Savage Handcart Company

Guess what, it happened.

The Canberra Stake left on September 27th for an arduous trek under the direction of Trail Boss Savage.  We would have liked to call him "Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper" (*the general from Dr. Stragelove who goes a little crazy and causes the end of all life on planet earth).  Ok maybe our trail boss wasn't quite that crazy but he was a little overboard to say the least.

Synopsis:

Day One:
- 10 kids between the ages of 12 and 17, all our belongings stuffed into a "heshen sack", 2 dutch ovens and a hand cart
- starting with a 22 kilometer trek over an 11 hour time period through manure scented bogs with knee deep water and full sized fallen trees blocking our path
- 4 am arrival at camp
- the beaconing call of a luminous camp fire ready to warm our wet and weary bodies only to be further with-held by the command to first set up camp
- a meager meal of broth and bread after 11 hours of back breaking trugery

Day Two:
- waking up to the information that we "might" get breakfast for our starving, exposed, homesick children *oatmeal was provided, hallelujah
- more trekking
- live chicken kill, later eaten for dinner
- Camp skits

Day Three:
- eggs and bacon for breakfast, yeehaw!
- more trekking
- pioneer games
- Mormon battalion departure, ladies stayed back to make a treat out of left-over brown sugar, flour, milk and butter

Day Four:
- Empty time so Alex and others constructed a ropes coarse
- more trekking
- setting up camp for the last time ever!
- testimony meeting

So yah, crazy!  The first day was insane and fortunately things got progressively better.  We only had two sick kids in our group and we LOVE LOVE LOVED all our kids, they were awesome.  My absolute terror of leadership was somewhat debilitating in the beginning but fortunately Alex is quite proficient at compensating for my insecurities and eventually I got over it.

* We made a group rap to the rhythm of Love You Long Time's "Steps in my fade":

We've got 10 kid and we're walking down the trail with our handcart, with our handcart

A pioneer, it's just who I am, when I heard about the gospel had to take a stand

So I left my home with my kids and wife, and headed out west to start a new life

I've got a test-imony, test-test-imony

And when I feel the spirit you know I don't feel lonely

Yah on this trek we're gonna have some fun, and that's why I keep rapping along

We've got 10 kid and we're walking down the trail with our handcart, with our handcart


It was pretty awesome.

We feel like we left not only with a better understanding of what the pioneers went through, but stronger testimonies, and we feel like the we were able to be a good influence on our kids and help them in their own spiritual progression.

And I can't believe I'm saying it but in the end we had a really good time.