Experience from Saturday.

This weekend after riding dirt bikes up around Darrington with a group of friends I stopped off at a store on the side of the Mtn. Loop Highway. There were no cars parked outside of the store, with the exception of what looked like a security guard. We walked into the store and began to look around the shelves and the coolers as we were trying decide what looked good, a task that proved very difficult as we had just completed our first hard ride since Thanksgiving and were all physically drained and a little out of it. In the corner was a man who was talking with the shop keeper. Upon first glance i figured he was the guard who belonged to the car out front. The man had been glaring at us with piercing eyes from the second we walked in the store as if he was ready to attack us at any second. The air was and mood was very thick and being in the shop was becoming extremely awkward.

In a attempt to lighten the mood i looked up again with what i thought was a pleasant demeanor and asked the guard how he was doing. It was at this time i realized that he was a tribal police officer and that we had stopped at a shop on the Sauk Suiattle reservation. The officer did not give a verbal response but rather just nodded his head. By this time we had all decided what we wanted and were ready to make our purchase. When we walked up the counter where the officer was standing, at first he did not move out of the way, instead he waited until we said "excuse me."

The shop keeper had her back to us when we walked up to the counter and took a moment before she acknowledged that we were ready to make our purchase. During the transaction nothing was said by the shop keeper except for the total and asking if we wanted a bag.

The whole experience was rather odd and out of the norm. I write this not because the experience angered me, but rather because it was unexpected. This was not the first time I had experienced something like this, it was the first time i had experienced a event like this out side of a area known for it's intolerance like Hayden Lake. I suspect that the real reason for the way we were treated was not because of hate, but rather a dis-trust.