Day 1: 4 am comes pretty early, especially when anticipation has you waking up hourly to check the time or go over some detail in your mind. Don't you hate that? So we got up and loaded up, got a few "before" pictures :) Mas and Pas had to be there early, so we left at 5, and the kids had to be at the church at 5:30 for their rides. The trek area was just south of Casa Grande, about an hour and a half from here.
We arrived and unloaded our gear at our family spot, then waited for the kids to arrive and have breakfast, which was eggs and biscuits and gravy -- very popular. Then we had a big meeting where they formed families. Finally, at about 9 am, we had our families, got our handcarts put together, and then searched our kids' gear for contraband :) Then we had a family meeting to get to know each other, and loaded up to move out. We had 4 girls and 5 boys and we named ourselves the Chicken Slayers. The handcart battalion was divided into 3 companies -- Captain McClure was our company commander, and we were alphabetical by Ma/Pa name, so the Allens, Andreasons, Ballards, Benevides, Bowmans, and Calhouns were among our group.
When we started the first pull, it was a little shy of 11 am. Fortunately, a cool front had come through the day before, and it was not very warm that day. We pulled the handcart through washes and over ridges along a trail, stopping every hour for about 10 minutes water break. We only had the water we carried, so we allowed a cup of water each stop. About 1 or 2 pm, people starting asking about lunch, but we just put them off. About 4 pm, they started asking about dinner :), and we just shrugged. Bathroom breaks were in the desert during stops, except about midday, when the stake had set some portapotties at one stop.
Pa and I weren't allowed to help push or pull the cart at all, only encourage, or move rocks, and stuff like that. That was pretty tough. We sang alot, which helped the girls more than the boys, but it was something. At about dusk, we had a longer stop for rest and drink water.
Then we started up a bit of a hill, this time on silence. About 15 minutes into it they started the “women's pull”, by Pa signalling the boys to come off the cart and leave the girls alone. Most didn't know this was going to happen, so some of them didn't want to do it. It was to represent the men leaving for the Mormon Battalion or being sick/dying along the real pioneer trail. I was able to help the girls at this point, and we really struggled on some of the uphills or the sandier washes where the cart got bogged down. Those girls tried so hard! I fell down at one point, and we all were exherting so hard we were crying. Plus, it was now dark, and we had to rely on moonlight to see where the trail was uneven and all. It only lasted for maybe 30 minutes, but it felt like forever. Then Pa brought the boys back to help push, and the group kept going for about another 20 minutes.
At this point, it was about 7 pm, and the whole battalion stopped for a motivation meeting with our trail boss, Rich Germaine. We were then told we had a few more hours before we got to camp, so off we went. No one asked about dinner, and we all were getting a little tired.
At about 10 pm, we started up a loooong hill. At this point, our youngest daughter, Michaela, started to falter and stumble. I walked with her a little slower for a time and tried to get her back on the cart. She tried, but she almost collapsed, so I pulled her to the side of the road and had the trail helpers load her into an ATV to take her on. When we were nearly to the top of the hill, the entire family pulled over and just laid down. They just didn't know if they could go any farther. Pa had some powdered Gatorade in our first aid kit, so he mixed some up for them, checked on everyone, and let them work it out. In about 5 minutes, they decided to keep going, so they got up and pulled on. We hit the crest of the hill, but we couldn't see anyone else in front of us. We kept going, but the kids started wondering if we had made a wrong turn, because the trail boss had said it was only a couple miles ahead, and we had been going for more than an hour without signs of civilization. So Pa ran ahead to make sure we were on the right track. He ran back and told them he had seen the campfire. They got so excited and really started pulling. We pulled into camp at 11:30 pm, where there was a cup of broth and a roll for each person. We pulled out sleeping bags and got to sleep as soon as possible. And thus ended day 1.
Day 2 Up with the sun (although the roosters had been crowing since 3:30 am, making it much easier to kill the suckers later for dinner), and we made corn meal mush on the communal fire (vestiges left in the picture). It was so neat to see all the women working through that process, sharing utensils and tips, and just being so glad to see one another. Some of the groups hadn't make it to camp until nearly 1 am, so they were pretty exhausted. We saddled up, had a family prayer, and set off again. Today was warmer, but we didn't have far to go, since the night before we had gone a few miles farther than originally planned. They pulled up a water bull and reloaded everyone's coolers so we wouldn't have to ration water. We pulled for about an hour, and then made it into our long-term camp. We set up camp, got organized, and had sack lunches from the base camp folks. Then they had to kill and clean our chickens for that night's dinner, prep the vegetables for stew, and start some bread dough rising. The kids then went to a series of workshops that included shooting, horseshoes, taffy pull, butter making, hair washing, candle making, yarn games, pioneer songs, and so forth. Meanwhile, I was at camp, cooking the chicken and getting the stew going. I felt uncomfortable leaving a chicken corpse out for much length of time! I went over to the workshops to check on the kids, and to see some friends who had come up to help for the day. That was fun! The highlight was probably the hair washing station, which felt sooooo good! Of course, you just got bonnet hair again, but it was clean. When the workshops were finished, we had dinner. We had decided to make our bread into rolls, since we thought it would cook easier in the dutch oven. We were very successful and had people from other families coming over to share because theirs didn't work so well. Then there was a big gathering where the Mas and Pas did skits to entertain the kids, and we sang songs and stuff. Then it was a family meeting, and bedtime.
Day 3 This was our sabbath day, so we stayed put and had a slow day. We had cracked wheat for breakfast, then had RS/Priesthood classes, then went to Sunday School together. Lunch was a sack lunch, plus some of our leftover stew from last night. The kids then had solo time, a time to be alone and reflect on their experiences so far, read scriptures, sleep, etc. That went until 4:30 pm, and then they came home to eat and get ready for a family home evening that they put together themselves. Dinner was a chili provided by the base camp, and we made scones/ doughnuts at our family campfire, with honey on top. They turned out pretty good, since I modified the recipe to be more like our family french doughnut recipe, and other people came over to share as well. No powdered sugar, but honey was good! Then we had a group testimony meeting.
Day 4 This is the day to break camp and head back. Rumors are flying all over about how far we have to go today, and so we head off. First there's a photo op, which takes a hour to get all the families through! The trail wasn't too steep, but those sandy washes were a pain. Our daughter Toni was really having problems with her hip, and she had a blessing the night before. She couldn't keep up with the cart, but kept walking anyway to make it in. All these kids were really impressive with their determination and encouragement.
We went for about an hour, up over the mountain, then got back to civilization. Our family pulled over and waited for our Toni and me so we could all go in together. It was like a parade with all the cheering and hoopla. Very exciting. And the cinnamon rolls and cold milk at the end were very welcome! We unloaded, said goodbye, and then loaded up to come home. Pa and I so glad we went, and really grateful for the experience of getting to know these kids. Wow!
Pictures!
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