sections honoring veterans who were part of the World War II Code Talkers. I didn’t know much about the Code Talkers, but in doing some further research, learned that during World War II, the U.S. Marines recruited “Code Talkers” from 33 American Indian tribes. The Code assigned a word in Native languages to key phrases and military tactics that enabled the Code Talkers to translate three lines of English in 20 seconds, not 30 minutes as would be required by existing code translation machines. The Code Talkers participated in every major Marine operation in the Pacific theater during the war and were considered instrumental in key communications in the month-long battle for Iwo Jima, during which they translated more than 800 messages without error. The Code remained unbroken at the end of the war. There were five members of the Menominee Nation who participated in the program, which was kept a secret for many years after the war in case it might need to be used again. As a result, however, not much was known about the Code Talkers for many years after the war. In 2013, however, the U.S. Congress finally honored the Code Talkers for their important work.

One reason I got lost a few times today is that the names of roads used in Google Maps frequently do not correspond to the names used on the ground by people who live there. Here is an example of a road name used by the Menominee, Moh He Con Nuck Rd., that appears on Google Maps only as “Cty Rd G.” Thankfully, with a little time and patience, and once again, my iPhone compass, I was eventually able to get to my destination.

Tomorrow, I continue to head north, and my next stop is Rhinelander.