Day 13: To Payson, UT 80 miles

Today I was a sweeper with Bill Katt from Georgia Tech. This meant that we were designated to bring up the rear of the team for the whole day. We had to help and encourage the slower cyclists and ensure that noone got left behind. The ride was pretty decent with more enjoyable scenery than the day before. It seems to be a trend these last few days and a trend that I really enjoy. Today I was also riding with Tony Masias. We had a scary incident when Tony hit a railroad track at a bad angle, wrecked and hit his head. He rode the rest of the day but once at lodging it was found that he had suffered a mild concussion. He will be off the bike for a couple days but should be good to go from Salt Lake onward. Once in Payson, we attended a friendship visit at a Tiny Tot Center. It was definitely our toughest visit due to the severity of the children's disabilities. Our first reaction was wow, this is very sad. Then we tried to figure out how best to interact with them and try to bring a smile to their faces. Since we could not communicate it was very difficult. However, by being flexible, we were able to just hold their hands and have a one way conversation, finally resulting in a smile. One boy named Brigham has Autism and played basketball with us. To the right is Brigham, Simon Buchman, and I. Following the visit we had a sponsored dinner with Saturn of Orem. After dinner we made our Walmart runs and found a great place to snag some milkshakes, which seems to have become part of our daily routine.