July 9 Greetings from Tokio...

Tokio, North Dakota that is.

Tonight we are the guests of Mike & Libby at their retreat center near Tokio. They are missionaries to the Sioux Indians. It was great to sit relax together after dinner and hear the story of how God directed them to this ministry and all the cool things he is doing through their efforts.

Today we rode 98 miles with a headwind part of the way. Fortunately it was not terribly strong. I averaged 15 mph. We got rained on today and had a bit of thunder and lightning. That sent us scurrying for cover in the Fort Totten Recreation Center approximately 25 miles from our destination. It blew over quickly after only 30 minutes and we were back on our way.

I have learned a lot about water in the past couple weeks. In the parts of eastern Montana and western North Dakota we have traveled through water is in much demand and must be carefully managed for agricultural irrigation. Where we are now there is an abundance of water. Several of the lakes are higher by 10 and 20 feet than they have been in decades. We rode by an island this afternoon that had two buildings on it but the water was so high there was no ground to walk on. We learned from our hosts Mike & Libby that it did not used to be an island at all. There is a road under water there and the people who lived in that area had to move or abandon their homes a few years ago.

We currently half way through our 4th week and less than 200 miles from the North Dakota/Minnesota border. Hadly seems possible.

Thank you for sharing this adventure with us.

Dan