A Trek to Remember....

Here are what I learned or gained on Trek 2010

1. Going to sleep at 11:22pm and waking up at 3:15am is not a good idea.
2. I really am a morning person, eventhough #1 happened.
3. Sleeping on a schoolbus is not possible. Unless you are Cally S. Hee hee hee. I think Bishop fell asleep a time or two as well....
4. The youth of our ward are HILARIOUS. And LOUD. Boys are LOUDER, in general. They must yell or talk in strange voices at all times. I have never laughed so hard. I was very entertained by them on the bus, both coming and going. Awesome.
5. I kinda liked wearing my bonnet for 3 days solid. It kept my head dry, and hid my scary hair. Yikes.
6. Walking in a skirt is awesome. I really liked that.
7. Wool socks, wool socks, wool socks!!!! I did not get one blister. Ok, I did get one tiny one but that is IT! I am in love with wool socks.
8. I also love the food committee members. They fed us well and I found out later that they prayed that the rain\hail\wind would stop at each meal so we all could eat. And their prayers were answered. We were always able to eat our meals with minimal weather troubles. But once dinner was done each night, all heck broke loose!
9. I am grateful for the priesthood holders that came on trek with us. I missed my hubby terribly and was so thankful that we all were taken care of. They set up our tents as the rain pelted us, they helped us fix our canopy after the "tornado" passed through, they took down our tents that last morning as the sky kept getting darker and darker and the rain got worse and worse.
10. I am grateful I brought my $1.00 emergency pancho from Walmart. It sure came in handy a time or two. Or three, or four....
11. You don't have to change your clothes every day when you are impersonating a pioneer. It is totally fine to wear what you wore yesterday for the sake of having something clean and unmuddy to wear on the bus ride home.
12. It is totally fine to lick your mess kit clean after each meal so you don't have to walk alllllllll the way back over the mud-pit-of-no-return, just to wash them in the soapy buckets. Oh, yes I did. So did a few others after seeing my smart idea. Genius.
13. I am so glad I got to carry a baby doll the whole time. I had something to love and kiss. Yes, I did kiss a doll. So did some of my "kids", ok. It broke my heart, though on the first night, I set "baby William Ashley" (that is the name my "kids" chose for him), down so I could help get our tents up as the storm was decending upon us. When I finally got in the tent, baby William's blanket was soaked and so was he. I could not help but think that many a pioneer mother had to wrap her baby in a cold, wet blanket, and hope they survived the night. So heartbreaking.
14. Walking 16+ miles in one day was.....hard.....! I was feelin' it by the end of that day. I kept thinking of the pioneers and how they walked that far each day, for many days. They did not have a food committee there at camp, making a meal for them. They had to put their tents back up, gather wood, start a fire, eat something that was not very appealing, try to get some rest, wake up, hope their family members survived the cold night, and do it all again and again.
15. I loved Martin's Cove and Dan Jones' Cove. Amazing spirit there. I will never forget that place and how I felt.
16. The Sweetwater Rescue monuments were inspiring. One had a small girl in one arm and I didn't notice until a missionary pointed out that he had an infant in his other arm. I looked at that baby's face and it looked like my little Audrey. I cried.
17. The women's pull was amazing. We had walked 12 or so miles at that point already that day and were feelin' it. Then we had to say "good-bye" to the men in our family and they went and lined the sides of a big, rocky, uneven hill. We took turns, as women pulling our handcarts up. It was harder than I thought it would be. I kept tripping on my long skirt. We helped the other wagons with theirs once we got ours at the top. It was so hard. What a great experience to teach what it was like for these women, alone, without the men to help.
18. Eating junk provided by our dear bishop as we trekked was the best. I think it helped us....or maybe it made it worse. Hmmmm.......
19. I love the girls so much. I love the leaders, too.
20. I love the pioneers and am amazed at the sacrifices they made so I could partake of the blessings that come from living in Zion. I want to go on trek again....