When the youth in our church venture out on "Trek", it means they don bonnets, skirts and suspenders for a multi-day trek through some kind of wilderness, reenacting (and feeling) the journey that the pioneer ancestors of our church endured. While the kids and I sit comfortably in whatever vehicle is being brought back to school, or returned home for the summer, listening to music and talking to each other, and stopping in hotels for the evening, it still is no easy feat.
Glo and I ventured out once again to return her nomad life supplies, her car, and herself to BYU. Glo and I have turned this journey into an art form over the last year, doing more than just driving from point A to point B. We have decided to see a bit of America in the process.
Unfortunately, Greenie is never part of this process or I do believe it would be easier for everyone all around. I definitely miss Sirius radio, a high performance engine and luxury seating as we take "secondary" cars across the continent. I'll never forget bringing Hannah and her car back in late December before she began her mission--an entire day of skating across icy highways through Wyoming, enduring sub-zero temperatures through Nebraska (and noticing that there is a very large hole over the passenger side feet area) and praying for the miles to pass as quickly as the states did as we crossed the Mississippi. We laughed though as we dragged our cupcakes in and out of hotels as well as our huge garbage bag of toiletries.
Glo and I decided last minute to leave two days early so that we could offer some support to Hannie who was already at school and who was without a car, groceries, kitchen supplies and even bedding. Glo was a good sport, getting everything ready with just hours on a Sunday evening.
We decided to take a northern route (versus the Southern route we took in the spring), stopping to see Mount Rushmore, a site none of the Kennedys have ever visited.
The states once again flew by, and we were blessed with little construction and easy traffic. We decided to take pictures of each state we entered (with the exception of Indiana which I consider to be the armpit of the United States). I would like to say now that I have "visited" Wisconsin, but I don't think a stop at a gas station really counts. The first night we made it to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
As it turns out, my mother's half-sister lives in Sioux Falls. I didn't know this until her mother, Vannette, saw my post on Facebook and told me to give her a call. Hmmm....
The next morning, we still had a five hour drive to Mount Rushmore. All was fine. We got gas before we headed out (Jewel has a gas tank the size of my bladder, and without fail, we are forced to stop every three hours, either for her or for me). After the said three hours, we stopped for gas, and I asked Glo where my debit card was, because it was nowhere to be found in my wallet. After quickly checking her pants pockets, she turned to me with an ashen face and said, "I left it on the roof of the car."
In days of yore, this would not be a problem--I would have just canceled the card and used another one--but with our forced destruction of any and all credit cards thanks to our financial ruin with the sale of our home, I have no backup.
I sat at the gas pump and broke down in tears. I had no recourse for the rest of my trip. No way to pay for anything.
I then decided to try and call the gas station. I checked my USAA account for the name of the station and the location and found the number. I gave them a call. They didn't have the card, but would I like for them to go check around the pump and give them a call back in a few minutes?
Um, yes please.
Let's take a step back for a minute in this story. In those intervening three hours, Glo and I had listened to two chapters in Alma (25 and 26). Every day, I like to listen to a couple of chapters, pull out a main topic that I glean from the listening, search conference talks on that topic and then listen to a conference talk. It's been my way of studying the scriptures since I stopped teaching seminary, and it's worked oh-so-well. Well, the topic I chose was "mercy", and Glory chose a talk given by David A. Bednar about tender mercies. It's a beautiful talk that brought me to tears just that morning as I was reminded of so many times I've been afforded a tender mercy by my Heavenly Father. We then did what I always do to end my scripture study--we sang a song on the same topic. The song "The Lord Is My Light" came instantly to mind, and we plowed into the first line, "The Lord is my light, then why should I fear? By day and by night, his presence is near."
So while I waited to call the gas station back in the hopes that they had found the card, I asked myself, "What would John do if he was here?" and I knew that he would tear apart the car, looking for the card. I looked at Glo and I angrily told her that she better get her butt out of the seat and go through everything, just to make sure the card wasn't around.
She stepped out of the car, looked down, and there was the debit card, wedged between the seat and the door frame.
As you can probably imagine, we had a moment after that, appreciating that Heavenly Father had thrown a very large, very important teaching moment at us that morning.
We continued onward.
Something that I admire about Glo is that she has always been one who is up for any adventure. She likes to visit new places and see new things. We drove through Rapid City on the way to Mount Rushmore, had a quick bite to eat at Chili's and drove into the mountains.
The Black Hills are really interesting. They are only called that because the bark on the young ponderosa pines which blanket the mountains is black. As the trees age, the bark becomes a caramel brown. But with so many trees covering the landscape, the hills appear black. However, I actually couldn't imagine that there would be any trees as we neared Keystone, South Dakota because for the hours beforehand, the landscape has been just miles and miles of prairie. And then, within just a few miles, everything changed. It very much reminded me of Flagstaff, Arizona in the suddenness of the change in landscape.
And the hills are just beautiful. We drove up in elevation, and after no longer than 20 minutes, there was the monument on the mountain.
It's rather surreal, driving up and seeing the heads of four presidents carved into the mountain. It actually appears very small until you make a small hike to the foot of the monument when you can see that it's actually very large. Glo was in her element--hiking outdoors, in the mountains, in the coolness of impending Fall. In fact, it was the coolest and driest weather we'd experienced for months. It definitely put a spring in our step!
We spent several hours there, watching a video about the creation of Mount Rushmore, and visiting the museum along with three different gift shops/book stores. There's a lovely amphitheater where we just sat down for a while and admired the view. We also did the hike up to the monument (you can only look at it from down below), and we did the only other hike twice. It's an easy monument to visit and very interesting.
We were then impressed to see how many more hikes and campsites there are in the surrounding Black Hills Forest. We wondered if we could come back as a family someday and spend some time there. It's really beautiful.
We then drove three more hours to Casper, Wyoming where we stayed for the night.
We woke up the next morning not sure what we wanted to do. I had planned to visit the National Historic Trails and Interpretive Center because it had the highest rating on Trip Advisor. We considered not going, but I never feel like I can actually count visiting a state if I don't do something in the state (besides drive or fly through it). So I figured we would give it a half hour (admission was free so what did we have to lose?)
It was fine. It wasn't great, but it was okay. They had a nice display about the Mormon trail, and I was thankful to read accurate accounts of our religious history. They didn't have a magnet, but the small gift shop did sell the Audubon birds that I love so much, and they happened to have a red-winged blackbird which I've never seen. So, I guess we can count it now.
We then drove forever through Wyoming. I swear, there's just no way to feel like Wyoming is a short drive. And with Jewel having such a small gas tank, we basically had to fill up at any gas station we found along the way.
With only three hours to go until the GPS said we would arrive in Provo, we heard something funny outside of the car and looked in our rearview mirrors to see that the sides of our back bumper were hanging off the sides of the car and flapping at 86 mph. We quickly pulled over. From what we could tell, the screws that held on both sides of the bumper (it wraps around the sides of the car) had fallen out at some point. Who knows when this happened and why the spit hit the fan at all the same moment, but it did. Glo and I got out of the car, shoved the pieces back in and started out again. But within minutes, it looked like Jewel was ready for take-off. I called John to ask him what he thought we should do (thankfully we had phone service at this point, because we hadn't had it for 90% of our time in Wyoming--yet another tender mercy). He told us to use duct tape or bungee cords, both things that we didn't have. And yes, before he had even suggested it, we started looking around for some random bungee cord laying on the side of the road since John has brought home an entire armory of them over the course of his running life. Even some twine would work, he told us. Again, none of that. I guess we could have used some shoelaces, but on the side of I-25 with semis blowing past us at 80 mph, my thinking wasn't that clear. And we were wearing Birkenstocks.
So someone (I can't remember who) suggested key chains. Thankfully, Glo had two of them, so we hooked one to the plastic frame of the bumper and one to the bumper itself and then hooked the two chains together. It took nail strength and a nickel to even get them to open far enough to go around the pieces, but it felt like one of those crises where you have superhuman strength. We attached the looser bumper with the key chains, and then jammed the other side back into place.
By some miracle, it held. We passed several gas stations, and I considered getting off for duct tape, but I knew that if we did tape the bumper, it could ruin the paint job, and I didn't really want to compound the problem. But then I figured if we could find a Walmart, we could buy some twine at least. But after exiting, I was (no joke) led to The Home Depot. In the middle of Nowhere, Wyoming. And a brilliant idea popped into my mind: buy electrical zip ties.
It was a miracle. I haven't used electrical zip ties but once in my life (to secure a dog kennel that Houdini-Dog continually managed to open), and it was many years ago. But somehow the idea just came to me. We bought them, I showed Glo what I thought would work, she crawled under the car and secured the bumper, and we were off. And three days later, the bumper is still secure with those zip ties.
As we neared the Salt Lake valley, Glo turned to me and asked why in the world Brigham Young would ever think "this is the right place" for the Saints. We had a brief discussion about safely from other people, and a vision, but it is definitely a hard concept when everything is so dry and ugly. I mean, don't you think the people envisioned Moses' promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey?
We were going to head straight to Provo, but Glo's favorite comic book store in Bountiful was calling so we headed there first. For the first two days having passed by so quickly, the last day felt like a week. The pioneers only trekked once. I'm thinking I may be like a pioneer and not do this again.
Glo and I ventured out once again to return her nomad life supplies, her car, and herself to BYU. Glo and I have turned this journey into an art form over the last year, doing more than just driving from point A to point B. We have decided to see a bit of America in the process.
Unfortunately, Greenie is never part of this process or I do believe it would be easier for everyone all around. I definitely miss Sirius radio, a high performance engine and luxury seating as we take "secondary" cars across the continent. I'll never forget bringing Hannah and her car back in late December before she began her mission--an entire day of skating across icy highways through Wyoming, enduring sub-zero temperatures through Nebraska (and noticing that there is a very large hole over the passenger side feet area) and praying for the miles to pass as quickly as the states did as we crossed the Mississippi. We laughed though as we dragged our cupcakes in and out of hotels as well as our huge garbage bag of toiletries.
Glo and I decided last minute to leave two days early so that we could offer some support to Hannie who was already at school and who was without a car, groceries, kitchen supplies and even bedding. Glo was a good sport, getting everything ready with just hours on a Sunday evening.
We decided to take a northern route (versus the Southern route we took in the spring), stopping to see Mount Rushmore, a site none of the Kennedys have ever visited.
The states once again flew by, and we were blessed with little construction and easy traffic. We decided to take pictures of each state we entered (with the exception of Indiana which I consider to be the armpit of the United States). I would like to say now that I have "visited" Wisconsin, but I don't think a stop at a gas station really counts. The first night we made it to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
As it turns out, my mother's half-sister lives in Sioux Falls. I didn't know this until her mother, Vannette, saw my post on Facebook and told me to give her a call. Hmmm....
The next morning, we still had a five hour drive to Mount Rushmore. All was fine. We got gas before we headed out (Jewel has a gas tank the size of my bladder, and without fail, we are forced to stop every three hours, either for her or for me). After the said three hours, we stopped for gas, and I asked Glo where my debit card was, because it was nowhere to be found in my wallet. After quickly checking her pants pockets, she turned to me with an ashen face and said, "I left it on the roof of the car."
In days of yore, this would not be a problem--I would have just canceled the card and used another one--but with our forced destruction of any and all credit cards thanks to our financial ruin with the sale of our home, I have no backup.
I sat at the gas pump and broke down in tears. I had no recourse for the rest of my trip. No way to pay for anything.
I then decided to try and call the gas station. I checked my USAA account for the name of the station and the location and found the number. I gave them a call. They didn't have the card, but would I like for them to go check around the pump and give them a call back in a few minutes?
Um, yes please.
Let's take a step back for a minute in this story. In those intervening three hours, Glo and I had listened to two chapters in Alma (25 and 26). Every day, I like to listen to a couple of chapters, pull out a main topic that I glean from the listening, search conference talks on that topic and then listen to a conference talk. It's been my way of studying the scriptures since I stopped teaching seminary, and it's worked oh-so-well. Well, the topic I chose was "mercy", and Glory chose a talk given by David A. Bednar about tender mercies. It's a beautiful talk that brought me to tears just that morning as I was reminded of so many times I've been afforded a tender mercy by my Heavenly Father. We then did what I always do to end my scripture study--we sang a song on the same topic. The song "The Lord Is My Light" came instantly to mind, and we plowed into the first line, "The Lord is my light, then why should I fear? By day and by night, his presence is near."
So while I waited to call the gas station back in the hopes that they had found the card, I asked myself, "What would John do if he was here?" and I knew that he would tear apart the car, looking for the card. I looked at Glo and I angrily told her that she better get her butt out of the seat and go through everything, just to make sure the card wasn't around.
She stepped out of the car, looked down, and there was the debit card, wedged between the seat and the door frame.
As you can probably imagine, we had a moment after that, appreciating that Heavenly Father had thrown a very large, very important teaching moment at us that morning.
We continued onward.
Something that I admire about Glo is that she has always been one who is up for any adventure. She likes to visit new places and see new things. We drove through Rapid City on the way to Mount Rushmore, had a quick bite to eat at Chili's and drove into the mountains.
The Black Hills are really interesting. They are only called that because the bark on the young ponderosa pines which blanket the mountains is black. As the trees age, the bark becomes a caramel brown. But with so many trees covering the landscape, the hills appear black. However, I actually couldn't imagine that there would be any trees as we neared Keystone, South Dakota because for the hours beforehand, the landscape has been just miles and miles of prairie. And then, within just a few miles, everything changed. It very much reminded me of Flagstaff, Arizona in the suddenness of the change in landscape.
And the hills are just beautiful. We drove up in elevation, and after no longer than 20 minutes, there was the monument on the mountain.
It's rather surreal, driving up and seeing the heads of four presidents carved into the mountain. It actually appears very small until you make a small hike to the foot of the monument when you can see that it's actually very large. Glo was in her element--hiking outdoors, in the mountains, in the coolness of impending Fall. In fact, it was the coolest and driest weather we'd experienced for months. It definitely put a spring in our step!
We spent several hours there, watching a video about the creation of Mount Rushmore, and visiting the museum along with three different gift shops/book stores. There's a lovely amphitheater where we just sat down for a while and admired the view. We also did the hike up to the monument (you can only look at it from down below), and we did the only other hike twice. It's an easy monument to visit and very interesting.
We were then impressed to see how many more hikes and campsites there are in the surrounding Black Hills Forest. We wondered if we could come back as a family someday and spend some time there. It's really beautiful.
We then drove three more hours to Casper, Wyoming where we stayed for the night.
We woke up the next morning not sure what we wanted to do. I had planned to visit the National Historic Trails and Interpretive Center because it had the highest rating on Trip Advisor. We considered not going, but I never feel like I can actually count visiting a state if I don't do something in the state (besides drive or fly through it). So I figured we would give it a half hour (admission was free so what did we have to lose?)
It was fine. It wasn't great, but it was okay. They had a nice display about the Mormon trail, and I was thankful to read accurate accounts of our religious history. They didn't have a magnet, but the small gift shop did sell the Audubon birds that I love so much, and they happened to have a red-winged blackbird which I've never seen. So, I guess we can count it now.
We then drove forever through Wyoming. I swear, there's just no way to feel like Wyoming is a short drive. And with Jewel having such a small gas tank, we basically had to fill up at any gas station we found along the way.
With only three hours to go until the GPS said we would arrive in Provo, we heard something funny outside of the car and looked in our rearview mirrors to see that the sides of our back bumper were hanging off the sides of the car and flapping at 86 mph. We quickly pulled over. From what we could tell, the screws that held on both sides of the bumper (it wraps around the sides of the car) had fallen out at some point. Who knows when this happened and why the spit hit the fan at all the same moment, but it did. Glo and I got out of the car, shoved the pieces back in and started out again. But within minutes, it looked like Jewel was ready for take-off. I called John to ask him what he thought we should do (thankfully we had phone service at this point, because we hadn't had it for 90% of our time in Wyoming--yet another tender mercy). He told us to use duct tape or bungee cords, both things that we didn't have. And yes, before he had even suggested it, we started looking around for some random bungee cord laying on the side of the road since John has brought home an entire armory of them over the course of his running life. Even some twine would work, he told us. Again, none of that. I guess we could have used some shoelaces, but on the side of I-25 with semis blowing past us at 80 mph, my thinking wasn't that clear. And we were wearing Birkenstocks.
So someone (I can't remember who) suggested key chains. Thankfully, Glo had two of them, so we hooked one to the plastic frame of the bumper and one to the bumper itself and then hooked the two chains together. It took nail strength and a nickel to even get them to open far enough to go around the pieces, but it felt like one of those crises where you have superhuman strength. We attached the looser bumper with the key chains, and then jammed the other side back into place.
By some miracle, it held. We passed several gas stations, and I considered getting off for duct tape, but I knew that if we did tape the bumper, it could ruin the paint job, and I didn't really want to compound the problem. But then I figured if we could find a Walmart, we could buy some twine at least. But after exiting, I was (no joke) led to The Home Depot. In the middle of Nowhere, Wyoming. And a brilliant idea popped into my mind: buy electrical zip ties.
It was a miracle. I haven't used electrical zip ties but once in my life (to secure a dog kennel that Houdini-Dog continually managed to open), and it was many years ago. But somehow the idea just came to me. We bought them, I showed Glo what I thought would work, she crawled under the car and secured the bumper, and we were off. And three days later, the bumper is still secure with those zip ties.
As we neared the Salt Lake valley, Glo turned to me and asked why in the world Brigham Young would ever think "this is the right place" for the Saints. We had a brief discussion about safely from other people, and a vision, but it is definitely a hard concept when everything is so dry and ugly. I mean, don't you think the people envisioned Moses' promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey?
We were going to head straight to Provo, but Glo's favorite comic book store in Bountiful was calling so we headed there first. For the first two days having passed by so quickly, the last day felt like a week. The pioneers only trekked once. I'm thinking I may be like a pioneer and not do this again.
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