The ride in from Payson was a short and mostly flat with some rolling hills. The roads were nicely paved for a change although we did have to get racked (off the bikes and in the vans) for the last 20 miles because of construction. It was pretty tight in the back of the vans with all of our stuff! Saturn kindly sponsored our lunch (which was catered by Subway, mmmh). We had a good laugh when the sales team told us they were going to sing the song they sing to their clients when they buy a car and took 10 minutes to assemble their crew. It then took them about ten seconds to blurt out: “I say! I say! I say! Journey of Hope!”
On the first day, we spent the afternoon in a water park! You can see a lot of the pictures I uploaded from the park (I know, I have really distinct tan lines. I’m as white as snow, I can’t help it.). I spent the afternoon with a girl named Jessy. She was deaf and non-verbal so it made it difficult to communicate. I did learn how to say my name in sign language, and I found a way to get my messages across with a lot of pointing and mouthing. She was really excited to go down the rides with me on a double-tube as her parents hadn’t let her go alone before we arrived. It put a smile on my face to hear her scream in joy (although at first I though she was scared, and it frightened me).
That evening, I did something I’d been thinking about for a while and shaved my head. It was a tough decision for me since I have never had short hair, much less a buzz-cut. In the ends though, I think it came out nice and it has served me well so far on the road. Furthermore, I don’t have horrible bed-hair in the morning anymore and I look decent for team pictures, even after long days riding and sweating.
My friends Matt Casale, Adam Southard, Scott Leighty, and I went out to see the movie “The Hangover” in downtown Salt Lake City in the night after some food at Chili’s. We got terribly lost on the UTA-TRAK tramway when we were trying to find our way back to lodging at Judge Memorial High School (near University of Utah), and spent 2 hours wandering around before we got a taxi. To make it worse, we got lost while in the company of a college girl we meet that apparently didn’t know the way around her own city. It was quite the night and although it didn’t go as planned, we had a lot of fun!
The next day, in my opinion, was the best friendship visit so far. We went to the National Ability Center near Park City, Utah. They had some of the best facilities I have seen so far with an indoor climbing wall, and outdoor ropes course, and an equestrian center designed for physical rehabilitation for those with physical disabilities. Some of us climbed the wall blindfolded, others rode special bikes with hand-pedals, but perhaps the most significant for me was the conversation I had with a 17-year old girl named Breagan who is blind. Not only did I learn a lot about the disability itself and how she lives her daily life, but she told some really funny stories. One was about her first kiss and how she ended up bonking heads with her boyfriend, who is also blind. She showed us her Paul McCartney tooth tattoo (yes, I did not know they existed too until I saw it). She talked a lot about her Braille computer and how she has a facebook. She mentioned her desire to go to college and become a teacher. All in all, it was a very casual conversation that really put disabilities into perspective for me. It’s easy to treat people with sympathy and talk down to them, but it’s much harder to look past a disability and see the person behind the veil. I’m hoping that by the end of the summer, I’ll be able to treat everyone I meet in this same way, regardless of the disability or the barriers between us.
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