June 25, 2003 Today is a rest day in lovely Culbertson, MT. This is a town of about 1000, and is a perfect rest stop - there is not a damned thing to do. Plus, it is very cold, so there is no desire to get out much anyway. One thing we have learned is that it is important to rest on rest days. If you sightsee or are on your feet too much, the next day on the bike is not fun. This is another one of the west's cowtowns. It is very sleepy, and you wonder how it even manages to exist. The problem in the small towns is finding stuff we can eat. Cheeseless pizza, OLT sandwiches (that's a BLT without the B!) and breakfast fare have to get the job done. Oh, well, we are doing this for the challenge? We thought you might be interested in our daily routine. We didn't plan it this way, but a routine has developed to insure that we get all the stuff done we have to, and that we don't forget anything. Being in motel rooms night after night leads one to be a bit careless. Our day usually starts between 4-5:00 am. We don't set alarm clocks, we just happen to be on the same general time. We meet, and have breakfast right away, since we are always very hungry. After breakfast, it is packing time. Whoever doesn't own the bike and trailer for the night has to pack his or her stuff and carry it to the other room. The water bottles have to go too, since the person who doesn't babysit the bike gets to wash the water bottles. Once everything is ready, the trailer gets packed, tires pumped, chain lubed and the bag on the trailer closed. We do a double inspection of both rooms to make sure that we haven't left anything behind - Ron really likes to leave his night light behind, and LaValle would really like to loose her little hat she wears under her helmet. We are then ready to rock and roll. We usually ride until Ron empties a water bottle (1.5 hours) or until nature calls. We, by now, are adept at taking care of this along the road, but creature comforts are important. As we roll along, we try to set a target for having a Mountain Dew (The only non-Hammer Nutrition product we use while on the bike). We find that a goal, even as simple as this, makes the day go better, and gives us something to shoot for. We repeat this routine until we reach our destination. Early in our ride, we would adjust the itinerary because of weather or fatique, but now, that we have adjusted to the back-to-back centuries, we just keep plugging along until we get there. The latest we have been out was 7:30 pm. When we arrive, LaValle checks us in while Ron manages the bike. We then take the bike and trailer to its assigned room (We usually surprise people when we enter the lobby with the trailer still attached to the bike. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get the whole rig into any room with unhooking - up untill this point anyway!). The BOB bag gets unpacked, stuff put in the right room, and we are off to eat. That is, if it is after 5:00 pm. If we arrive before 5:00 pm, we eat right away, go back to the hotel to shower, change, get some chores done for the day, do the laundry (we only have two changes of cycling stuff and one change of civilian clothes) and then eat again at around 6-7:00 pm. We then go back to one of the rooms, and Ron writes the journal and poem. Then, LaValle adds her comments, downloads the pictures from her camera and uploads everthing to the web site. It usually bedtime by then. Then, it all starts over except for rest days when there is no routine. Eating is a real challenge. We figure that we burn upwards of 5-7,000 calories a day, and only take in half that on the bike. So, if we are hungry, we eat. We have been able to maintain weight while on the road, but we sure are eating a lot of stuff. We will have to watch it when we get back - a full tummy feels mighty fine! Speaking of eating, while having lunch today, we noticed a group of Asian folks stop at the drive-in next door. As it turns out, they are from Taiwan, are a family of Mom, Dad and two sons (39,43,19 and 16), and are biking around the world. They are on their last leg having crossed Asia, the Middle East, flying the Atlantic Ocean and now biking the USA. They have ridden some 16,000 miles in 11 months, and their accomplishments make us feel a bit inadequate! They are very nice people, and were very friendly. Only one spoke good English, but we managed to communicate. We ended up going back to our motel to bring the bike back for them to see. They were fascinated by the tandem concept, and couldn't believe the weight, and the fact that we are touring on skinny tires. We took pictures of each other, wish each other luck and reluctantly parted ways. They were headed for a camp site on the Indian Reservation. Ron forgot to mention a couple of river crossings in yesterday's journal. We first crossed the Yellowstone River, stopped to take pictures and marveled at it's strength and speed. It is a wild river, and was fun to see. The Missouri, on the other hand, was it's normal, sleepy self. It is very deep, so appears to not move at all. Rivers are our objective on this trip, and we hadn't seen one for a while. It was nice to become reacquainted. Since we started the trip, we have been looking for a Lewis and Clark flag to fly with our American flag from the BOB flagpole. LaValle had this idea to cut up a t-shirt if we couldn't find something already done. Today, we found the shirt, and the lady in the store even cut and sewed it for us. So now, we have two flags, and we are as happy as a couple of kids. We are ignoring the extra drag for the sake of communications and "showing the flag". As was mentioned earlier, it has been cold here today. The temperature last night was 44, and it was 60 at noon with 20-25 mph winds out of the north. It actually snowed in a near-by pass. The storm is starting to clear, so we should have a good day tomorrow. We just hope that the wind decides to come from someplace other than the west. Glasglow, MT is the target for tomorrow - just another simple century! Ron Note from LaValle... Since we aren't riding today, the photos will be of Culbertson, Montana, "a cowtown born on the prairie with the arrival of the railroad." I've also included shots of houses and business establishments.One of those is of the outside of The Other Place where we bought the "flag". Thank you Suzette for helping us and agreeing to have your picture taken. We also had our first espressos since we've been on this trip. The Wild West Cafe serves espressos and lattes to both the tourists and to the residents. Marie told us this morning that more and more of the regulars are drinking what in my mind is real coffee. For you adventurous ones, here is the website for the Huang/Yang family... udn.com/bike. Although the site is in Mandarin Chinese I've been able to find some interesting photos of this amazing foursome and their incredible journey. From what I can tell they'll be finishing up in the Seattle area on August 8. When I looked at their map, it was an Adventure Cycling Chinese Edition of the Northern tier route. All in all it's been a good rest day although I'm still resting at my laptop! Beginning of day - Cloudy and Cold looking West at Me Too Pizza Building Suzette Houle, Owner of The Other Place The Other Place on Broadway in Culbertson, MT End of Day and warmer, taken from parking lot of Me Too Pizza