June 11, 2003 Today was the first of three rest days in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area. The reasons we are here so long: Bill Anderson is visiting LaValle, Ron is visiting his sister and the bike is getting a lot of TLC. The bike went to Highgear Bike and Outdoor this morning. Scott Wente took charge of the beast, and gave it a thorough going-over. The cassette and drive chain were changed out, the timing chain was adjusted, some minor adjustments were made to saddle positions and the stoker handlebar, new handlebar tape applied (we messed up the old stuff pretty badly in the crash) and everything else looked at carefully. The bike was done by day's end, and it is happily spending the night in a nice, comfortable garage in Omaha. It is a nice feeling to know that it is ready to go when we are, and a nicer feeling that it has held up so well through the journey. Today was a beautiful day - plenty of sun and no time in the saddle. Rest is good! Ron Note from LaValle... Bill and I spent the day resting except for the taxi ride into Omaha to have my hair re-touched! The only thing that would have been better than that appointment would have been to have had the one with Dr. Chang to have my braces removed. That's next month though. We also went into the Casino that was next to the Holiday Inn Express. Built on a "boat" it had two levels of various types of slot machined and was filled with smoke and desperate people. We stayed long enough for me to lose $1.75 in nickels, played five at a time. This boat actually made the temporary Indian Casino tent in Healdsburg look posh.