June 22, 2003 We made a left hand turn today that put us on a course that is predominantly west rather than north, and that means that we have entered the final phase of our planned trip to Astoria. We are very excited, and we will soon reach the point where our remaining mileage will be expressed in three digits instead of four. That is way cool! The bike did well today, so we are guessing that we may have made some progress with the broken spoke thing. We will be changing out the rear tire today after about 1000 miles of use. Other than the two freak slashes we had early on, these tires have been very good to us. These are the 25 mm Vredestein Fortessa's that we have been using since we got the bike. They take 130 psi, and we feel that the high pressure works well on the tandem. They sure roll and bite well. The rest day was good for the Team, and both of us felt strong today. We did our 91 miles with no apparent problem, and had a lot of fun in the process. We left Bismarck this morning on River Road which runs right along side the Missouri for quite a while. Bismarck is a city of about 50,000, so it is pretty easy to get around. We just made two right hand turns from the hotel, rode to River Road, and headed north. Rain was threatning when we left, but all we got were a few sprinkles until we reached Washburn, and then there was no rain at all. Most of the last half of our ride today was in the sun, but it was cool. The temperature on the road was about 73 degrees. We had a tail wind for the first half of the ride, but had hurting and helping side winds the rest of the way. It was nothing serious, however, so we made pretty good time considering that we had to deal with a lot of rollers. It was a very good ride. When we reached Washburn this morning, we went to the North Dakota Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. We have not done a lot of this kind of sightseeing, since our goal is to get across the country. If there are interesting things to see on a rest day, we do it, but otherwise don't unless there is plenty of time. Today, we had the time, so we went through the exhibit. It was well done, and we enjoyed ourselves. We met a guy who has seen us several times on the road, and wanted to meet us. His name is Mike, and he markets photographs. He is on a trip collecting photos of the Lewis and Clark Trail. It was fun to talk with him. We took his picture wrapped up in a buffalo robe, and he took one of us at Fort Mandan. While at the center, we found this great poster-size map of the US with the route of the Corps of Discovery. It is very nice, and we both bought a copy. It will be a wonderful keepsake. After the IC, we went two miles down the road to Fort Mandan. The original fort is now under water thanks to the dam building exploits of the Army Corps of Engineers. North Dakota has built a replica in a setting that approximates the orignal, and follows the original construction very closely. As we approached the fort, we both had this feeling that we were going back in history. They had people there who explained everything, and that made it very interesting. Fort Mandan was a three-sided fort. This was done so that one set of sentries (The sentries would normally do four hour shift, but in the bitter ND winter, they would reduce the shift as it got colder. The shifts actually got down to 30 minutes when the temperature reached 50 below!) would be able to see the entire perimeter of the fort. So, it is basically a triangle with rooms built against two of the walls on the inside. It also had room for the blacksmith and two storage rooms. 47 people lived in the fort for 146 days, and survived temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero. Lewis and Clark shared a room, Charbonneau and his two wives had a room (He was the interpreter and the husband of Sakagewea), and the rest of the Corp shared rooms, nine men per unit. The Sargeant and one man would sleep on the first floor of the unit (The sarg on the top bunk and the man on the lower bunk, so that he could tend the fire through the night), and the rest of the men would sleep upstairs in a loft setting. It actually looks pretty confortable - particularly in view of the temporary nature of the facility. After Fort Mandan, we headed west - yes, west! Our goal for the day was the little town of Beulah, ND that has a population of 3,500. It also has a very nice, new motel, and that is where this is being written. From now on, we will be going from one small town to another until we reach Great Falls, MT(And, it is not so big either!) During the last half of the ride today, we could see the terrain changing. Things are getting rougher. We are still in farm land, but you can see some "bad land" stuff starting to show itself. We, again, saw lots of cattle today, but no buffalo. We are a bit disappointed by that, and hope that we will see more in Montana. Ron ...Note from LaValle When we were at the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center, we tried on the buffalo robe. Of course, we did it with the fur side out to set a fashion statement. The Indians, on the other hand, had the skin out, but then they were more concerned with the sub-zero weather. When we were at the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center, we tried on the buffalo robe. Of course, we did it with the fur side out to set a fashion statement. The Indians, on the other hand, had the skin out, but then they were more concerned with the sub-zero weather. The Interpretative Center also had a collection of Karl Bodmer prints of the West and the Indians he encountered about thirty years after the Corps of Discovery. Bodmer was the artist and naturalist for expedition led by Maxmillian. The exhibits in this Center are really well thought out and the personnel are quite knowlegeable and articulate. The same is true for the group at Fort Mandan where Adriana and Mike. The other Mike (Mike Karas) we met here introduced himself at the Interpretative Center and explained he had seen us several times in the last few days. He's also following the Lewis and Clark Trail but doing it in a van. He has a photography business and will be publishing his photos when he gets home to Houston, Texas. Coal mining is prevalent in North Dakota and I noticed as we passed one electric generating plant that the locomotives were not diesel but electric! The third picture is the first one I've received from my son since he's been in Iraq. If any of you would like some of his plane refueling just send me a message. It's very cool! Ron making a styling statement... LaValle and her Buffalo Robe Captain Pursley, WSO F-15, second seat