Come, Come ye Saints!

At the beginning of June, Becky and I had the opportunity to be pioneer trek parents for 3 days. I'd been on trek 2 times before this, but this was Becky's first time.  We were the youngest set of parents and I have no doubt that we were probably mistaken as being some of the youth on the trek.  We were met at our starting point (Hernando, MS) with a steady rain which any previous trekker would know does not equate with an enjoyable time when you're pushing a handcart.  However, i felt that it gave us a small taste of one of the physical trials the pioneers had to endure and it was a relief from the hot and humid weather.  After pulling for several hours we arrived at our first stop to set up camp wet, muddy and tired.  There was no time to relax and warm up though because we had to set up camp first and then prepare dinner for the night.  The rain stopped later that night and we had sunshine the rest of the time we were there.   In some of our spare time we enjoyed learning and playing some original pioneer activities and games.  I also gathered some boys together one night and we played baseball in a field neighboring the camp with a ball made out of duct tape and a big stick we found in the woods.  Overall, it was a great experience and we had some great kids on loan to us for the weekend!

Our trek family

The must have trek activity of 'stick pull'.  This was one of our boys and the Bishop of our ward here in Tennessee.

Who knew the pioneers had discovered the joy and wonderfully bright clothing that tie-die offers
My ankle that I sprained playing basketball the night before trek.  I woke up the morning of trek and couldn't even walk on it.  We were worried that we might not be able to go since I wouldn't be any help and might actually be a hinderance to our trek family.  I was fortunate enough to have some friends from school that were able to come and give me a blessing.  I believe it was a big help to me over the three days we were there.  No, I wasn't healed from my original injury, but that wasn't part of the blessing so I didn't expect it.   I feel like I was blessed to be able to deal with the pain and I also never re-injured it when I could have easily done so on any of the various deep ruts or potholes that lined the trail.  I was even able to help push for much of the second and third days we were there.  It also made the experience a little more authentic although I wouldn't ask to experience it again :)  Thanks trek family for putting up with a gimpy Pa and thanks Justin and Martin for the blessing!

Second version of our family flag...our first one got washed out by the rain

The boys and Becky looking fierce at the front of the handcart

The girls getting ready to hit up the trail alone during the "Women's Pull"

A delicacy among pioneers, the ashcake is made from flour and water which is then shaped flat like a pancake and cooked directly on the ashes.  It actually wasn't the worst thing I've tasted, but it could have definitely used some butter, honey, or syrup to put on top.

What a hot pioneer pounding down that ashcake like a true champ!