Trekkin

Our "family"

The divas of the group

Justin and I were called to be a "Ma and Pa" for the stake youth trek. We don't serve in the YM/YW right now so it was kind of a good break from primary. We both actually had a lot of fun. I didn't love wearing those polygamist clothes, but other than that we had a great time together. I did gain an appreciation for how exhausted the pioneers must have been. The first night after we were done walking, I set up the tent and fell onto my sleeping bag for a minute. I don't know how they managed all the walking, setting up camp, preparing/cooking dinner/cleanup, caring for animals, etc. just to get up bright and early to do it all over again. One morning they woke us at 4:00 when a mob came and attacked our camps. Surprisingly the YW were up and out before the boys. Our YM (and a couple of the men) were competitive and wanted to be in the front of the line, so they would pass the other "families". The literally ran a fair amount of the time. By the last day everyone was annoyed with us and they made us stay in the very back of the line. I have to admit, it was hard to go that slowly. We hiked a total of 21 miles of hard terrain. One day was on dirt roads, but the other two we were straight through the sage brush. Justin almost had the cart tip over on him at one point.
We had the joy of riding in some sweet buses. The stake had hired an OLD bus company. They were old school buses that I really don't think could have legally passed any kind of inspection. They were hot and dusty to begin with, but became really tiring when two broke down on the way there and we had to double up. Then on the way down, we had to stop every 15 min. to let the brakes cool. It took us 5 1/2 hours to get home on a trip that should have taken 2-2 1/2. We were all a little grouchy by the time we got there. Other than the transportation though, it was a great experience. I have never been so happy to see my bed and bathroom as I was when we got home at 10:30pm the last night!