June 14, 2003 Today's job was to move from Council Bluffs to Sioux City. We were coming off of three rest days, so it was a bit of a hard day. We had no mechanical problems, and the Team is doing okay, except for the fact that both of us are playing hurt. We are recovering nicely, however, so we should be able to stay on schedule. Until today's ride, there was a question about how well either of us would do. We are confident that we will be able to keep pace. We ran out of Loess Hills (We will look up what those are, and let you know in a later report) about 30 miles out of Council Bluffs. These are the hills that create the rollers, so the rollers went away too. But guess what? We had head winds all day. However, since we did not have to climb, we were able to average a bit over 14 mph. We were riding through wonderful Iowa farm country all day, and the roads were wonderful except for a short section that was under repair. We wish that the Sonoma County Supervisiors could come our here and take a few lessons. They really know how to do roads in this area, and it is subject to terrible winter conditions. We did run into one road difficulty today. The road we were traveling on was closed, so we had to detour. The detour took us 6-7 miles out of our way, and with the headwinds, that was quite a price to pay. However, we did have some fun as result. We were able to draft a big John Deere tractor for several miles. The farmer thought we were nuts until he figured out what we were doing, and then he thought it was cool. After our detour, we arrived at the town of Sloan where we were going to water up. As we arrived, we noticed a big bunch of cyclists. It was the cycling club from Sioux City. One guy needed to talk about the tandem, and one thing led to another, and he took up the my whole rest stop with his chatter. LaValle took care of me, however, so we got the logisitics taken care of and were on our way. I still don't know how the guy could have been so rude. He knew we were over 90 miles into a ride. I guess I should have been more assertive with him, but it just didn't happen. The weather today was wonderful. The sun was out brightly, and the temperature was reasonable. It was about 90 on the bike, but we were both in sleeveless jerseys, so we were comfortable. The winds have already been discussed - it seems that Mr. Headwind has become our best buddy. We thought for sure that we would have tail winds going north, but the gods are not with us. We have a big day tomorrow that will take us into South Dakota - we are hoping this weather system moves fare enough east that we will finally have the tail wind. We will sign off the Journal today with some thankyou's. Bill Anderson came out to visit LaValle, and he carried stuff out to us and is carrying stuff back. While here, he did all sorts of stuff in support of us, and we really appreciate it. Ron was nicely entertained by his sister and her family: husband, Bill; daughter, Lindsay and daughter, Kelly. They were great hosts, and made sure that Ron got the rest he needed. All of us (the Audette's, Bill and LaValle and Ron) had lunch on Friday. It was a great chance for everyone to get to know each other. Family support is very important to the success of trips like this, and LaValle and I feel that support very strongly. Ron Explanation of loess - found on the USGS site "Loess (pronounced "luss"), is German for loose or crumbly. It is a gritty, lightweight, porous material composed of tightly packed grains of quartz, feldspar, mica, and other minerals. Loess is the source of most of our Nation's rich agricultural soils and is common in the U.S. and around the world. However, Iowa's Loess Hills are unusual because the layers of loess are extraordinarily thick, as much as 200 feet in some places. The extreme thickness of the loess layers and the intricately carved terrain of the Loess Hills make them a rare geologic feature. Shaanxi, China, is the only other location where loess layers are as deep and extensive. Though much older (2.5 million years) and much thicker (nearly 300 feet) than Iowa's loess, the Shaanxi loess hills have been greatly altered by both natural and human activity and no longer retain their original characteristics." Note from LaValle... Leaving today was both happy and sad. I was happy to be on the bike but really saddened to be leaving Bill. He is the best husband and a wonderful man. Thank you for being you and I'll see you in Portland... I love you, Bill. LaValle and Bill before breakfast, Council Bluffs, IA The tandem drafted this tractor for about a half mile!