Today was a time of reconnection with a beloved Uncle Roy, my mom's younger brother, his wife Jean, and their sixth son, Dan. Uncle Roy and Aunt Jean are in the picture above. I have been terrible concerned about how we would navigate our way through Salt Lake City and then remembered that I have an Aunt, uncle and cousins who live here, and maybe they would help us. What I didn't know is that Dan is an avid cyclist and is very familiar with the entire Northern Utah cycling scene. Tomorrow I will share a picture of Saint Dan!
Dan and I have been talking back and forth for several weeks. I only met him one other time in his life--about 22 years ago when he got married in Washington, DC. But this morning he gave us directions to ride north out of our Draper, UT campground. He said he would meet us about ten miles up...and he did just as he said he would do. Avid cyclist does not do justice to Dan. He has raced, been sponsored on a cycling team, and had a bike that weighed about 1/3 of what ours does.
It was wonderful to see him, and he escourted us up through Salt Lake City, past the Catholic Cathedral, onto the Mormon Temple Plaza, and then out of town to the West. We rode for most of the rest of the day on the banks of the Great Salt Lake (even though we could not see it, we knew it was there). Dan was committed to keeping us out of crazy, nerve racking, traffic. We were so grateful...until...
Around 3:30 it became obvious that it was going to rain. We stopped and put on our rain coats and then rode into the strongest headwind you can imagine. At one point we were riding very slowly up a long hill, and it started to hail. Yes...little ice balls started bouncing off of our helmets. So we ran across highway we were on and found shelter under an overhang on an abandoned building. We hid out there until the storm passed, and then rode on into camp. By the end of the day, I had 90 miles on my odometer and was very grateful to be "home" for the night.
About that time, Dan's parents, Roy and Jean Minert showed up. I hadn't seen them for years. We visited for a while and then went to dinner together at Maddox, "the best restaurant in Northern Utah." And it was! It was so good to reconnect with my family. Dan was a saint today and led us through the anxiety and difficulty of riding through traffic in a "foreign" city. And what's really cool is that he will also ride with us up to Bear Lake tomorrow. Seventy five miles of up-hill riding tomorrow. Anyone want to go for a ride?
Hi Rich, How wonderful that you got to see Roy and Jean and that Dan was there to assist you thru a very large and unfamiliar City. Isn't God good to care about every aspect of our lives? I love the Bible verse that says, "And you will hear a voice behind you saying, "this is the way--walk (or ride!) in it".
ReplyDeleteYou are in my prayers--every day. Love to all of you. Karen
Boy, you seem to have family all around the country. Nice that you all remain connected.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought given that Dan is an avid cyclist - is there something in your family's genetic make-up that makes you need to ride?
Godspeed!