2-80 Year Olds on the Trail

Tuesday around here has become known as "Toilet Tuesdays"  That is when the Sister missionaries clean the port a jons from last weeks treks.  They are pumped and semi cleaned by a company out of Evanston and then we go in and do a thorough cleaning.  Half of our missionaries left this week because we only had two treks scheduled.  We had a trek so 5 of us sisters got to clean 66 port a jons.  That was a long and hot day, but the task was completed.  We then watered lawns and trees.
Wednesday found us welcoming the Cedar City Mountain View Ward.  They had 99 trekkers ages 2 years to 80.

Cedar City Mountain View Ward

 This is our first trek with little kids and it presented us with a lot of new dynamics.  The little kids energy never failed but the older ones were like us, tired after a long day of trekking.

They had ice cream at the end of a hot trek and this little guy was diving in!

Little ones playing in the dirt and having a great time.

Stick pull is always a favorite game they play.  I don't know if you can see the faces on these little girls but they were not about to give up!

Tug of war is always fun.  Notice the beautiful sky and the port a jons in the back ground.  TEE HEE

 There was also some crying babies, and frustrated parents.  Our medical issues were next to nothing as the kids would just go to their parents with blisters and complaints. We had 8 handcarts with actual families and sometimes 2 families to a cart.  They had built covers for three of the carts which came in handy for the little ones that rode some of the time.

four cute pioneer girls with their cart

hand cart trek moving out.  Notice how dry it is!

 Again we had no rain and it was HOT.  It set new records for heat up here.  Two of the days it was in the low 90s in the afternoon.  Thankfully there is usually a breeze to help with the heat.  We had the largest dust devil I have ever seen blow right down our trail and folks were grabbing their hats.  I am sorry I did not get a picture of it, but you will have to believe I thought it was a tornado!  We have a shade canopy we set up for the missionaries in camp as there are no trees anywhere.  As soon as it goes up it is super crowded with everyone who can fit under it!

Elder and Sister Barton sharing their shade with our feet in the air..

 This group used music everyday and it was great music!  They had guitars, ukulele, and violins and beautiful voices.  They were singing on the trail and dancing and playing games in camp.  This week we had no cows in our camps but did have the "remains" dotting the prairie.  We have a building on the ranch by the dairy bowl camp that is called "The Dance Hall of the Dead"  It is an old granary that is all boarded up.  It was quite the attraction for this group, young and old alike, and many were up climbing around it.  There is just a bunch of old sheep bones and wool in there that have been there for years.  Story goes that in a bad snowstorm they went in to get out of the weather and the door blew shut trapping them inside.  We try to keep the trekkers away, but it is just too much for their imaginations.

This little guy was running to catch up to his Mom after he came back to the 4x4 that I was driving and pointed at me and said, "I want to ride in that"  I sent him back to his Mom.  He was so cute.  He also liked checking out the port a jons.

The best man from our wedding, Bruce Haws, had his grand daughter, Kodi Bankhead, here at Deseret Land and Live Stock on a trek with their stake.  Unfortunately she was on the other trek this week on the other side of the ranch.  We tried to see her a couple of times but was not able to meet up with her till Saturday as they were coming in to leave.  Our report from the missionaries with her, Elders and Sisters Peart and Howard, was that she was a real joy to have on their trek.  She is a darling girl.

Elder and Sister Barton with Kodi Bankhead

 We attended 2 sacrament meetings today as my brother Elder Steven and Sister Doloras Higginson were speaking in their meetings.  They gave great talks.  Our pot luck dinner today consisted of 3 missionary couples and 2 guests.  It seemed very lonely as many are away for the weekend..  You can defiantly tell treks are winding down and we are all getting tired, but the Lord continues to renew our weary bones to go another week.