June 21, 2003 Today is a rest day - Oh, the joy! You will hear that phrase again. If you recognize it, you know a lot about Lewis and Clark. If you don't, we will make sure that you enjoy that phrase as much as we think we are going to. Using it today downplays its significance a bit, but maybe it will whet your appetite to read "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose. It is a nice chronical of the Corps of Discovery. If you are really ambitious, get yourself a copy of the original journals. Mobridge, SD is the town we decided to pass up yesterday because we could not ride west in the heavy winds. At this point during the Expedition, Lewis and Clark spent time here, and there is a cute story about Ford, Clarks "slave". This relationship was not the usual owner/slave type, but was built on a lot of mutual respect. Anyway, during the stay here, the indians were fascinated by Ford's skin color, and spent a lot of time with him. Ford told the indians that he had been a cannibal before Clark had "caught" him, and that his specialty was eating little children. Clark thought that Ford had gone a little too far with this one. Ford's stories were an important part of the Corps relationship with native americans. While in Mobridge, the Corps met with the Arikaras with the help of two local frenchmen. About 100 miles north of Mobridge is the capital of North Dakota, Bismarck. In this area, it is not Bismarck that was important to the Corps, but a place about 25 miles north - Fort Mandan. The original of this fort is now under the dammed waters of the Missouri (Thanks to the damned Army Corps of Engineers!), but a replica has been built to commemorate this most historic location. It was here that the Corps decided to winter with the Hidatsa Inidians during the winter of 1803-04. It was also here that they experienced their first temperatures of at least 50 degrees below zero. Shortly after the November 2 decision to winter at Fort Mandan, a frenchman arrived in camp with his two wives. The frenchman was Charbboneau, and Lewis and Clark instantly hired him to accompany the Corps. If you haven't guessed, one of Charbboneau's wives was the famour Sakagewea (Sakakawea in North Dakota!). who would play a major role in the success of the Corps, and who now gets a lot of credit for helping to settle the west. The Corps of Discovery would spend 146 nights at Fort Mandan before starting, once more, up the magnificent Missouri. While reviewing material to do the Lewis and Clark portion of the journal, we came upon some comments by Tod Roger, the author of one of the route kits we are using. He talks about serious head winds going into Bismarck during one of his trips. He said that he would think about the Corps having to pole and pull the cumbersome keel boat upstream on the Missouri into similar head winds, every time he tired of fighting the wind. Yesterday, we should have been thinking about the screaming trip home downstream the Corps had on its way back to St. Louis after a successful journey. You see, it really doesn't matter which way you cross the country. it is not the direction you select, it is the whim of Mother Nature that will decide your fate, visa vi, the winds, and a lot of other things. The bike is back in the hotel after having been given some TLC by Dakota Cyclery. Loren did a number on the rear wheel and trued the front one. On the back wheel, he countersunk the spoke holes in the hub. His contention is that the holes were too sharp, contributing to the breaking of the spokes. He also replaced the double butted spokes with single gage to get some added strength. The finished wheel does look beefier, but the proof of the theories will rest in how it performs on the road. Wheel work is very specialized, and we really had to follow the experience of a person who has seen many bikes come through this part of the world with problems. He also did some adjusting on the rear shifting to take some noise out, and improve the smoothness of the shifting. We hope he was successful, as the mountains will start coming soon. We can't say enough good things about Loren, Jennifer and their kids. They run a fine shop, know what they are doing and really took care of us. They delivered us to our hotel twice, and were quite willing to do whatever was necessary to get us on our way with confidence. If you are ever through this area, you should stop and say hello, and if you need some work done on a bike, this is the place to go. Dakota Cyclery, Bismarck, ND - it is a fine cycling shop. Today was very lazy for the Team. Breakfast at Denny's, a haircut for Ron, a pedicure for LaValle, lunch at a Vietnamese Deli and rest. We are ready to hit the road again, the mountains are calling us! We both feel good, and are ready for the challenges ahead. Ron Note from LaValle... Rest days are good -- great for updating the website as well as resting. You'll find pictures for June 15 on both the journal page and the photo page for that date. We hope you enjoy them. I was able to update my iPhoto software and so the updating was easier. When I was going to the local Vietnamese restaurant in the Radisson van this evening (resting includes not walking and Patrick, the doorman, has decided our tips put us to the top of the line for transportation), the local radio station was interrupted by the Emergency Broadcast System. Low lying thunderstorms were over the area about 50 miles south of us and stretched down another 100. I could see some distant lightening, but there was no rain here in Bismarck. Loren, Bismarck's Master Wheel Builder Jennifer, Dakota Cyclery's Manager