Trek, Day 3-part 2

The rest of the day was long and warm. We had another nasty bog, one of my boys was ill...he threw up 4 times that day, but kept a smile on and kept pulling, bless him. And he was our strongest and biggest kid, I couldn't have been both more worried and grateful for him. Each of my kids were so wonderful. We were so blessed that way, they each made our family a loving group. It got pretty warm and the distance felt very long. I spent a good deal of time both days running around with a spray bottle and spritzing everyone, trying to get them damp so that when the wind blew it would cool them off.

This is right after Rocky Ridge...it was still rocky for a while, note our cart is tipping.


Here's the big bog we had to face before lunch. The 'out and backers' (youth who were over 18 but there as helpers) got three-four of them and they hauled most of the carts through so we didn't all have to get wet.


Unfortunately the bogs were rough going, and we lost a waterbottle during one crossing. Thankfully we had a few spares.


At lunch some leaders were dressed as missionaries who would meet the pioneers as they were coming West, these men were headed East to share the gospel. The guy with the nice jacket is supposed to be Parley P. Pratt. They also brought us 'mail', letters the kids' parents had given us, so we could hand those out later, it was kinda cool.


Finally arriving at Rock Creek.The last mile coming in I was so physically wiped out that if I let go of the cart, I would not be able to keep up and the cart behind me was going to run me over. I simply could not move my feet of my own accord fast enough. So I just hung on to a rope and let them drag me into camp. I was walking but the cart pulled me, I was so amazed at the strength of our united family. Our final destination was called Rock Creek, and it was there that 13 of the Willie handcart company were buried, some men, others little children.

Me, collapsed at the campsite, notice my hand...it was pretty sunburned.
Arriving in camp I was pooped, grumpy, annoyed and frustrated! I wanted to set up camp but we had to wait because of some misunderstanding as to where we should be and I wanted to be done already! Plus I knew we still had to cook. At length we finally got going and thankfully we teamed up with our tent partners to cook. Cooking as a team made things SO much easier and faster. We put all our stuff in one dutch oven, and shared their liners...which made cleanup SO MUCH EASIER!

Once we finally got through dinner, it was time for a musical fireside/meeting. There was this amphitheater at Rock Creek that was just an amazing place. I cannot describe it any other way but to say that the veil is thin there. It was spiritually touching to be there and, well a holy place. I was pleased that my daughter and her friend played their violins that night, they fiddled, something I can't do anymore.

Rock Creek gets its name from the fact that there's a creek there, and it's got big rock outcroppings there. So the kids were thrilled that they could go play in the water. It also had been the beneficiary of a lot of rain. The grasses there I tell you! They were full on 3 feet high in places. I was nervous about ticks, snakes and stuff that lurks in grasses, so I made them set up nearly on the road to keep off the bushy areas. I was glad that night for sleep, I was really tired.