May 24, 2003 The bike got the five-dollar, fifteen-minute tune-up before we hit the road this morning. That means that the drive train was pressure washed with WD – 40, thoroughly cleaned and lubed. It was happy. Later in the day, it wasn’t so happy because it had a flat. It was a sidewall thing, again, so it meant another tire. We have no idea what we hit. It happened in a smooth, clean section of road. The bike continues to perform beautifully. Ron and Lavalle are doing fine. Both are a bit tired, but are strong on the bike. This was the third day in a row that the mileage was near the century mark, and we seem to be handling it. Our goal for the day was to move from Marietta to Gallipolis while staying as close to the Ohio River as possible. This entailed taking some back roads that got us off of Highway 7. These roads were much nicer, since they had less traffic and more to see. At times we were riding right along side the river. (We got to see a tug and four barges up close.) The area we passed through was definitely less prosperous than that to the north. However, there were interesting pockets of developments where people had apparently build second homes of amazing proportion and setting. There were also the retirement camps – RV’s parked side by side right along the river. We saw a number of old and abandoned farm building that at some time had to be the best of the best in the area. Wild flowers were abundant in many of the areas we passed through today. At about mile 60 today, we met our first serious cyclist. His name is Jeff Leepard, and he is an engineering manager for a chemical plant in Pt. Pleasant, WV. He was out doing a century in preparation for a 12 hour race he will be doing in July. We talked for a while, and he told us he would be heading back towards us in a few miles. Our stop for the tire change and a later stop for something the drink allowed him to catch us. He rode the rest of the way with us which was helpful, for he knew his way through some tricky areas. We had fun talking to him, and he related a lot of local history. For instance, Gallipolis means “City of Gulls” and was settled by some French. The weather today was great. The sun came out as we were leaving – there was fog earlier while we were cleaning the bike. Our only complaint would be about the headwinds. They were pretty strong (15 mph or so), and slowed us quite a lot. They say that makes you stronger, but it also wears you out. Where is the pace line when you need it. Unfortunately, we will not get to see much of Gallipolis. We got in late, and will be leaving early. This is just one of the negatives associated with trying to cover this many miles in a relatively short period of time. However, we feel that it is a small price to pay to get to follow the steps of Lewis and Clark. Ron