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Day 6 - I wake up a couple of hours later to learn that they’ve called a doctor to come check out Colleen and Danny.  Stomach troubles have really taken their toll on Colleen.  The EMT says that neither of them is severely dehydrated, but they aren’t actually in good shape either.  He fills them up with Immodium and says he wants them to rest until 12 noon.  What?!? No way!  We all protest the decision, despite the opportunity to rest.  That’s way too long!  "OK, I’ll be back between 7:30 and 8:00 to check her out and we'll talk about it then", he says.  At 8:30 he still hasn’t come back.  “Randy, go get them because I’m not waiting any more…we’re leaving”.  Team ChicagoAdventureracing.org is back in the race!

The paddle begins in calm water and will hopefully remain much calmer than Utah Lake.  We’re expecting about 30 miles versus our previous paddling session of 24.  Strawberry Reservoir is notorious for afternoon winds and the reservoir has several channels between islands that we’ll be passing through, which could either deaden or increase wind speed.  Navigation is interesting too as the terrain is comprised mostly of barren desert-like landscape, making what should be prominent points of land appear to blend together.  

We’re continuing to experiment with different team configurations in the boats.  This time, Colleen and I are together with Colleen paddling in front.  We’re really working well together and I think we’ve found a winning combination.  I find this to be one of my favorite parts of the race so far as Colleen and I talk for hours about the past couple of days, family, and why we race.  I begin to think about how the team started, the nervousness I felt at going into a race with unknown teammates, and how impressed I am that we've come together well and worked together as a team.  We're doing a great job of overcoming weaknesses with each other's strengths.  I've felt the pressure throughout the race as the team's navigator and they've really helped by encouraging me and letting me know they appreciate the work I'm doing in moving the team through the course.  

We finish the paddle, still in the light of day near 7 PM.  We made great time and once again, navigation was flawless.  We quickly swap paddling gear for bikes, grab some food, and we’re off again, this time on the next to last bike leg of the race.  We climb from about 7600’ to reach the 9600’ mark after midnight, after a couple of tricky navigational options.

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