Ma Dowdle cooking breakfast with her family
The Smart family devotional
After breaking camp, repacking the handcarts, and receiving instructions from the Trail Boss, the pioneers were again on their journey through the dusty roads and "cheatgrass". That darn cheat grass! It gets little pricklies stuck into your socks and shoes.
Brother Rice... Trail Boss
Girls picking out "cheatgrass"
Josh's family giving their sisters a ride
Me on the trail
Carli and baby
Somebody didn't want to hold the baby!
After a few hours of trekking, we arrived at our lunch destination. It was wonderful to have the cooks waiting for us with cold watermelon and tasty hamburgers. And shade. The only shade around was the man made kind. We all squeezed under the three tents and enjoyed the respite. Thankfully, there was a bit of a breeze that day.
Lunch
Joyce had made us all hymn books/journals that were small enough to fit into our pockets. The cover looked like an old brown leather hymnal. They were awesome! We sang several times a day... mornings, nights, and at breaks during our day.
Hammers and kids singing hymns
As we were about to head out again, a uniformed man (Bro. Ball) rode in and read an order for all of the menfolk to leave immediately to join the army. The Mormon Battalion received handmade guns and marched away up the hill leaving the women behind.
The Mormon Battalion Call
Boys with their guns
While the boys were gone, the girls talked about honoring the priesthood. The Spirit was felt strongly. One of my YW sang an impromptu solo of "Nearer My God To Thee". It was beautiful. Then the girls were asked to pull three of the eight handcarts up a really steep hill with large ruts in it. They worked hard together, but they didn't struggle as much as I thought they would. The young women are strong! At the top of the hill, the boys were waiting for them and sang to them as they approached. It was nice, but it should have been a lot harder.
The Women
Women's pull
Chelsea
Coming back down
After a couple more hours of pushing and pulling, the "Pony Express" came riding up with deliveries from home. Each youth received at least one letter from their parents. They took their letters up an old creek bed and read their letters privately. It was neat walking along taking pictures of them with Matt. It was so quiet, and they looked so happy and peaceful while having "solo time".
Hailey Hammer
We finally arrived at what we called "Chimney Rock"... it looked quite similar to the real Chimney Rock in Wyoming that the Mormon pioneers saw. What a great camping spot for us. Some of the kids climbed all the way to the top that night.
"Chimney Rock"
Matt and I
Pioneers flirt too!
Boys hangin' out
Dirty and blistered feet!
Ma and Pa skit night
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