The price, $695.

I had a difficult time writing out that check because at that time, in fact, I really didn't know much about books.

Um, I proceeded to take that set of books downtown in Portland to an established book dealer whose name was Preston McMahon, and, um, I showed him the set.

I said, "Well, that's, that's it, isn't it? That's all the journals." And he, he kinda chuckled.

He said, "No, there's, there's a lot more publications than that about the journals of Lewis and Clark."And, uh, so I went ahead and said, "Well, I tell you what," I said, "You give me about five years, I'm gonna have every book published about Lewis and Clark." And he, he laughed so hard he about laughed himself out of his chair.

He was a, a heavy-set gentleman in his late 60s at the time, and, uh, he said, "There's, there's people that have spent lifetimes looking for every book of Lewis and Clark and have never succeeded." Well, I told him, "Well, maybe I won't have every book, but I'll have the best library of anybody in the United States," and he laughed harder.

Then in 1994, he took a $49 flight to Los Angeles for the LA Book Fair.

That particular day, I got there early, uh, and then there was somewhat of a race when they opened up the gate.