June 12, Day 12

Day 12, June 12
Rest Day in Salt Lake City
Weather: Sunny and 63 degrees

Dear All,

Today we rest. Eleven days of riding and more than 835 miles have been covered and we're in our third state. Not bad. We've seen a lot of really great parts of this country and we've met some very interesting people and at the same time we've gained some new friends. We've had to dig deep from time to time and we've had some real thrilling rides along the way.

We slept in to 7:00 am and it felt great. John worked on the blog until about 10:00 am and then about 6 of us took a van into downtown Salt Lake City to see the Tabernacle and all of the related buildings. We had a short tour which was more about the tour guild trying to convince us to convert than it was about the history of their religion. So far we have decided not to convert. Nonetheless the Temple and Chapel were very interesting. In addition we heard a short organ recital on the 12th largest organ in the world.

We returned to the Motel and cleaned bikes for about an hour.

Tomorrow we're off to Provo, UT. A couple of very steep climbs await us although the total millage is only in the 60's. How hard the day will be depends on the climbs.

The forecast is for sun and temperatures in the low 60's with a negligible wind. That's good.

It occurred to us that as sailors we have always hoped for nice windy days and now we live in fear of the wind. We guess it's all a matter of perspective.

By the way, as you might have guessed the picture at the top of this page is Amy's certificate for riding her first century. As she said “I never would have thought I would ride a bike 100 miles in a day much less ride a bike over 100 miles each day for two days in a row. I guess we never know what we can do until we try”.

Take care and keep up the good vibes. Don't forget a prayer or two to the weather gods.
Amy and John