I got a wonderful surprise care package from home. Pat made a bunch of cookies and Allison shipped them to me. I received them in West Wendover. I've been chowing down on homemade cookies since. My roommates are loving them too. I really have no space to pack them in my luggage so the ABB staff agreed that I could put them in the van. There are enough to share with all the riders. We will have real cookies for SAG stop tomorrow. All the riders will love them!
Friday Morning June 12
It was great to sleep in this morning, even though you might not call it sleeping in under some standards. I was up at 6:30. I guess I'm in the mode since I've been getting up at 5:00 AM recently.
After breakfast I posted my brief report for yesterday. Then I talked to several other riders and we decided to get a transportation to Salt Lake City town center at 10:00 AM. We are in a Comfort Inn near the airport.
So we had about one and a half hours before 10:00 which gave us time to clean our bikes. The hotel furnished a big bag of old towels. I degreased my chain which was very scuzzy, then cleaned the rest of the bike. My bike is happy now!
10:00 AM came quickly so we were off to SLC town center. Free tours are offered of the Mormon church facilities. We went to the visitor center (nine of us) where two young ladies probably in their early twenties were waiting to give us a tour. Together they gave us the background and history of the Mormon religion. It was clear as they spoke how meaningful and personal it is to them. Their role as tour guides was part of their personal mission commitment.
The visitor center was furnished with beautiful art of Jesus and special events of the new testament. There was a statue of Jesus with painting of the universe on the wall as a backdrop. They stressed how the Bible was an important basis for their religion and that the book of Mormon was another testament of of their faith.
We were taken to the tabernacle and given some history. We were able to take some pictures there.
We were not taken into the temple as that is a sacred place only for Mormons in good standing. But we were given some history on the construction of the temple. It was build starting in the 1850's and was completed in the 1880's. Each granite building block was transported by horse and wagon from a location four days from the building site. Each block weighed 5000 lbs. It is an impressive structure.
It is apparent that this is a Godly place.
We had lunch together before returning to the hotel. After I post this I will chill out the rest of the day, maybe makes some phone calls. Tomorrow we are back on the road.
2 comments:
Jay,
I just got done reading about 5 days worth of your blogs. (Was in VA at my father-in-laws funeral). I find your entries and photos continue to be very interesting. I really appreciate your making the effort every day to do the blogs after a hard ride, so thanks.
Looks like your training was very good. You are not making any comments about barely being able to make it each day. Be careful that you don't show up the youngsters too badly.
Wade
Jay. That day of rest and visit to SLC must have felt real good after several days of hard riding. //Ron
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