MyLitter - One Deal At A Time

This past week Paul and I had the chance to take our oldest son on a pioneer trek. We left on Tuesday morning and got back Saturday morning at 7am.

As a blogger you never have a day off, EVER. I knew that I was not going to be able to have ANY access to internet including my phone for at least 4 days. In the past 2 1/2 years if I have ever had a vacation I am always blogging along the way, in the car, hotel, where ever I can get internet access. I love it, but this was the first time I had to step away and get some help. I scheduled a TON of posts for while I was gone but I hired an AWESOME blogger to help me, her name is Courtney and if you are a blogger and need a day off she is great!

Paul and I were “Ma and Pa’s” for the trek, we “adopted” 9 teenagers and were a family for the trip. We left Houston and drove 9 hours to Oklahoma to a cattle ranch. Fun fact: We were on the ranch next to The Pioneer Woman!!! It is beautiful country.

We had to dress in period costume, which for women meant, full skirt, bloomers, apron, button up shirt to the neck and full sleeve and bonnet. IT WAS HOT!

Our kids were AWESOME. They worked so hard, and at night we danced and they played guitar. We set up camp each night with tarps and slept under the stars. There was a river that we cooled off in, but we had NO showers or any kind of modern connivence. We truly lived as the pioneers did that crossed the plains.

Most of our meals were cooked in dutch ovens. I will post some of the recipes here as they were really good, I like to use dutch ovens even when we are not camping as it makes a great meal!

Our “company” had 7 families, there were 3 companies so 21 “families”. It was such a great experience, it was very hard work and very hot. You gained such an appreciation for what those before you had to go through and what their daily life was like. I was so glad that we were able to go, I enjoyed the time off and the time we were able to spend together, my husband and I.

At one point on the trek, the men and boys had to go off to do something else, it left the woman to push the cart by ourselves. We had a huge hill that we had to get up and were determined to do it. As we got to the top I pulled my gloves off because my hands were sweating so bad and when I did my wedding ring flew off. We were never able to find it. Many of the pioneers had to leave behind things that were very precious to them, I was sick to my stomach walking away knowing it was gone forever. But I felt like I really got a taste ( whether I wanted it or not!) what they had to go through.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I had such a neat experience I will remember it for the rest of my life.

Thanks for hanging in there while I was gone, I hope you didn’t even notice! Happy 4th of July!