June 18, 2014

This is what we did yesterday.  Our toilet valve has not

been working properly and yesterday it quit totally.  Luckily we

had gone into Ogden and purchased a new valve on

Monday.  So Jeff took it apart and after some interesting

problems we got it working.  It is never fun to work

with sewer systems.  We worked to get port-a-johns

ready also, so poop is our middle name.

We did have some bad weather yesterday, SNOW!  

June 17 and we had about 4 inches of snow.  We had

trekkers come in today.  Our group comes in on Thursday

so we are praying for sun and warmer weather.  One

good thing, no dust, just mud!  When we got up this

morning our water was frozen also.  It took a couple of hours

before it was running.

Life in Wyoming is never boring.  We continue to marvel at

how quickly we go from sun, to wind, to rain, to snow and back

again.  We are glad we have coats, shoes and warm beds at night.

This is a excited Jeff.  On Tuesday night we went out walking with

another Missionary, Jeff found these.  We have to show them to 

the ranch, they may keep them to sell.  But doesn't Jeff

look great with horns.

This would be me completing one of my goals to become

a real trek missionary.  I can't tell you what it is, if you

don't know, that is your loss!

This is our first group as they prepare to leave.

There were about 260 people on this Trek.  That includes

all the support and kitchen people.  We had 22

carts going.  What a sight that made along the ridges.

We sure met some great youth and they inspired us in

many ways.  How fun it is to be with them.

This would be one young man catching a badger in

a hole.   (Not really, it was his hat but boy did it

look like he had a real badger.)

This would be Elder and Sister Cowan REAL

TREK MISSIONARIES!

June 8, 2014

Tonight we had a special fireside.  The Sisters of 

Presidents Hinckley's wife, Marjorie, came to the D.L. & L.

They are so funny and were so fun to listen to.  They came to 

share the story of their Grandmother, Mary Goble who came in the

Hunt Wagon Company, with the Martin Group.  They had with them the

actual grave marker for Mary Goble's baby sister Edith.

Edith died on the trail in November 1856.

The story of how they came to have the marker was amazing and

truly a tender mercy of the Lord.  I can't even begin to tell

you what we all felt as we listened to them talk.  It was

a moment we will never forget.  This moment was worth

all we have done to be here.

The best part was yet to come.  Afterwards they got talking about the 

city of Nephi and their family.  Jeff got thinking, he has relatives

through his Dad's mom's family, the Ingram's and there were

some Gobles in it.  He asked them the name.  He came back

to the trailer and looked on his family tree.  Jeff has been 

spending lots of time there these past weeks.  Well guess what,

the connection is there.  Jeff is a descendant of Mary Goble!

We have been looking for a connection and tonight we found it.

Gary Johnson, what are the chances?  100%

On Saturday we were able to really leave the Cowan

mark on the D.L. & L.  We have a new trail they

have been developing.  Part of the trail had a ton of 

bones laying around.  Jeff got the idea to call the area

Bone Hollow!  He started to wire a bone to the 

top of the post to mark it.  He gathered more of them and 

put faces on them with a black marker.  Well, on

Saturday we went out there with our load of

bone faces and put a face on each post.  There were

12 bone faces in all.

Here are a couple of examples of what they look like.

We laughed as we did it and hope the trekkers will laugh

as they go along the trail.  We feel like this is

our contribution to the trail.  Christy Huff has a women's 

pull trail named for her, we have Bone Hollow.

Jeff even made up words for the Song Rawhide and sang

to the other missionaries on Saturday morning.  And Friday,

our 41st anniversary he took me dancing!  Yep, We

did square dancing with the group preparing us

to teach it to the trekkers.  I am thinking that was

a great way to celebrate our anniversary, dancing to

"Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny O"

This is the pot gut I saved on Friday afternoon.  He

was stuck down in a water valve hole.  He was making

a loud yelling sound. 

I used one of the port-a-john grabbers to fish him out of the

hole.  He was hard to grab hold of and was not

cooperating with me.  When I finally got him out and

dropped him on the lawn, he just sat there looking at me.

He was all wet and yucky looking.  I said to him, "This

would be the time for you to run away."  He looked at me

and finally scampered away.  So maybe now

I could qualify to have a cape of my own!

This week, on Wednesday, we have our first trek groups

arriving!  How exciting.  Hopefully we will be

alive on Saturday, not buried along the trail, and

I will be able to post our first pictures of handcarts

on the dusty trail.  Wish us luck and hum

"Some must push and some must pull" as

you think of us this week.

June 5,2014 add on

I forgot the best picture.  We finally got a picture of 

the baby antelope.  These two were standing on the 

road as we approached.  They were so scared they

didn't know which way to run.

 This blurry pictures is them running up the hill.  Mama

was coming from the other direction.  We are

hoping we will get to see them more the bigger they get.

June 5, 2014

This would be our professional John Pit Crew ready and

waiting to report for DUTY!  Don't you feel bad

you're not part of this crew?

I know the 4th of July is a month away, but doesn't that look

like a parade getting ready to start?  Really?  It brings tears

to my eyes!  Can't you hear the cannons booming?

The band playing?  The firecrackers popping?

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple today.

Check out Elder Nordick trying to photo Bomb our picture!

He needs to take lessons from a Pro!

This would be the pro, Elder Cowan in the back of

the picture of the Shields.  What a fun day we had.

And this would be what I found in our mail slot.  

Would you say it was a gift?  A bill? A thank you card?

A tasty new food just put out on the market and they

are sending free samples?  I don't know.  Could you send

me your thoughts?  I do know we were the only

ones to receive one so it must be special, right?

Big news June 3, 2014

Jeff just got home he went with Elder Kennedy out to look

For wildlife.  They hit the jackpot!  He saw two moose!

As you can see, no pictures it was near dusk and way far away.

They were looking through a spotting scope.  Just know, he was 

pretty excited.  They also saw several elk.  Big night on the D.L. &L.

June 3, 2014

We went on a field trip today to visit some of the

pioneer historical sites around Evanston.  This is Muddy

Creek, a private Ranch runs a trek group like ours.

They had a cart sitting there by the meadow area.

Our Elders were so interested in how their carts were made.

There was some real inspections going on.

This is a sign for the area.  It says Muddy Creek Campground

Mormon Pioneers July 9, 1847

We were on the trail that Brigham Young took when 

they first came to Utah.

This is one of three graves there at Muddy Creek.  It

is for Catherine Jones Bennett 1860.  She was

part of a ox cart company.  While we were looking at the

grave some of her family came to visit the grave for

the first time.  They live in Holden Utah and we actually knew

lots of their family.  It was fun to be with them as 

they saw for the first time the head stone and realized how

many people see it every year.

This would be Jeff hiding from the trespass police!

They had some of these Hand Cart Crossing Signs, they

looked fun.

We took a lunch break at Pioneer hollow.  There 

were cow pies everywhere and they were "FRESHER"

than our lunches.

We hiked up to a site where Philo Dibble Jr and carved

his name into the sand stone on a cliff.  It is dated

Nov 24, 1857.  They were there watching for Johnson's

army.  We could see some wagon markings on some rock close by.

This is Jeff climbing, or trying, to climb a Kiln.  They

had three right there together they had reconstructed.

This used to be a important supplier of briquettes for the

area.  The area is Piedmont Kilns.

We were right by the original train tracks and this is a hand

made culvert that was placed under the tracks.  I climbed 

thru from one side to the other.  It was taller on the other side

and tapered down on this side, so as you can see I 

was on my knees.  Jeff did not see the fun in going

inside.  What a loss for him!

Sorry Ray, this would be that clean truck you spent time with

Jeff cleaning just yesterday!  I tried to take a picture of the whole

truck but it didn't do it justice.  You know, those white vehicles

just don't show the dirt!  But, trust me, it is no longer clean

and shiny.   I do know, if trucks could talk he would say,

"Boy did I have a great time on the Pioneer Trail!

Brigham has no room to brag, we went on that trail

lots faster than his group went over 167 years ago."