Pioneer Trek

(Warning: extremely lengthy post)

Earlier this week we took part in our stake's Youth Pioneer Trek.  A reporter came out and did a story on us, so I'll let this link below give you a general idea of what was going on, then I'll share some highlights and the details I want to remember in the future.

click here for news clip
(there is also a slide show of pictures at the bottom)

We were called by our Stake Presidency to go as a Ma & Pa which meant that we were given 12 kids (ages 13-18) that we were responsible for as our children.


As a Ma & Pa we did have a couple of all day training sessions where we went over the complete itinerary including meals, sleeping arrangements, and distances.  That helped a lot so I'd be able to mentally prepare myself for what we were getting ourselves into...

The first day: the purpose of this day was to break us.  It was a beautiful morning and forecasted to be 72 degrees that day. We met up with all the families and all did our family cheers for each other   At our family meeting before the trek we came up with a family name: the Rocket Rodericks and our motto was "Hold to the Rod'ricks' the Rocket Rod'ricks'"  For our cheer we all got in a circle with our arms on one anothers shoulders and swaying from side to side counted down from "10, 9, 8,...Rocket Rodericks!" while one of our sons threw our family baby (doll) in the air and caught him.  The kids loved it and we think it was definitely the best cheer!

We put our handcarts together and loaded 13 people's gear on it (which was tough for a 4x4 box).  We first had to go through all of our children's stuff and confiscate/make sure they didn't bring anything extra that was not on the list. (We were only allowed the basics, no deodorant  no toothpaste, no pillow, no makeup, no food, no electronics, no cameras, etc) Our family was the first one with our handcart put together and loaded so we sat down to eat our lunch.  We had 2 loaves of pumpkin bread, 2 pieces of beef jerky per person and an orange for everybody.  Even though I already knew this was all we were getting for lunch, I (along with my kids) were all quite disappointed.

Everybody's energy was quite high as they assigned us our order and we lined up to get started.  They had no idea that we would be going 12 miles that day!  Texas is very rocky/stony, so we really had to watch our step.  We knew ahead of time that we were going to be walking from noon all the way to 10 that night, but the kids had no idea.  It was a great opportunity to get to know the youth.  Lots of our kids love playing basketball (which I loved hearing) so we talked about that for a while.  We also broke out our ukulele and let all the kids take turns learning to play it while they walked.  Our family loved to sing and that helped pass the time too.  I had brought my harmonica to play some hymns while we walked, but we walked at a much quicker pace than I was expecting so I decided to save my breath.  Along the way people had problems with their carts or would have to unpack to get something, so there was quite a spread between all the carts.  We were always towards the front which meant that we walked super fast and then every hour we'd have to stop and wait for 15-30 minutes while we waited for everybody else to catch up.  We used this time to play Signs with the kids or share pioneer stories and drink lots and lots of water! I was surprised at how much the kids started to love our little baby doll Brigham.  One of our daughters (Ailyn) had got him and dressed him up like a pioneer, he was so cute.  I hardly got to hold him the first day, all the kids wanted him.

At about 5pm (I'm assuming since we had no watches) we handed out their snack of a granola bar and rushed away to a Ma & Pa meeting.  There they passed around some extra bread for us and let us all share a couple Powerades.  Our trail boss told us we had gone just over 5 miles.  I just about died!  My feet were already killing me, I was hoping for something closer to 8 miles.  I had a cut in my orthotics right on my heel and I could feel a blister starting to form, and my squished little pinky toes were in bad shape too.

Just after that meeting a guy on a horse rode up and asked for all willing and able young men to go off to battle. The guy had a tough time reading the script because his horse was so skitish and the message didn't come across very well, but all the boys proudly ran off to follow him down the trail. I gathered the girls in a circle to have them come up with a plan on pulling the handcart without our strong boys. Without hesitation they all looked at me and said, "Let's go, we wanna be first!" The girls literally pulled the cart at the same pace we were going earlier with the boys help, it was crazy.  4 pulled up front and one pushed in the back next to me while we occasionally had to pick up something that fell from the cart.  We sang and talked until about 10 minutes in when one of my girls turned and stepped right in front of the wheel, running over her foot.  We've heard stories about pioneers getting their foot run over and breaking it, so we all kinda started to panic.  I sat her down and tried to console her as she started to cry and maybe 10 seconds later she just looked up at me and said, "You know, it actually doesn't hurt that bad anymore."  The 4 other girls still all insisted that she ride up on the cart for a while, despite her not wanting to at all.  We finally pushed her up there and I gave her our baby doll to carry.  It was not a comfy ride for her up there, so after 5-10 minutes we let her get down and she was able to walk and keep up.  At this point the boys had come back to join us, although at this point they were not allowed to help push.  We were hoping they'd help motivate the girls by encouraging them or getting them water, but it was like pulling teeth to get them to. (Probably because our girls didn't really show many signs of struggle) The boys did end up doing a great job occupying their thoughts during a particularly tough hill by singing for them.

After a couple of hours of the girls pulling we stopped on the bottom of a huge hill while we waited for the other carts. We were there for probably close to an hour.  A couple of groups really had trouble getting up that hill.  As we waited there the sun started to set and then it slowly disappeared behind the hill.  As soon as that sun went down we felt a huge temperature drop.  Most of our kids had sat down because it was such a long break and this sudden burst of cold hit our tired muscles pretty hard.  We got out whatever loose blankets we could find on our handcart and all huddled together as best we could. Physically, this was probably the hardest moment for most of the family including me; getting back up after walking 9 miles and continuing our trek in the dark.  I saw many girls around us starting to cry, including one in our family. We pulled out our flashlight and lantern because there was no moon and it was completely dark. The one thing I tried to distract them with was looking up at the beautiful stars, we could literally see thousands of them so bright.  It was beautiful!

After another mile it was announced that the men were officially "back" and able to help now.  The boys really stepped up and took over the cart while the girls got a little break. At this point we were all incredibly hungry, tired and cold.  We talked about our favorite foods and the warmest places we've ever been.  After another 2 miles I started to smell chicken.

Our camp in the morning

We arrived at a clearing and were instructed to bring around our carts to form a large circle.  All the girls slept on the inside, boys on the outside.  We laid out our tarps and sleeping bags then I ran off to get our dinner from the cooks.  There was a big fire over at the base camp where the trail bosses and cooks were staying and it felt so nice, I wanted to stay there all night, but I knew I had to get back to the family.  All the kids wanted was a big beefy stew and they were quite disappointed when I came back with a loaf of bread, apples and a cup of chicken broth for each of them.  We quickly ate, it didn't take long to drink a cup of broth. It was so cold that we all just jumped in our sleeping bags, nobody even mentioned brushing their teeth or changing their clothes.

It was so bitter cold, I don't think I ever warmed up.  Dave insisted that I use his new mummy bag, but I still froze (I can only imagine how cold he was in our old plaid one).  Us girls were all snuggled up, but I'd feel them roll over every few minutes trying to get comfortable, so I had to scoot away to have any chance of getting some sleep.  I pulled the drawstring tight over my face so only a little circle of my face was exposed.  It was the weirdest thing, I'd start to fall asleep but then I'd feel drops of water on my face that would wake me up. I'd look around expecting rain, but all I saw was stars above me.  I'd lay back down and it would happen again.  This happened all night long and I was so confused, but too cold to sit up and see what was going on.  I could hear some men snoring and that made it even harder to get to sleep!  I was basically laying there shivering (like 90% of everyone else there) all night just waiting to see some sunlight in the sky.

Day 2: Finally the wake up call came and as lanterns were turned on I heard all kinds of remarks like, "What the, where are we?" or "Did it snow last night?" or "Oh my gosh, no wonder I didn't sleep last night."  I pulled my head out of the covers only to see my bag completely covered in ice.  Also, all around my face was ice...then I understood.  I had ice all around my bag and my breathing was making it melt and drip on me!  Everything was frozen; our clothes, shoes and belongings!  We lit up our coals and all huddled around the small fire. Although we weren't supposed to because of the wind, we 'accidentally' started a little fire, it felt so good!  For breakfast we had some johnny cakes with syrup (cornmeal and water) and it was just about as delicious as it sounds.  A few girls tried it first and decided they didn't want theirs.  So the boys eagerly took them, but then ended up not eating the girls or their own serving.  Finally the sun came up and we started to pack everything up (even though it was all still wet). At that point I got pulled away for a Ma meeting where they gave us the days instructions and a Costco muffin which I was so grateful for. I brought back half of it in a cup for Dave. They had also told us that it got down to 26 degrees that night. It was finally warm enough for me to take off my socks so I put a few band aids on my 2 blisters.  I asked all our kids if they needed any band aids or cushions but they all said they were fine, I couldn't believe it!

I don't remember much starting out that morning.  We told the kids they did 12 miles yesterday and that the girls did 5 miles all on their own.  They were quite surprised and their only wish was that we wouldn't go that far again today.  Nobody really complained much, I'm assuming it's because we were all experiencing the same hunger and lack of sleep, so it didn't get much sympathy. We sat around a circle with our family and processed the activities of the past day and related it to our lives. The kids were able to draw many parallels with a simply "why?" asked by us. It was really exciting to see them teach themselves.

We only had 2 miles scheduled for the handcart pull today before arriving at camp. When we were almost there we were stopped to do a "scenario". Some people had to "fix" their handcart, others had to start a fire, but we had to go search for our "missing oxen" after a stampede of buffalo. We ended up pretending to find our missing Oxen, "Ribeye" and "T-bone", and were awarded real buffalo jerky! It was sooo much better than the hard jerky we were supplied with from the 1st day. After about 1/4 mile further down the trail we arrived at camp. The kids couldn't believe that was it, and they continued to ask, "So this is really where we're stopping today?" and "So we're really not pulling anymore today?" over and over again.  Our family found a nice shady spot to settle in and have lunch, a biscuit with honey.

We did have a scary experience. As we were eating we could hear an upset cow close by making noise.  Pretty soon we noticed it got closer and turned to see a huge longhorn right in the middle of our camp, making some pretty scary noises.  I think it was looking around and noticed that it was suddenly surrounded on all sides by groups of people.  All of a sudden it let out a loud moo (or some kind of shriek), lowered it's head and bolted in the direction of the group next to us.  I told everyone to remain calm, it wasn't going to come our way and then it turned and literally started coming right at us.  We all jumped up screaming and looking frantically for a way to run.  Most of us ended up behind our handcart as it veered off and went right by the tree we were sitting under.  There was one boy who ran the opposite way and ended up sprinting right in front of it.  Although it really scared him, we joked that  he was the hero leading the bull away from the rest of the family.  The girls were quite paranoid the longhorn would come back, long into the night, but we think he was just happy to get away from all of us people!

After lunch we played some games. What started out as a simple game of "Parachute" with our big tarp turned in to something much...dungier. I've always been great at making up games and judging by how many other kids came over and asked to join, I think it was a huge success.  We called it pass the cow patty.  We spread out our giant tarp and all grabbed on to the sides.  I was wanting to play with a ball, but we didn't have any. I looked around and some some rocks, but that was too dangerous.  The only other thing I could see were a bunch of dry cow patties, so I had a boy pick one up and throw it in the middle.  Without even explaining the kids went crazy shaking that tarp to avoid the patty coming at them.  Soon boys were throwing tons in the middle and there were literally pieces flying everywhere.  That's about when I got out of there!  (We saw some kids in another family get out their tarp and play this game later that night, it made us smile)

That afternoon they had arranged some pioneer activities.  Some people from our ward/stake came out to teach us branding, candle making, black powder rifle shooting and some pioneer games.  Our family literally rocked at the handkerchief game; you tuck a handkerchief in your pants with the majority hanging out and you have to yank out the other people's and be the last one standing.  It was usually Dave and at least 1 of our children in the finals, they were great at gaining up as a family and getting the others out.  It was quite fun to watch.  My favorite activity was the hair washing with a bucket of water and Palmolive soap. I wasn't planning on it, we were all really dragging from the heat and no sleep, but Dave convinced me and it felt so refreshing!   I made all of our kids that didn't do it go back and dunk their heads.

Tuesday night was our feast and boy were we looking forward to it.  I had to tell some of the boys earlier that day that we would be getting meat that night to keep them from getting too discouraged.  They were so excited to see me when I came back with a big bag of chicken, carrots, onions, potatoes and corn.  They were all laying down and were not excited about getting up to make dinner.  I informed them that if we did not make dinner we would not be eating that night.  Pretty soon, they were up dicing vegetables and getting the coals started. Then everybody started saying how much fun it was making our own dinner as a family. (It made me one happy parent to hear that!) With all the cutting going on, only 1 girl cut her finger.  Dave bandaged her up well and she was good to go.  I threw in some extra seasonings and a little corn starch to make a thick gravy.We had shaken our own butter that afternoon so while we waited for the chicken (and our 18 year old girl who always seemed to be running off with some boys when we weren't busy) we ate part of our bread.  Our oldest son had a genius idea to make some honey butter with our leftover honey from lunch.  We loved it!

Those chicken and vegetables were seriously the best!  We each got either a thigh or drumstick, which I thought would not be enough, but it was plenty.  I'm assuming our stomachs had shrunk, because we had an extra piece and none of the boys wanted it, we all had stomach aches.  I ate it purely because nobody else would and I didn't want to waste it.

Right after dinner we had a dance.  It was more of a hoe-down with an actual caller.  We had to drag a couple of our sons to the dance, a couple were pretty shy.  We were short a couple girls so I jumped in with a boy in our ward and I actually had a really good time.  (All those dances I refused to go to as a youth, they're not so bad after all)



After the dance we gathered for a little fireside where a couple in our stake shared some pioneer stories and the trials that they faced. It really put into perspective some of the things we had experienced the past two days.  We walked quietly to our family camps and had a mini Family Night circled around our lantern.  Our opening song was Come Come Ye Saints.  Dave played it on the uke and the kids caught on and sang along perfectly, it was one of our favorite moments!  We did some more pioneer scenarios where we talked about a persons story and they related that person to one of the kids.  Everyone was exhausted so we kept it short.

We had been eyeing a close by grassy patch right next to the shooting range (there was not much grass out there, just rocks)  Dave had already gone out there and put down our tarps and sleeping bags for everybody under a nice tree and on some soft grass.  As we laid down the kids were all pretty chatty; the girls talking about boys and their fear of that longhorn coming back.  One of our girls leaned over to me and said she really wasn't feeling well.  I think she was having some sort of allergic reaction because she was breathing weird, had a pounding headache and was shivering cold all of a sudden.  I gave her some medicine and my extra blanket and then Dave and her Bishop gave her a blessing.  After she laid down we chatted for maybe a half hour.  Pretty soon I heard her breathing start to slow down and before I knew if she was out, I was so grateful!

Day 3: We got woken up closer to sun rise this time.  We slept a little better than the first night but not much.  They told us it was actually one degree colder though, 25 degrees. Luckily it was not nearly as humid so we didn't wake up to ice and I think sleeping under the trees helped too.  Since we couldn't have a fire, we lit up a whole bag of charcoal for warmth.  We cooked up a delicious and hearty breakfast of eggs, ham and potatoes topped with cheese.

The kids met for a quick meeting where the trail boss shared the start of Joseph Smith history and how it was a beautiful spring morning with birds chirping. Then we took our kids and spread them out in the fields for some solo time. Packets had been put together for them with letters from their parents/leaders and also some pioneer stories and church talks.  They were out there for almost 3 hours.  Meanwhile, we prepared some sandwiches for lunch (white roll, one piece of ham and one piece of that fake cheese).  Plus all the stake leaders had come up so there were lots of breakfast muffins, orange juice, bananas, and a big dutch over of peach cobbler that we got to share.  Dave and I used the time to gather some flat rocks and make up some awards for our kids, which I'll share later.

When they came back we had our sandwiches and talked about their solo time.  We were quite impressed with most of them.  We saw some kids up chasing crickets or sleeping, but a lot of our kids really shared some great things.  One wrote a letter with his testimony to his non-member friend that actually came on the trek. Another boy shared that he was thinking about his experience and his family and how they were praying for him.  Then he randomly opened his scriptures to this...(Alma 31:37-38)

 37 And after that they did separate themselves one from another, ^ataking no thought for themselves what they should eat, or what they should drink, or what they should put on.

 38 And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of ^aafflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in ^bfaith.

What a cool connection for a 15-year old to make.  I loved it!

Next was the testimony.  Kids were very eager to get up and share and a huge line formed at the very beginning. There were about 150 total that went and I bet about 60 got up.  We were out there from about 1:30-4pm, and in the middle they had to ask that nobody else get up for the sake of time.  We were all extremely sunburnt from the past 2 days, I saw many boys shielding their faces with hats and handkerchiefs (looking like bandits).  Dave had my sweater wrapped around his face desperate for some shade too.  It was extremely hot!  Although it seemed like we were out there forever, there were so many wonderful testimonies shared.  It was so cool to see kids from our ward get up and emotionally share how this experience has impacted their life.  The stake young mens president/trail boss said it right, he said that hearing all the youth's testimonies about this experience made all of the months of planning, preparation and hardships so worth it!

After the meeting we went back to pack up and were anxious to do the last 2.8 miles.  About 1 mile into it we had our last pioneer scenario.  It was a story of someone who actually ended up dying on the trail, and we had relate it to one of our girls and then inform them that like this pioneer they would not be finishing the rest of the trek with us.  Our girl, the strong 18 year old, cried. At first she did not believe that she would not be finishing the trek.  We explained that most every pioneer when they set out across the plains was planning to make it to Zion.  It was tough for our family to leave her behind, but we kept going.  With less than a mile left we were reunited with her and they let her finish with us.

Our kids eagerly jumped up to the front of the line before anybody else did and were excited to lead for the first time.  That last mile we were literally speed walking to keep up!  These kids were so anxious. They were literally bumper to bumper with the ranch owners car that was in front leading everybody.  With about 300 yards or so left they had us wait again for everyone to catch up. Then looking at us he pointed out which way we were to finish and let us take off on our own (I'm sure they felt the anxiety in our kids).  Our kids literally ran the rest of the way, after 17 miles!  I was holding our little stuffed baby trying to keep up while they were pushing a 500lb handcart.

Before we knew it we heard some cheering and looked up to see parents and leaders lining the road.  Many were holding signs, others had cameras, but everyone was cheering loudly for us.  We ran through the parents giving them high fives.  We had no idea where to stop, so we just dropped our cart and started hugging each other, we were so happy to be done!  Then we got together to do our family cheer for the last time.  Right about then we heard the parents cheering again so we ran to welcome the next group coming in.

Finally we found a leader who told us where to park our cart.  I did get to help move it the last 50ft or so as we returned to the same clearing where we started.  We unloaded all our gear from the cart and then had to take it apart.  Most of the kids wanted to run off and socialize, so it was tough getting kids to help (It was usually the same people helping, which I've noticed is a pattern in life).  I ran off to find all the Young Women in my ward to give them a hug, there was such a positive and uplifting spirit around, I wanted to point that out to them and congratulate them on such a huge accomplishment.  Slowly all of our kids found us and hugged us goodbye.  It was nice to hear all of their thanks and compliments about them having the coolest parents ever, hopefully that means we did well.

We were the last car out of the ranch, but Ben and Dave sure did pack up the top of the car perfectly with all of our gear.  We stopped in Kerrville (the closest town) for some dinner.  We figured everyone would be at the Dairy Queen, so we went on to one of the only other fast food options, Taco Bell.  We spent almost $25 for the 4 of us, we were so hungry!  We got home close to 11pm, unpacked quickly, showered and slept so wonderfully in our soft warm bed.

Our ward before we left

We had such a great experience on trek.  We gained a much greater appreciation for the Pioneers of the church and the sacrifices that they made.  We feel like we really did get to experience (to an extremely small degree) many of the challenges that they faced. We got to know so many kids and from different upbringings and homes, so we learned a lot about the kind of home we want to provide for our children.  I learned that I can survive on little food if I need to, and I don't have to be grumpy about it.  We learned that teenagers can go 3 full days without a cell phone. I feel like I could walk anywhere now and suddenly have these desires to walk to the grocery store, bank, church and friends houses. (We'll see how long that lasts) We're having a follow-up fireside next month and a little "family reunion" so I'm excited to hear more about how this experience changed the kids in our group.

We are so glad we went, but we are so glad that it's over :)