In addition to meeting the characters of the Old West through stories, we ran into some modern day characters.
At Spearfish Canyon an older man with a cane and a dog (not on a leash) approached me asking what I was shooting. Handing over my camera, he told me he shot Canons for years and currently has a Nikon, which he doesn’t like. Quizzing me he asked me where I was from, what I did for a living, etc. When I told him about my ‘retirement’ from printing, excellent financial advisor, and ability to save, he told me he was in the financial investment business. He cut to the chase asking me which crash I lost money and how I recovered and when I got out of the market.
After I commented that I live a simple life he said he was frugal, with a capital F. Then I introduced Dad, another frugal North Dakotan. Once he knew our last name he queried us on our heritage. His name was Kuchara, which instantly rang a bell. There was a Kuchara family that lived on Elmwood Avenue when I was growing up and, of course, he was related. This man was a cousin of Jim Kuchara, the cop who lived on our block for years.
Finding out I was Norwegian, Swedish, Scottish and Dutch he wanted to see Dad’s eyes. My eyes are brown – definitely not Norwegian blue, like Dad’s, or hazel like Mom’s. Mr. Kuchara asked both Mom and Dad to remove their sunglasses so he could inspect their eyes. Seeing them, he told me I was likely part Laplander, the people who lilve in the most Northern part of Norway and eat reindeer.
His dog’s name was T-bird and, being off leash, wouldn’t leave my cousin Robb’s dog Lola alone. Robb was annoyed but Kuchara seemed to not notice, only calling T-brid twice to heal and sit, which he didn’t do for long.
In the parking lot Kuchara approached me again, telling me that some scenes from “Dances with Wolves” were shot near our next stop, where we saw him again but didn’t speak with him.