This day started so great. Nine hours of restful sleep. Modest breakfast next door. Sunday School and Service with wonderful people.  Getting supplies, then lunch. Chatting with Karen and friends on the cell phone. Maybe this might be a good time to go over my schedule for next week.

Whoops!

Did I ever make a whopper of a mistake! Somehow I got the idea that I could boat from Fort Benton to Fort Beck, bicycle and all. Before leaving home I realized that that would not happen, but I forgot to adjust my itinerary. Daily mileages are a function of terrain, and availability of food and camping/lodging. This terrain will be very tiring. Food and shelter will be scarce.

My best guess is that I will be in North Dakota , not the four days I earlier announced, but in ten days, including a rest day somewhere. Oh, Lord be with me.

ESTHER IS IN TROUBLE: If you have been reading this journal, you may recall that Karen's friend, Esther Harmon, joined us for the first three and one half days before she and Karen peeled off for home. She commented on how she liked the drawstrings on the legs of my shorts. I asked "Why?" She said "So that a bee couldn't fly up the shorts."  Having ridden over 7,000 miles without the drawstring pulled tight, I kept my mouth shut, but thought it interesting what some can find to worry about. The last day, I had put on clean shorts, on which the drawstrings were pulled tight. I had tightened them on a photo shoot before I left home. After the girls left for home, as I was pedaling along, I realized that I had forgotten to unloosen the drawstrings. Temperatures were around 90, and the extra cool air would feel good.

They hadn't been loosened for even a minute, when a bee flew up the shorts, found itself trapped, and started stinging me. it did not survive long, but the memory of how Esther jinxed me still lives. If she had just kept her mouth shut it probably never would have happened.😊