Boston Trek 2013 Day 1

Boston Trek 2013

Stand in Holy Places

This is a synopsis of our "Pioneer Trek," kind of re-enacting the migration of the Mormon Pioneers across the plains in the mid 1800s. More than a reenactment, however, it was a chance to honor those who have come before us.  Honoring their faith, their endurance, their resolute loyalty to their cause and their beliefs.  We studied their personal history stories, learning of their hardship and trials as well as their successes and growth.

Our Trek was Thursday through Saturday.  This post will cover the first day.

ANNIVERSARY.  Oh, and by the way, did I mention that Thursday was our 21st anniversary!  Yes, what better way to spend the WHOLE day together, hiking and pushing handcarts with 100+ Pioneers!  I made bumper stickers for our handcart.  Here are the first day's bumper stickers.

CLOTHING.  The kids and adults are encouraged to wear Pioneer-type clothing.  Sometimes you can borrow dresses, aprons, bonnets or skirts from other people who have gone on a Pioneer Trek in years past.  Men and boys wear brown or tan pants with a long-sleeved shirts that does not have a collar.  Suspenders, possibly, and some kind of a hat.  Maybe a vest too.  There are also online stores that sell period dress for the 1800s.

TRAVEL.  Trek is approximately 21 miles, walked over a period of 3 days and 2 nights.  Everybody walks, and some pull handcarts behind them.

OVERNIGHT.  We have tarps and stakes and ropes.  We make our own "tents," with the handcarts in the middle!  There are a few real tents, mostly for "support staff."  We have 6 or 7 photographers, designated food people, games/activities people, and trek captains.  Those people do not have "families," and they take care of the rest of us. We can use their tents for changing rooms, at night.

"Ma and Pa Whitesell" for the weekend :)

OUR FAMILY: Frank and I (“Ma and Pa”), Ethan 14, James 16, Nadia 17, Michael 14, Laurie 17, Lilly 14.  Nadia and Laurie have gone on Trek, 3 years ago.  The rest (including Frank and I) are new to it.  Lilly was just baptized 4 months ago!  We all meet each other, load the cart and have lunch in the park before we leave.

THURSDAY, DAY 1.  The youth, all 14 to 18 yrs. old, meet at the Boston Temple in Belmont and start the day with service, cleaning up the grounds and weeding/planting flowers and other plants.  The adults drive straight to the trailhead, to meet them in a lovely park by a lake, where all of the handcarts are parked and ready to be loaded.

The youth arrive on buses.  We prepare and eat our lunches, and get to know each other a little bit.

We also learn some about our "Pioneer Family," which is for us Hyrum Smith and his wife Mary Fielding Smith.  Hyrum was martyred along with his brother Joseph Smith in Carthage Jail.  The next leader of the church was Brigham Young, who started organizing groups to travel west.

Mary Fielding Smith, though now a widow and would be traveling alone with her children, decided to travel west.

Of course the people who happen to be visiting the park today are more than a little interested in what we are doing...  20 handcarts lined up in a public park, with 130 people dressed in pioneer clothes is not a common sight in the Boston area!  People drive by and take pictures of us with their cell phones.

Handcarts with all of our stuff!

Our 3 companies of wagons line up to leave in order.  The other park visitors sit or stand by the sides to watch the parade.  One woman says as we pass, "I hope you're prepared for tonight.  It's supposed to rain cats and dogs on us!  I'll pray for you!"  It was foreshadowing, I suppose.  She was more right than any of us wanted to imagine!

We walk along the trail, with 4 of our kids pulling up front and the rest of us in back, holding the safety rope.  The first day has us warming up by walking about 5 miles.  It is overcast and cool, in the low 70s.  Perfect hiking weather.

2 of our "family," making butter by the Dutch oven

We get to the field where we are to camp that night.  First we must set up camp, and this hay field is waist-high.  Over time we trample and roll over the hay.  We start the coals burning, as they will warm the Dutch oven which will cook our dinner.  The tarps are stretched out from the handcart in both directions.  They are staked down.  We can put our sleeping bags on the ground and be covered.  Frank also sets up a "Dining Fly." This is another cover, with space for us to sit under and we can talk together during our devotional this evening.

Dinner tonight is chicken and rice inside the Dutch oven.  The kids have a chance to make butter, shaking a jar of whipping cream until it thickens.  We also have s'mores.  Just after dinner it starts to rain.  We duck under our Dining Fly and continue to eat and talk.  The rain lets up a little, then stops.

We go to sleep around 10:30.  It seems like a good set-up for our family for tonight.

Frank sets up our makeshift "tent"

Around 1:30 my eyes pop open.  The steady rain is drum-beating on the tarp above my head.  I can hear the tarps flapping when the wind blows.  Then it rains harder.  And the wind--Oh, the wind!  Who know how much noise a tarp would make in 30-mile an hour wind!  The tarps are still staked, but they are flapping and banging around.  The rain is pouring now.  It is all so loud!  I try to dose off and get some rest, but end up checking my watch about every 15 minutes for the rest of the night.

The rain stops around 5 a.m.  As adults, we are more than a little discouraged by the volume of water that has collected during the storm.  The kids cannot sleep, so they get up and walk around and talk.  One girl in another family says happily, "I'm sleeping in a puddle!" and she laughs.  This helps lift some spirits.  About 1/3 of the group is soaking wet or at least partially wet.  Their sleeping bags are like full sponges.

Our 'family' tarp set-up worked well on one side, but not the other.  The girl's side stayed dry, as did the center under the handcart, where Frank and I slept.  The boys' side did not fare so well.  Their tarp pooled and then spilled, right on their heads.  Rude awakening: eeeeewwww!

So the leaders ask for all of the soaking-wet sleeping bags, to be put in plastic garbage bags.  One adult spends the entire day in a local laundromat.  He uses all dryers available, putting in quarters and drying out sleeping bags.

I have to admit, I am pretty amazed at the good attitudes of the teens around me.  While I mentally grumble and cringe at the soppy conditions, the kids take a lot of it in stride.