August 8th: Provo, UT to Payson, UT or … there’s a first thing for everything!

Nice sunny morning again! But the air quality is going down with this weather as they warn us on TV. Also, the Tour Of Utah (bicycle race) is starting tomorrow and no – I do not participate (yet)! In Provo, where the Y of the BYU stands on the slopes of the mountain, 

I headed towards the post office to buy some stamps. Well, talk about a man who likes his job! He was very friendly and heard my accent. This was good enough for him to give me some special stamps for mail inside the USA. He also gave me some special change: a half dollar coin and two one cents coins. 

Back on US 89 south I pass the Juvenile detention building and they are still working on that road! I noticed a cool door in a building of the 1920’s. 

Once under the railway bridge I cycle in farming countryside. Next town is not too far away: Spanish Fork. It’s actually getting bigger each year. I decide to stay on the main highway for once. Very soon I get the feeling of being in India. 

This Krishna temple can be visited, but I decide not to do so. Salem is the next town (where black birds scare when I cycle along) 

and then I already reach destination: Payson at the foot of the road to Mt. Nebo – another high mountain!

I walk into the local café “Dalton’s”: a busy place where you get a lot of food on your plate and where people are very friendly. Coming outside I notice a flat back tire. Shoot! Luckily, a bicycle shop is across the street. 

A big fat screw is sticking in my tire. Somehow I wonder how these big things get stuck in there. For the first time I need to replace my tire and tube! So lucky me there was this bicycle shop – the last one in a long stretch as they tell me, which does not really comfort me! I decide to switch the front tire to the back and to put the new tire on front (it’s a little more narrow than my normal tires). Let’s cross our fingers this will work! As I get out of the shop a woman comes up to me to talk about traveling self-contained. Her destination in two weeks is the Oregon Coast. After saying goodbye, I jump back on Sweet Machine and head to my sleeping place here in town. Today’s mission is accomplished. Oh yeah, some notes about yesterday’s ride: for those fans of NCIS, I saw Gibbs mailbox and an advertisement for Mc Gee’s shop.