Kevin – Wednesday to Friday: Our vagabond wanderings are almost over. In fact, we’re so close to completing the trek that it’s no longer reasonable to work out of the RV at a remote location. So, we’re packing up and headed back to Lindon – our home base. We need to put the Tilt'n Hilton to bed and get some preparatory work done before the ‘final events’ during the next week.
All five vehicles need some minor repairs and a MAJOR cleaning. Both bikes need brake work and my chain is still stuck between the spokes and gears. We’ve brought half of western Wyoming home with us in the form of very fine dust and mineral deposits both on the outside and inside of the trucks. The RV will have to wait a week or so before it gets its beauty makeover
We will fill our home larder and refrigerator with groceries. The 1847 folks couldn’t do that as easily as we will. And that’s one of the aspects that really amaze us when we stop to think about it; their ‘pioneering’ didn’t stop when they reached the Great Basin. Oh, no. They had to create a new civilization from scratch.
The pioneers took out their plows and got to work trying to plow. The ground was so hard, the first plow broke. ‘Mistakes’ were make. Pivoting quickly, the men started digging short canals to water and soften the ground before trying again to turn sod and plant. They had to learn quickly and adapt quickly.
The women started trying to make a more livable arrangement out of their temporary quarters. They wouldn’t have to pack up every morning anymore, so how did they organize themselves for the long-term stay? Using the wagon cover they’d have created an awning arrangement of some type to provide some shade. Did they put the shade on the north, east, south, or west of their wagon boxes? Cooking areas would have been created. Did multiple families use the same cooking fire? Or, did they do communal cooking? How much did they share of their equipment and foodstuffs? How far back did they clear the grass to avoid grass fires in the valley? That would have been a serious danger. There weren’t sidewalks so the grass suffered as people walked between the various wagons. Dirt sidewalk footpaths developed quickly, which, after a rain, became mud paths.
What did that very early encampment look like before the fort was built?
They had to build homes, roads, stores, schools, houses of worship, repair shops for their wagons, sawmills to make the boards for their structures, planting the seeds for the food they would need, nurturing the crops, harvesting the crops, taking the grain to the grain mills that they had built, damming the streams to control the water to turn the mills, creating canals to harvest the water in order to have crops outside the streambeds, they had to dig root cellars to keep the harvested foods cool … and on and on and on.
Shortly after you got married and moved into your first apartment, what did that look like? How long before you got yourselves organized? How did you divide up the tasks? How long before your house became a house of order?
Yes, they, the builders of the nation; THEIR pioneering didn’t stop until they died. Blessed, honored pioneers.
Our ‘final stages’ schedule gets a little odd and ‘out of order’ so as to accommodate schedules for people and other planned events.
Saturday the 19th – we will hike from Donner Trail Park (SLC) down to the First Encampment site for the Brigham Young Vanguard Company. It’s a traditional, family friendly hike that’s held every year on the Saturday before 24 July. It starts at 7 AM and usually takes about 3 or 4 hours to complete.
Sunday the 20th – Church and family time for us.
Monday the 21st – At 7 AM we will start our final day of hiking by returning to Big Mountain Pass and hiking down the WEST side of Big Mountain into the Salt Lake Valley. Folks are welcome to accompany us down to Little Dell Reservoir. We expect to arrive there about 9:30 or 10:00 AM.
Then to conclude the trail work, four of us will bike from Little Dell down to This Is The Place Heritage Park, planning to arrive at 11:30 AM for a press photo opportunity.
22nd & 23rd – were/are scheduled as ‘slack days’ in case we needed them to arrive in time for the 24th. Being ‘on schedule’, we will use these days to prepare for the 24th events.
Thursday the 24th –
7 AM, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Chapel,110 Social Hall Avenue (95 South State Street), Salt Lake City, UT 84111. Enter building on the north side, 2nd floor chapel. We will not be there because we will be preparing for …
7:30 – Mormon Battalion color guard and hikers assemble at the southwest corner of the intersection of South Temple and State Street. Final arrangements and instructions for the color guard and camp followers (women, children age 14+, men not soldiers). IF YOU INTEND TO HIKE, please be dressed in ‘pioneer clothing.’ Please wear subdued shoes (i.e., dark shoes; no fluorescent green or orange sneakers)
9:00 – Day’s of ’47 Parade – step off
11:00 – 5:00 – Mormon Battalion encampment at This is the Place Heritage Park
NOTE: Admission purchase required.
1:00 – 5:00 – Mormon Battalion Symposium – B. Young Academy (Smoot) Building, This is the Place Heritage Park. (We hope to have the video recordings up on our Battalion Trek YouTube Channel for those who miss it.)
That’s it for now. We’ll be back after a short intermission.