What an amazing week we have had! We started by wishing a fond farewell to Thunder's parents on Sunday morning. We all just loved having them here and can't wait until they move to St. George. That evening we picked up my parents from the airport. They were watching the kids while Thunder and I got to to be a "Ma and Pa" to a little family for 3 days... on a pioneer Trek!
We were up before 5 AM Monday morning to take off. We met our "kids" and went through some orientation. We rode on buses up to Wyoming and soon we were off! Everyone had brought a 5-gallon bucket with personal items (ie toothbrush, PJ's, etc.) that also served as a seat to sit on. That is what we carried in our handcarts. The pioneers had also had similar restrictions on what they could carry, about 15-17 pounds per person. The handcard could fit about 4 people across the handle and it wasn't too heavy. The first day, we hiked for a few hours until we made it to the lunch spot. Those subs never tasted so good as they did that day. We all drank tons of water and got on our way again. We stopped every 20 minutes or so for a break. We each told stories about an ancestor we were walking in remembrance of and got to know each other. We had a really great group. Everyone helped pull/push and the girls even liked to sing. After a few more hours we made it to the Sweetwater River. We had to cross the river with the handcart with water up to our waist. Boys offered to carry the ladies across. On the other side of the river was camp. We set up our tents (in the strong wind, we managed to damage all 3 of them) and ate dinner. That night was a fireside where I sang 3 songs and two funny speakers spoke. After some apple cobbler, we were off to bed. It was a cold night, but everyone was tired, so the teens all went to bed.
Tuesday we were up at 7 AM. We broke camp, ate breakfast, and were on the trail by 9:30 AM. We had been hiking for a little while (and we were now the lead cart, yeah!) and stopped for our first rest. Up in the sky we saw a small plane flying low, and then two parachutes floating to the ground! Our neighbor had worked it out with Thunder and dropped us all a little "manna from heaven." Everyone loved the candy. We continued to push ahead, taking stops frequently. At one water break, one of our boys had unscrewed the water jug top for a refill and confusedly stated "uh, there's a diet Coke in here." Our friend Michelle, who was our "Aunt," knew that someone was looking out for her! We loved being the lead cart, and got ahead of the stake leaders. We ended up making it to camp by 1 PM, which was three hours ahead of schedule. But the kids loved having the free time. We set up tents and people napped, played football and walked around. We had some rotations after lunch, which included a cow-pie throwing contest. I didn't play that game. Yeah. We had a speaker come talk about muskets and tomahawk throwing (on our schedule it was written Tom A Hawks, and we wondered who that was) and square dancing! It was so fun to dance with Thunder and all the kids participated. We ate dinner, had brownie sundaes, and ended the night with a special testimony meeting with just our little family.
Wednesday we were up bright and early again. We packed up camp and started walking. It was a tougher day, going up hill much more. People were starting to get blisters and sunburns and were just tired. We walked a little further until we reached the base of a hill. We were told about Rocky Ridge, where many pioneer men were so spent that the women had to pull the carts up the steepest hill. The men and boys were instructed to hike to the top of the hill. We women gathered together and sang "As Sisters in Zion" and then we were quiet. One by one, we women pulled our own hand carts in silence up the hill. It was tough but we made it. It was a special experience to see the men lining the side with their hats off. Many women would reach the top with their own carts, and run back to the bottom to help others. I felt grateful for my group of girls, and for the pioneer women who were so strong. The men joined us and we had some family time to talk about it. Then we marched on to Philo Dibble, which is named for an army deserter who carved his name in a rock. We ate lunch amongst more cow pies. Then Thunder and I were informed that we had both "died" and had to march ahead without our family. I was not happy to leave our "kids" to pull the cart on their own. We waited a mile down the road, dressed in white (papertowels, but hey, we improvised) and then got to join our families again. I gave them all big hugs. The girls had started singing as they walked to remember their "ma." That was very cool. Well, we walked and walked and walked and walked until we reached Zion: the buses home. All in all, it was a great experience and I was proud to be a part of it. Except for my giant swollen sunburned lips (see picture below).
When we got home, it was great to see my parents and the kids. They did just great. On Thursday we headed up to the cabin. Grandpa and Sunshine had a project planned and they wanted to get right to work: a platform clubhouse in the trees. For Thursday and Friday and Saturday morning, we schemed, measured, cut, drilled, weatherproofed, and screwed. I had a wonderful time working alongside my dad. We got it finished up on Saturday morning and it is pretty dang cool. We had a great time visiting with my parents and they got a good chuckle every time the kids started fighting.
We sent them off to the airport this morning with sad faces. No more family for a while. But the kids were cute and made a whole "restaurant" for Thunder and I for dinner tonight. It's called the Sunday Grill.
Posts
