Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Greetings to all from Maria Stein, Ohio. Yes, we are home from our westward ho adventure, and what a wonderful trip it was. Just shy of 3,500 miles on our van, 15 days of the 4 of us, 9 states, and yet, we are all still happy and healthy. What a great trip.
Sunday, June 7, 2009 We woke to rain....and on our day to start the Oregon Trail experience. We drove to Bayard, Nebraska, and the weather cleared a little. We had lunch at the base camp, and then our wagon master, Merph, took us by rickety old van to Chimney Rock. We climbed up to the base of that and had wonderful views of the Oregon Trail route. We visited the Visitor's Center and just got back in the van when the heavens opened up and it RAINED and HAILED and then it HAILED some more. Big pea sized hail over all the ground. Merph took us to his house. It defies description, but just let me say that my Mom would not have approved. He told us that the decision to go on the trail or not was all ours. Paul and I looked at each other and said, "Let's do it." We loaded up the wagon - we were the only 4 on this trek - and....."Wagons HO". That's what they always yelled when the wagons started up. It was probably a 1 mile ride on the original Oregon Trail to Howard Canyon. What a beautiful place. This is where Amy and I camped on the last night with our 5 11 year old nieces and nephews 11 years ago when we went on the 4 day trek. They even still had the horse trough and wind mill there. It was so strange to see the green hills - they have had lots of rain...more than ever in the last 7 years - and the 3/4 inch hail covering the ground. The fire wood was all wet so Merph brought along his gas grill to cook for us. The ground was too hail covered to pitch a tent, so Merph said that we should sleep in the back of his van. So, it wasn't real authentic, but at least we were roughing it a little like the pioneers did. We went to bed as soon as it got dark and actually had a good night's sleep. The temperature was 40 degrees, but we were plenty warm in the sleeping bags in the back of the "little van on the prairie."
Monday, June 8, 2009 Up with the sun for some breakfast hash: eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, ham, steak, and cheese. Tasted GREAT, but looked bad. The Pony Express rider came riding up the canyon with his red shirt and a note for us, Merph let us shoot off his black powder musket, and then.....the girls got to ride the horses. What a treat and what a thrill for them to be able to actually be in charge of a horse and not just follow nose to tail on a trailride or to have someone lead them. Oksana rode Red Neck and Karina was on George (who was still there on the trail from our last trip). They had a great time. Merph was out with them, and they enjoyed themselves for close to an hour out there in the canyon. After that we heard, "Wagons HO" again and we jostled in the covered wagon back to base camp while the girls rode the horses. Not the horses who were pulling the wagon....they never get ridden. It was a beautiful morning and a fitting ending to our Westward Ho adventure. We started our Eastward Ho right at noon on Monday. We drove all the way across Nebraska and stayed the night in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 Arrived at Cathy and Alan Guebert's house right at 3:00 their time. They live south of Peoria, Illinois. Cathy was in Belgium the same year that I was and we went to the same school there for 13 months back in 1973-1974. Cathy and Alan were great hosts for our 3 hour visit. It was fun to see them again and to introduce them to my family. I had visited them once in 1980, when their son was just a baby. We left there after being fortified with sandwiches for our trip home, and we arrived in Maria Stein at 12:29 Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. What a time, what a trip, what memories.
No more blogging. Take care-
Penny