Pioneer Trek 2008

What a wonderful experience we had. I wanted to get some pictures posted online so that our trek kids could see them, and Stacy is busy (she hasn't finished Breaking Dawn yet) so I decided to get them up myself.


Our trek began on Tuesday, July 29. We drove south from Kennewick about 20 miles and arrived at the starting point at 8:10. We were late because we had to turn back around and get our lunch (which we left at home). Stacy didn't want to be late and had resigned to eating dried mango for lunch- but I knew that it could lead to some uncomfortable results. We unloaded our car, shuttled it to the ending point and then had some orientation before the kids arrived. We were nervous but excited to get started.

The kids began arriving around 9 with the last group coming in about 10:30. They signed in and then sat in groups waiting to see what happened next. Stacy and I had received a list of the kids that would become our family. The trek planners tried to place a good mix of kids in each family and made sure that each family had a sturdy 18 year old boy to help pull the cart. Our 18 year old boy was Micah Leavitt. . . yes, Micah is in our ward and she is not a boy. We were excited to have Micah though and with a little bit of juggling we had another older young man moved into our family as well.

Each Ma and Pa had prepared a skit and presented it in front of everyone. Then we each went up and read out our families. Stacy and I were family 2 out of 20. We had our kids follow us and found a spot to spread out a tarp. We got to know each other a little, prepared a family name and flag, had a shake down and then packed our handcart.

Here is our family: the Stormin' Mormons. From left to right: Micah 'the Pika', Michelle 'Bella', Katie 'the crazy cat lady', Jake 'the cake', 'Nina' Brynna, Ma 'Racy Stacy', 'Seafarin' Aaron, Ben 'Ten', Sarah 'Barah', and Pa 'Dead Ted'. Our family was a member of the Christmas Company and our Captain was Sam Smith.

As we lined up and got things ready to go, a mob arrived on horseback and told us to get out of there. The brandished rifles and had their faces covered with bandanas. We all knew it was part of the act but it did make things a bit more uncomfortable. President Ottley (holding a rifle in the foreground) got to through some insults around and kick some of the leaders in the back of the pants. . . just like at church every week!

At that point, we were ready to go. All of the rides had left and there was no turning around. We were ready to see if we were pioneer material.
Westward Ho!