Trek Day 2

Day 2 was by far the hardest day for our trek family. We woke to a beautiful morning and felt ready for the day. Our Alyssa had not been well before bed the night before (I'm sure it was the long day in the heat and the unfamiliar food) but she went to bed early and seemed better. We set off for the section know as the Valley of Dust (wait, hadn't that been yesterday's route?!) in temps that were climbing to record highs.

 brushing my teeth pioneer style (minus the fleece hoodie and water bottle)

—not too bad in such a beautiful valley!

 our views of the ranch for miles on end

With 4 miles securely under our belts we had a long stop in a big meadow for lunch and "pioneer olympics." The break was welcome but the only trouble was the lack of shade. We secured a tarp to our handcart with another family but it was hotter under the tarp than out of it where there was at least a little air moving around. We all took our socks and shoes off to dump out the piles of dirt and redo blister care. I noticed a small rash around my left ankle and thought it was probably a bug bite. I put some hydrocortisone on and put my socks and shoes back on.

Pioneer leg wrestle.

Here's our neighbor, a fellow pa, brother McKane schooling another pa.

Joseph was taking care of our dehydrated girls during this event or he would have been right there to play. He loves this kind of thing!

When the games started up my girls were seriously lacking motivation. I could tell Alyssa was still beat and Caitlin was going downhill quickly. She was putting on a brave face but told me it was weird that she was so hot but had the chills. That was a very bad sign. We tried to keep them in the shade for the rest of the break but the trouble was the shade was not that helpful as it was inside the huge equipment trailer or under a small canopy that was already full of people trying to escape the sun. At the end of the games both girls were put into a car to ride with some AC and save their energy all the way to our camp for the night. Caitlin ended up with an IV in once we reached camp so her condition was really bad. I'm glad Alyssa was with her and a good comfort and distraction during all of it too.


Our diminished family trudged on for the 2nd half of the day's walking. After a mile or so Susan needed her bad blisters tended to so she and Joseph stopped while the rest of us kept up with the wagon train. With 3 girls missing I was glad I could fill in and help push the handcart with my family. We came to a pretty steep hill and made our way up, slowly but surely, and with a lot of effort from all of us (the missionaries told us each cart filled with gear weighed between 600-700 pounds!) We were missing our other family members and worried about them. It made for a long, long afternoon, but the kids did so well and stayed positive. It really was the valley of dust and very, very hot. I kept wondering why my lower legs especially felt so hot, like they were getting sunburned through my socks. I figured it was my black socks absorbing all the heat and decided to wear my light gray wool socks the next day to avoid a problem.

We finally made it to camp (a dusty, flat area with hardly any grass or comfy areas for setting up our "home") to find out our Caitlin was getting prepped for an IV. Poor girl! But she was being really tough through it all. We got a little settled and then I pulled my socks down to find both of my lower legs swollen tight and covered in an angry red rash. It was burning but felt better to have my socks off. We headed for the First Aid tent and found help (although the doctors could not figure out what was wrong. It's still a bit of a mystery after Benadryl and steroid creams and antihistamine pills didn't make much of a change.)

I cleaned my legs with fresh water and that felt really good—but all I wanted to do was dip them in a big tub of ice (which of course we had none of). Walking back to our camp from the First Aid tent was the one and only time I felt totally overwhelmed. I couldn't hold back my tears as I felt the sting of my legs, felt quite tired from all the walking and work and a bad sleep, and had so much worry for our little family and all that still lay ahead for us to accomplish in the coming days. I was so glad Joseph was with me and had his arm around me as we found our family. He comforted me right away and my confidence was boosted. He made me lay down at camp with my feet up to ease the swelling and prepared dinner for all of us (with Matthew's help—our aspiring cook and most helpful of teenage boys. So grateful for him and ALL the work he happily did in our family —it made a huge difference and he set such a great example.)

That night was a huge pioneer hoe down which our boys boisterously participated in while most of our girls were just needing to sit it out and watch. Those kids dancing away were so resilient! Trekking many miles in the heat and dust and then popping up to dance and play at the end of a long day. They were fun to watch and even though our camp became even dustier it lightened the mood and was a lot of fun.

  Matthew, Kendall and Isaac having fun at the hoe down

 

Sitting on the sidelines during the hoe down—at least we stuck together as a family! Can you see how dirty my leg is at my knee? I washed all the lower leg to abate the rash but that was as far as I got. It's crazy how you just adjust to living with the dirt when there's not a lot you can do about it. I did change my underwear every night before bed (top and bottom) and wore my warm base layer PJ's and fleece jacket only for bedtime to keep them free from the dust of the trail. It made me feel much more clean and fresh for sleeping.

Kendall and his pal from band sang and played "Be Still My Soul" Thursday night before our evening meeting. He totally rocked that sax and even treated us with lots of great songs throughout trek (including "Careless Whisper" although he saved us from the "Sexy Sax Man" dancing. I swear that song was just enough to make me laugh every time :)

Our stake was assigned two sets of couple missionaries to guide us through the whole experience. They trekked along with us every day showing us the correct route and giving us instructions. They were just the cutest and most tough senior missionaries. They told us so many great pioneer stories, encouraged the kids, and had their eye out for any way they could help. One sister had also gotten a bad rash on her legs a few weeks back and she kept coming to check on me and see how mine was and offer up her prescription steroid cream. She even helped Addie (from my ward) figure out her talk about trek she had to share in sacrament meeting the day after we got home. And Addie's talk was so good! The missionaries camped in their own trailers each night but were essentially with us the whole time. Such great people.

And did I mention our awesome bishop was with us for the whole of trek too? He was in charge of a different company so we saw him off and on but he was such a trooper and had feet full of blisters but joined us happily all on all of our journey. It was immensely comforting to me to know he was there and he even gave our family lots of delicious hard candies to snack on as we walked. 


We all went to bed eagerly Thursday night with constant prayers that we could recover as we slept and face the next day with energy and health and a happy outlook. I loved praying on trek, with my family (often, every time we needed it), and as a stake and on my own. It was truly invigorating to do it and buoyed me up time and time again. I want to keep that lesson from the journey more constant in my own life:

"But, behold I say unto you ye must pray always and not faint; that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."
                                                                                                                     —2 Nephi 32:9

Sunset day 2 in our shabby little camp site. It's amazing to me that after a long day of heat and sun and walking and working, even the hard ground feels pretty good for laying down a weary body. I guess I adjusted to that too although the next morning I had literal bruises on both hips from sleeping on my sides. How did those stalwart pioneers do it week after week? Each day I was more and more humbled and grateful for their immense sacrifice, all in the pursuit of obeying their prophet and loving their God.