A Pioneer Story-part one

Wow. Just--Wow. The preparation for this pioneer trek was lengthy and extensive. Many committees have been working tirelessly for over a year to work out all of the details of this activity. We had close to three hundred people in attendance, probably more when you consider the medical staff and the equipment and food preparation committees. There were 25 pioneer "families" composed of a Ma and Pa and 10-12 teenagers. Each family was assigned a handcart to push and pull during our three day journey. Each person was allowed to bring one five gallon bucket containing their clothes and personal items and one black garbage bag containing their bedding. Our cart also had to hold a five gallon water cooler and a rubbermaid cooler for the meals we ate on the trail. It was full and it was heavy! Our family was the best by far (of course that's what all the Ma's and Pa's say) but ours really was. We had five boys and five girls of varying ages and sizes. The families were assigned beforehand (it was all very top-secret) and typically the kids didn't know each other very well. They all worked really hard and took care of each other. It was awesome to see them all come together. We were also assigned a "Big Brother". He will be a Senior in High School next year and he did such a terrific job keeping everyone happy and helping. Brycen--we love you! Thanks for making the difference in our family!

Our pioneer company

We were asked to bring all of our gear to a designated area the night before the trek began. That was an undertaking all on its own. You would not have believed all of the gear! Several men drove truck loads of gear up that night and dropped them at our starting point on the trail. (We live in a beautiful mountainous area and were fortunate to not have to travel too far from home) The adults met early the next morning about an hour before the kids arrived. We were driven to the starting point and began to sort and organize all of the gear according to family. When the kids arrived a little later our carts were mostly packed and ready to go. This was the first time we met the kids in our family. There was only one girl that we knew well before we started...the rest of the kids were merely names on a page. But over the next hours and days we would become the best of friends. While we were in that first meadow waiting to start our trek, we were blessed with a little addition to the family--a little baby made from a sack of rice named Zena.

Our family

The first morning we hiked about five miles. We all got used to how the handcarts worked and chatted and visited along the trail. We would stop often for water breaks to combat the heat of the day. We were the second to last handcart on this part of the journey, so the going was slow.

Heading out

We arrived in camp about 2pm. We ate lunch and spent the rest of the day playing games (stick pull, sack-racing, three legged races, and cow pie tossing) and participating in activities. My favorite part of this day was the square dancing. They arranged for a professional caller to meet us in the meadow. The kids were grumbling at first, but once they got going they had a ball! It really was fun. We had to cut the dancing short because of lightning and thunder. Later that night the boys and men were called to serve in the Mormon Batallion. They all marched off to a separate meadow. I'm not sure what happened at that point...we'll have to get a report from the men in the family. The women were left alone in camp. We weren't really sure when or if the men would return that night. We were instructed to return to our tents and have some mother/daughter time together. We weren't in camp long when several scary masked men on horses came galloping through camp demanding that we give them our men. We tried to explain that they weren't with us, but they didn't believe us. The girls were screaming and we tried to run away. They actually grabbed me and held me by gun point. Thankfully my girls were able to make it to safety. They captured about six women--wives of prominent local leaders--and after a great deal of harassment and abuse, we were able to flee and join our girls in the safety of the meadow. There we shared stories and sang songs until we could safely return to our camp. When we arrived back at the tents, we found the boys had returned. All were safely gathered in...and we retired for the night.

Tossing cow-pies

Sack racing!

...to be continued...