End of the Journey.

On Wednesday September 16, 2009 at 5:00 pm I finally finished "the ride".

My immediate family all met me at "This is the Place Monument" in Immigration Canyon, Salt Lake City Utah.

Everyone of them are outstanding people and they set a high standard for me to try to live up to. Each of the children are beautiful, obedient, smart, strong and good. I will name everyone by Family starting with my oldest daughter's family and ending with my youngest daughter's family.

Shawnelle, Dale, Jessica, Kaycie and Adyson Aston

Ed, Kimberly, Joshua, Megan and Zachary Carter

Angela, Mike, Sydney, Braden, Justin and Nathan Drake

Stephanie, Josh, Halle, Madeline and Jackson Fugal

Jennifer and Scott Chalmers (their two dogs Bo and Tay can be seen in the Fort Bridger family photo).

I apologize for taking so long to update the blog to the end of the trip but I have been so busy enjoying family interaction that I am suprised that it is done even at this late date.

I have added 12 pictures with narrative today. Since I posted the first picture and narrative first you will have to read it last. If you want to find out what happened on Monday September 7 you will have to keep reading.

Thanks for your interest in and comments about my adventure.

I will not be updating it again.

Sunday evening September 13 I stayed at Kim and Rhonda Petersen's home. Kim is my wife Kathleen's nephew and I have known him for 42 years. He has always been a good kid. They live in Lyman Wyoming and have raised their family there. It was really fun stay at their home, visit and catch up. They also fix great meals.

I thought the rest of the trip was going to be a straight downhill shot from the high plains of Wyoming into the valley of the Great Salt Lake. It is approximately 110 miles from Lyman to Salt Lake City. I thought that would be two easy days or one long day - doable because it is downhill. I did not do my homework. It actually took me three days.

The 37 miles from Lyman to Evanston includes a steep long downhill and then a very long steep uphill that even causes semi-trucks problems. Monday September 14 I only rode to Evanston. I ran into a major storm with headwinds so stiff that they stopped me even while riding downhill and rain so intense that I was soaked in minutes. I estimate the wind gusts at over 40 MPH.

Tuesday September 15 I rode from Evanston to 3 miles past Henefer Utah before the storm hit again. I only got 44 miles on tuesday.

That left me with about 35 miles to Salt Lake City on Wednesday September 16. I rode up over Hogsback Summit and down to East Canyon Reservoir. There is a really neat resort named "East Canyon Resort". It is right on the Mormon Trail and has Condos, RV sites, camping, a fine restaurant, store and recreational facilities like tennis courts, etc. It was a welcome resupply point just at the right time. It is at the base of a long climb to the summit of "Big Mountain". The resort owns 10,000 acres that can be used for hiking in the summer and cross country skiing or snowmobiling in the winter. It is managed by a friendly, dynamic guy named Rod Myers.

This picture was taken at the summit of Big Mountain by a friendly biker. There is a lot of serious biker traffic between Salt Lake City and the summit of Big Mountain but not a lot of traffic down the other side to East Canyon Reservoir. From Salt Lake it is a 17 mile climb that gains 3200 feet elevation. There is also a smaller mountain on the route called "Little Mountain" by the pioneers. Both mountains were a challenge for a tired old biker looking forward to seeing his family at "This is the Place Monument".

On Sunday afternoon September 13 four of my five children and their families met me at Fort Bridger Wyoming. We had a great time learning the history, visiting, eating and relaxing.

I don't know if you can tell by this picture but everyone of them is smarter and better looking than I am. It is really satisfying to see improvement from one generation to the next.

I will name everyone in the last blog - Family Group picture.

The minor miracle on Friday September 11 put me back on schedule to attend Church.

Saturday September 12 I rode 73 miles to get to Little America on US Interstate 80. My Daughters Stephanie Fugal and Jennifer Chalmers and their husbands Josh Fugal and Scott Chalmers and granddaughters Halle and Madeline Fugal met me at Little America. It was great to see them. We ate and stayed in a warm, dry, clean motel room.

Sunday morning, September 13, I got up early and rode 30 miles to Church in Lyman Wyoming. I actually do not know how it happened but somehow the Lord was able to meet my goal set in Casper to attend Church in Lyman.

Stephanie shot this picture of me riding on I-80 from her motel room door. You may not notice but I am not carrying any equipment. Stephanie transported it to Church in her car.

South Pass City is another old gold mining town. It has been restored as a historical district by the State of Wyoming.

South Pass was a critical gradual slope route through the Rocky Mountains and over the continental divide. All of the Pioneer Trails crossed it. Later on gold was discovered there.

To really understand what is going on you will have to read the next blog entry.

It is now late in the afternoon of Friday September 11. I still had to ride another 5 miles on a dirt road to get to Highway 28. I wanted to ride another 6 miles on Highway 28 and get to a Wyoming Rest Area to camp for the night.

I got to highway 28 and a minor miracle happened. I was riding downhill and I had a tail wind. It had taken me about 8.5 hours of riding, eating and relaxing to get to this point and I had only covered 26 miles on dirt. I had about 2 hours of sunlight left and I decided to see how far I could go. In the next 2 hours I covered 40 miles. I arrived in Farson Wyoming with sunlight to spare. The ride was exhilarating. I seemed so powerful. I sped downhill at 30+ MPH. I even powered up the rolling hills at about 18 MPH.

My suggestion is if you want to go on a bike ride choose downhill with a tail wind.

On Friday Morning September 11, I got up early and rode 16 miles on the dirt county road to Atlantic City Wyoming. It is a great old gold mining town that is not on a paved highway. A few good and very interesting people live there.

I ate a couple of very good meals, relaxed and celebrated the fact that I was back in "Civilization". Then I rode another 5 miles on the dirt road to get to South Pass City.

About 50 - 60 miles west of Martins Cove the Mormon Church has created another Visitors Center. It is at the location where the "Willie Handcart Company" was rescued from the same winter storm that got the "Martin Handcart Company".

Both companies were rescued by wagon companies that Brigham Young sent from Salt Lake City when he learned that there were still pioneer companies on the trail in Wyoming late in the season (in addition to the two handcart companies there was a wagon company).

It is an interesting but not widely known fact that Brigham Young sent the rescuers out before the winter storm hit. They were also blasted by the storm as they searched for the 3 delayed pioneer companies.

The Willie Visitor Center is on US highway 287. US 287 junctions with State Highway 28 forming a triangle with Lander Wyoming at the top and the Mormon Trail as the base. I eventually wanted to get to Highway 28 so I decided to ride on the Mormon Trail for 30 miles as a shortcut to the continental divide over South Pass. That would save me about 30 miles.

It was now Thursday September 10 and I was way behind schedule because I had spent so much time at Martins Cove and also I had been riding against headwinds all week so I had covered less than one half the distance. I still hoped to make it to Lyman Wyoming for Church on Sunday morning and it was a couple of hundred miles away.

This picture is a shot of me biking along the Mormon Trail. I did not ride fast on the trail. It was too soft for my skinny, hard road bike tires. There were lots of sharp rocks and the ascents and descents were extreme. This was not a prepared road. There was no grading or leveling or laying a road base. This was just a wagon trail across the prairie. I am very glad that I rode on the Mormon Trail for the experience. I saw and learned a lot but it was slow and difficult traveling.

After about 15 miles the Mormon Trail crossed a county dirt road. I gladly transitioned to the county road. It was still dirt but it was a graded, prepared road and my bike did quite well on it. I camped on top of a ridge with just the coyotes for company and decided I would do better on Friday.

This is a picture of a couple of the many Sun Ranch buildings that are at the Martins Cove Visitor Center. See next picture for a more complete description.

This time I did not reverse the order of the pictures. I blogged them in the sequence that I took them. For you that means that you will see the last first and the first last.

This is one of many pictures I took of the cove where the Martin Handcart company tried to find protection from the winter blizzard, many froze to death.

This picture does not really show the whole area adequately. You will have to visit and see for yourself.

I spent most of Tuesday September 8 at the Martins Cove Visitor Center. It is a great place to actually experience some of the pioneer activities.

Martins Cove marks the location of an 1856 pioneer winter tragedy. However it is now regarded as a sacred place to celebrate faith, courage, strength, endurance and sacrifice for others.

A ranch in this area was established by Tom Sun, a French-Canadian frontiersman who later became a pioneer cattleman. The Sun family owned and operated the ranch for the next 130+ years but they never plowed or disturbed the land. It is now essentially the same as it was during Pioneer times and you can still see the indented wagon trails worn into the prairie.

The Mormon Church purchased a portion of the Sun Ranch and established a permanent, year around visitors center using many of the Sun Ranch buildings. It is staffed by Senior Couple Missionaries who do a great job teaching and demonstrating all Pioneer and Ranch activities that took place there. They give you an opportunity for a real hands on immigrant experience. Everyone is welcome and it is free. You can resupply water but there is no food, bring your own.

There are handcarts that you can check out and pull along the old Mormon Trail. I checked one out and pulled it about 3 miles. Then I parked it and walked along a trail that took you through Martins Cove. You even get to cross the Sweetwater River (luckily they have built a bridge).

Every year the Missionary Couples sponsor and support youth groups who come and pull handcarts along the Mormon Trail. It can be a life altering experience for modern teenagers. They must learn to cooperate and get along with others in their "Company". They pull, camp, prepare meals, sing & dance and try to do all the things that the pioneers did before them for a one week period. However I don't think that 1 in 6 of them die like the pioneers experienced.

Devil's Gate was another important landmark on the Mormon, Oregon, California and Pony Express Trails. It is about 6 miles west of Independence Rock.

Although it is hard to see in this view the gap in the mountain was cut by the Sweetwater River and it still flows through the gap. There are some interesting Indian Legends about what took place there. The Indians named it "Devil's Gate" in their own language of course.

In Mormon history, Devil's Gate also defines the approximate location of "Martins Cove" where a Handcart company sought protection from an early winter blizzard in 1856.

On Monday September 7 I left Casper Wyoming to begin the remote wilderness portion of the ride. Resupply points are few and far between so I restaged the panniers and tie on bags to carry additional food and water. The ride from Casper to Independence Rock was 60 miles.

There is a Wyoming State Rest Area at Independence Rock that serves as a great visitor center and in my case I used it as a campground.

Independence Rock was named by some earlier Pioneers traveling to Oregon (in 1842 I believe). They calculated that if they could reach that easy to identify landmark by July 4th they could make it to Oregon before winter. That became the standard for most other companies crossing the plains.

It is a very impressive rounded granite rock rising from the surrounding prairie. Quite a few pioneers carved their names and date in the rock when they arrived. In fact the Mormons even stationed some professional stone masons there to carve peoples names in the rock for a fee. There were some very talented professionals who joined the Church in Europe and then immigrated to the Rocky Mountain Great Basin. They were quite creative in the way they raised money for supplies. Some 150 year old names are still visible.

Sunday September 6, 2009

WYOMING – STILL THE REAL WEST

I spent Monday 8/31 getting my bike ready for the puncture weeds in the west, catching up the blog and eating as much food as I could stuff in. It seems that I cannot eat enough to supply energy for the ride. Monday evening Tim and Sylvia Burmeister invited me to stay at their home in Scottsbluff Nebraska. They have a great family of energetic teenagers. We had family prayer Monday evening and scripture reading and family prayer on Tuesday morning. They do everything right in their family and it is working.

I saw some awesome wagon ruts on Wednesday 9/2 and went to the free Western Pioneer Museum on the State Fair Grounds in Douglas Wyoming on Friday 9/4. Again this is an indication that the State of Wyoming has plenty of funds. The museum is fantastic and very well staffed. Someone is paying a lot for support and maintenance but it is not the museum patrons. You might think that going to a museum is kind of wimpy but let me explain. In one convenient location you can see a lot of authentic, old, historical items and learn a lot of historical facts and stories. It is just that you do not see the items in their authentic location but the re-created displays do a good job of showing you “how it was”. You could spend years running around seeing all the right things in all the right places instead of one day seeing and learning it all in a museum. I will attach pictures following this post.

This week was a more relaxed week. I only rode about 220 miles to get to Casper Wyoming on Friday evening 9/4/2009. I relaxed and purchased new equipment and supplies on Saturday to prepare for the “Big week”. Casper is the last place I can attend Church for the next 360 miles. It is also the jumping off point for the “Wilderness Ride”.

Wyoming is the real west. The ranges are mostly grass not corn or other crops. Trees are scarce. You see cattle and wildlife but not farm houses. I have seen deer and antelope and lots dead rattlesnakes (road kill). The ride is up and down over rolling hills but with a gradual constant climb up. The people seem to be friendly, quiet, strong and healthy (in good shape) but the small towns are widely spaced apart. The highways are great and have wide shoulders to ride a bike on. The State of Wyoming must have quite a bit of money coming in from gas, oil, iron ore, coal and other mineral taxes. I do not think there is a personal income tax here. They have many of the very best ”rest stops” that I have ever seen. I have camped in 3 so far and may camp in more. The ride this week has been against headwinds almost every day. Climbing gradually against a headwind has tested my resolve and patience but as I noted last week I have received compensating help with both strength and attitude.

I do not know what it is about me and headwinds but if I change direction so does the wind -- to stay in my face. I have an Iphone with the “WeatherBug” application that does a great job keeping me informed about all aspects of the weather. I follow it closely and am just amazed at how consistently the wind blows right at me usually at 10 – 20 mph but it is sometimes 20 - 30 mph. To be honest and truthful I have had some days with no headwind. I only remember 1 full day of riding with a tail wind. Usually I note the wind direction in my personal notebook so it would be possible for me to count the “headwind” days.

Lately however, I have noticed a weakening of my body and a drop in energy. I ran out of supplemental protein (“Designer Whey” brand chocolate drink) a week or so ago and I think that my body does not have the fuel that it needs now. I did buy supplemental protein in Casper Wyoming so I think I will be good for the “Wilderness Ride”. I did not believe that the supplemental protein would have that much effect but apparently it does.

Let me define the “Wilderness Ride”: For the next approximately 300 miles there will be only a couple of small towns along the route. I will be following the Oregon / California / Pony Express / Mormon Trail (they are all largely combined at this point). As far as I can tell water re-supply points may be 50 – 75 miles apart and food re-supply points may be as far as 150 miles apart. There will be quite a few important “Mormon Pioneer Historical” sites and lots of mountain passes. I will go over the South Pass Continental Divide at around 7700 feet elevation.

Here is a synopsis of the route: a) Leave Casper heading south west on State Route 220. b) Junction with state route 789 / US 287 and head north west to Lander Wy. c) Leave Lander heading south east on state route 789 / US 287 and junction with state route 28. d) travel south west on SR28 over South Pass (continental divide) and through Farson Wy to the junction with SR 372. e) Travel south east on SR372 to the junction with I-80 in Green River Wy. f) Travel west on I-80 to Lyman Wy and Fort Bridger Wy.

I am hoping to intersect I-80 at Green River and ride into Lyman Wyoming by Saturday Evening 9/12/2009. That will be approximate 350 – 400 miles for the week counting side trips to historical sites. For the last 50 miles I will have all services available including food, water and cell phone service along the I-80 corridor. With the predicted thunderstorms, the predicted headwinds and the known high mountain passes this schedule may be a bit too aggressive for an old guy but we shall see.

That would leave an approximate 110 mile ride down the canyon into Salt Lake City. I am planning to terminate the ride at “This is the Place” Monument on the east bench of Immigration Canyon.

Can you imagine wagons cutting ruts like these through solid sandstone rock.

These ruts are on the Oregon Trail (south side of the North Platte River). Depending on which narrative you believe there were 500,000 or 600,000 pioneers who used the Oregon Trail.

The Mormons used the Mormon Trail (north side of the Platte River). Between 1846 and 1869 when the railroad was completed there were between 50,000 and 70,000 mormon pioneers who trekked across the plains on foot.

At this point the Mormons had already crossed over the North Platte River and were using the Oregon Trail so these ruts were cut by both Mormons and non Mormons.

Fort Laramie is located about 15 miles south east of here. Brigham Young had gone into Fort Laramie and was told that the route along the north side of the North Platte River would be extremely difficult or impossible because of heavy swamps. So based on that information Brigham Young lead the Mormon Pioneer across the river and jointed the Oregon Trail. Maybe the estimates of 500,000 Oregon Pioneers was without including the Mormons and the 600,000 figure did include the Mormons.

This is another view of the awesome ruts cut by the wagons through the soft sandstone as they came along the trail.

This is a picture of a modern biker waiting to greet any late, lost pioneers coming down the trail.

This is one of the many Pony Express Station locations along the North Platte River. It is meant to show the beauty of the area around Guernsey Wy (close to the previously seen wagon ruts).

This is the first of the 7 pictures posted from the Western Pioneer Museum in Douglas Wyoming.

It is a great museum with numerous displays and stories about cowboys, indians, gunfighters, world war I heros, world war II heroes, Italian Prisoners of war, German Prisoners of war, Prisoners of War helping with the harvests, guns, saddles, horses, wagons, carriages, clothing, household items, battles between the cattlemen and the sheepmen and everyother interesting thing that happened in the west.

I call this statue "Mountain Man Hunting for a Wife".

This is the rear view of the Mountain Man heading home with his new bride.

Don't you women just love a man who knows what he wants and knows how to get it.

It should be noted that it was against the rules for a Mormon Pioneer Man to court a wife in this manner.

This is a real fine bar used in one of the area saloons. I believe it was made in Boston and shipped across the plains.

Look at this great tin bath tub. Cowgirls never had it so good.

This is the re-created kitchen from the cowboy cabin home in the museum.

This is a re-creation of a sitting room in an early cowboy cabin home.

This is the last of the 7 pictures posted from the Western Pioneer Museum in Douglas Wyoming. However, I have many many more pictures from that museum. Contact me if you want to see them.

Monday August 31, 2009

LESSONS LEARNED – THE PATH TO SUCCESS

During this ride I have set goals, measured what works and does not work in meeting those goals and had the time to reflect and think about life.

One of the short term goals I have set is to be in a location on Sunday morning where I can attend church. In Nebraska, the Mormon churches are about 175 miles apart on the route that I am taking. And since I also take many detours to see historical sites, find food, water and camping sites, I usually ride at least 110% of the map distance. That means that in a week I can make a paltry 190 miles (average 32 miles per day) or aim for a respectable 390 miles (average 65 miles per day). This past week I went for the 390 mile mark. It’s hard to average 65 miles per day because some days are spent learning about history. Blogging, eating and bicycle maintenance and other tasks also take quite a bit of time.

I have finally got to the point where I can ride long and hard and cover 60+ miles in a good day or 30+ miles with a strong headwind. However, in the past I have always felt the pain with every mile and closely measured the distance to the next checkpoint. I sometimes got angry and frustrated with the constant headwinds and other problems that came up

This past week with the days of headwinds and flat tires I got behind schedule and needed a lot of help to catch up. I have always prayed for strength to help me ride but lately I have prayed for Heavenly Father to manage the results and improve my character. My attitude now is that I want to do what is right and follow his commandments but I turn over the actual production of the results to him. I commit to following whatever he tells me to do through the Holy Spirit and at the end of the day I see what has happened.

The difference is amazing. I do not feel the pain. I do not measure each mile and each checkpoint. I ride and communicate through prayer and receive information about what I should do. I still get flat tires and ride against headwinds but the results have been phenomenal. On Saturday I rode 95 miles to get to church and it seemed easy. I am happier and do not get angry and frustrated with disruptions of my plans. In fact I now welcome problems as the Lords way of helping me increase faith, strength and character growth. He has promised that he will never give you problems beyond what you can handle with his help. The harder the problems you encounter the stronger the Lord considers your character. It is like receiving an “Atta Boy, you are improving”.

Although I have applied this (turn everything over to God) principle to my own adventure I think that it would work even better when applied to a “Service Task” or a “Building the Kingdom of God” task. When you are in a position of serving others and you need capabilities far beyond your own, God will increase your physical, mental, and moral strength and abilities to meet the need of the current situation. And he lets you keep the increased strength and capabilities.

I had a great day at Church. I met interesting people who were fun to talk to. Unfortunately I slept through part of the meeting but the talks and lessons that I heard were to the point and applied directly to what I needed to hear. Bishop and Sister Taylor invited me for dinner. It was a fine meal combined with lots of interesting conversation and sharing of knowledge. They also invited another sister (Lisa) over for dinner. Bishop Taylor is a pediatrician and Lisa is a nurse so I learned much about the life of medical professionals. The Taylor’s have an outstanding young family of four girls and two boys. The oldest girl is 14 years and the youngest baby is 2 months old. The older children do a good job of helping with the younger children and carrying out home duties. Sister Taylor is a great cook and a great manager of family business and it was a pleasure to see a growing young family learning about what it takes to progress in life. If we have enough families like this then America will continue to be strong.

The rest of this week’s blog are a few pictures that I have not posted yet. I am in Scottsbluff Nebraska about 20+ miles from the Wyoming border. Today I will try to buy puncture resistant tires, get a Wyoming map and then continue on into Wyoming.

This is a shot of the North Platte River. The Platte and North Platte Rivers are wide and shallow and were extremely valuable to pioneers crossing the plains. They provided a flat, easy to traverse valley for wagons. Wildlife was plentiful and easy water available.

This is Chimney Rock looking directly south. The sun is setting to the west (my right). The camera did a good job compensating for bright sunlight.

Chimney Rock was one of the most important landmarks along the Mormon Trail, the Oregon Trail, and the California Trail. Mountain men, trappers, railroad builders and everyone crossing the plains used it to mark their progress.

This is another shot of Chimney Rock taken after I had passed it and was looking back. This view is looking east and the end of the day with the sun at my back. Chimney rock is about 4 miles away.

This is the end of the post for Monday 8/31/2009.

This blog was written on Thursday 8/27/2009 from North Platte Nebraska.

This is a quick narrative to explain what I am doing with the following pictures. I have reversed the order so that the first thing that you see is the first thing that I saw and captured. I had to blog the first last so you would see it first.

On monday 8/24 I went to an outstanding Historical Re-creation. It is named the "Stuhr Museum of the Prarie Pioneer" Site. I recommend seeing it if you get a chance. I combines in one easy to access location many accurate pictures, narratives and demonstrations about Pioneer Life. It is like a non mormon version of Nauvoo.

I have got to go now. I will write another blog later to tell what has been happening lately. This blog is mostly to present pictures.

This is an outside view of the Indian Earth Lodge. The picture does not adequately represent how big and high it is.

The following 8 - 10 pictures are views of the inside of the lodge.

The Stuhr Museum has many exhibit and demonstrations of historical life in Nebraska: Mormons, pioneers traveling to Oregon & California, farmers, cowboys, ranches, farms, old cars, old farm equipment, railroads, indians, etc. I have chosen to emphasize the Indians beliefs and life.

Blow this up and read it. It is very informative. It tells about indian beliefs and religion. There is some commonality to the plan of salvation.

This is the first of four narrative panels that I have included in the blog. The information about this ancient people is just so interesting to me that I had to try to get you excited about it as well.

Blow this up and read it. It is very informative. It tells about indian beliefs and religion. There is some commonality to the plan of salvation.

One interesting part of the narrative is: "The essential layout of the lodge is extremely old and widespread. It is the pattern of the Eskimo Igloo, of the Kiva of the Southwest, and of structures in Siberia".

Blow this up and read it. It is very informative. It tells about the Pawnee Indians in Nebraska.

Blow this up and read it. It is very informative. It tells about indian beliefs and religion. There is some commonality to the plan of salvation.

This is one of many pictures of the interior of the Indian Earth Lodge. The view is to the center pointing to the far wall.

This is one of many pictures I took of the interior of the Indian Earth Lodge. It is the center spot.

Although this is a hard picture to look at and comprehend it had to be included because it is an critical feature of the Earth Lodge. This is the fire hole or chimney. It is located in the center of the lodge and is about 18 feet high.

This is the last of the indian exhibits that I am posting to the blog. However I have many many more interesting pictures that show everyday indian life. If you want I would be happy to show them to you.

This is a very well done sculptor. The artist used members of his family for models.

This is the house that the movie star - Henry Fonda - was born in. His family did not actually own it but was renting when he was born. The house was originally located in Grand Island Nebraska but was moved a couple of miles south to the Stuhr Museum site.

The Stuhr Museum site is actually a very large tract of land that has many many interesting working demonstrations of Nebraska history. It also has traditional museum buildings with artifacts.

This is a part of a log cabin village at the Stuhr Museum site.

This sign marks the site of the Murdock Ruts. After this site was found and authenticated as a part of the mormon trail, Hall County Nebraska purchased it in order to preserve it. It is an interesting experience to see it but it is hard to find.

I camped on this spot next to the Mormon Trail. No one kicked me off but millions and millions of bugs tried to eat me.

When I first read about "wagon wheel ruts" I thought I was going to find the imprint of a wagon wheel sunk in the mud hardened to stone.

That is not even close to reality. What you really find is a path worn deep into the surrounding praire by thousands of wagon teams and people trekking along an unhardened dirt road. Over time the grasses have grown back over the trail. It is the same as a well used mountain trail worn deep by hundreds of people using it.

If you look close you can see the dip with both sides higher. It is lots easier to see in real life than it is in the picture. The light was not right to be able to see contour relief.

Blow this picture up and read the narrative. It gives a short account about a very interesting man. Joseph E Johnson was a mormon living among non mormons. Among other important pursuits he published a newspaper. I really got a kick out of the following:

"Johnson was a keen observer of the Nebraska scene which he discussed in a vigorous and breezy style suggested by his papers motto: "Independent in Everything, Neutral in Nothing".

He later migrated to Utah as per info on the plaque.

This Pony Express Station is in a public park in Gothenburg Nebraska. It is a free exhibit with interesting maps and history inside. There is a lady historian who will tell you everything about the Pony Express in Nebraska. She is a retired teacher and is very knowledgable.

The Pony Express Route was actually located a couple of miles south of here on the Platte River. This station was moved here from its original location.

I am changing the sequence that I enter pictures in the blog. This is the last picture of this part of the trip. I am entering it in the blog first so you will see it last.

Monday August 24, 2009

RIDE ACROSS NEBRASKA.

This blog entry will cover Wednesday August 19 through Monday August 24. Wednesday was a great day. Not a very good day for riding a bicycle because it rained all day. I just stayed in the “Mormon Trail Motel” and relaxed. Injuries incurred on my legs at Lake Powell needed time to heal anyway. I had time to plan the route and where I would attend Church on Sunday. I decided to go to Grand Island Nebraska. There are two wards there. It was about 160 miles away. I thought “no problem – I have three days, that is less than 60 miles per day”.

On the first day riding in Nebraska (Thursday 8/20) I did not encounter as many hills as I had in Iowa. However, there was a big problem: a 20 MPH headwind gusting to 30 MPH. A headwind makes a big difference. I was only able to ride between 7 – 8 MPH which means each mile takes 7 – 8 minutes of pain. My attitude suffered greatly because I was not able to see rapid progress as the miles passed so slowly. I rode 39 miles while expending more effort than 75 miles would normally take. I camped at a very nice “Fremont State Park Campground” that had a “Mormon Trail Historical Marker” nearby.

Friday 8/21 was more of the same. I fought really hard to ride 48 miles against a 20 MPH headwind blowing from the west. I camped at an abandoned Wal-Mart in Columbus, Nebraska. I did not arrive until after dark.

Saturday 8/22 I really had my work cut out for me. If I wanted to attend Church on Sunday I needed to ride 70 miles to Grand Island, Nebraska. Given my experience with the wind for the last two days it looked like a very hard day. However the wind died down and I was able to ride to Grand Island in time to take a shower and wash my clothes so I was all ready for Church. It was the easiest day of the past 3 days. Truck Stops are a great invention. The shower is expensive ($10.00) but you can wash your clothes while you shower and they usually have a restaurant so you can also eat while waiting for your clothes to wash and dry. It really saves a lot of time.

It is amazing how much a beautiful day – clear, sunny, cool, blue sky and no wind helps your attitude. It was fun to be outdoors riding a bicycle on Saturday. I watched the miles fly by at 4 minutes per mile. I helped a farmer catch a cow that had been wandering back and forth across the highway. The Platte River valley is absolutely flat. The little towns are about 10 miles apart. As soon as I left one town I could see the silos and water tower of the next town. It gave me a goal, something to ride to. The pioneers also made good progress through Nebraska.

The Nebraska Highways are in excellent shape. They are well maintained: no potholes, no cracks, no crumbling at the edges. But the most important thing is that they have a big wide shoulder for bicycles to ride on. Most of the shoulders are 6 foot wide. It is much safer for the bicyclist and for cars too. Cars do not have to cross over the centerline into oncoming traffic in order to pass a bicyclist without hitting him or scaring him.

Sunday August 23. I attended the Grand Island 2nd Ward at 9:00am. They had a great set of meetings. After church Bishop John Henderson and his wife Sylvia invited me to their house for dinner. They are an outstanding couple, fun to talk to with many family experiences and grandchild stories to relate. They also invited another interesting new ward member to dinner: Sister Jeanne Williams. We had a great dinner, a great discussion and even took a walk around the lake on their property. They have seven acres made to order for grandchild adventures. Sister Henderson related a number of extraordinary missionary experiences that her mother had as she strived to share the joy and happiness the gospel brings with friends and acquaintances. Everyone had interesting stories to tell. It was a pleasant, relaxing afternoon. They all seemed like family. I guess we are all brothers and sisters. Sunday night I stayed at the Comfort Inn so I could catch up on this blog.

Monday 8/24. I intend to go to the “Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer” and also find some 160 year old wagon ruts that have hardened in the mud.

This is the west side or rear of the Winter Quarters Temple.

This is the entrance to the Winter Quarters Temple. As you can see it is one of the new small Temples.

You might say that the light is not right for this picture. It was taken after 8:00 pm just as the sun was going down.

But I really like how the sun highlights the spire and the Angel Moroni.

This statue represents Parley P Pratt and his wife as they bury their baby son in the winter at this cemetery.

My picture does not adequately convey the emotional impact nor the quality of detail of this statue.

Entry gate to the Cemetery. The Winter Quarters Temple is located on the cemetery grounds. The next few pictures were taken in the cemetery

The light was not right to get the best picture but there are some really good statue representations of Pioneer activities here.

Part of the "Winter Quarters" town site is now a park in the middle of Florence Nebraska. Florence is a real neat place with lots of historical references and original sites, all of which are available.

Tuesday August 18, 2009

THE FAMILY LAKE POWELL VACATION WAS GREAT. I was able to explore Park City, hike, stay at the cabin, build big camp fires, go to Church, swim, water ski, jump off cliffs, eat good food and boat around Lake Powell with an outstanding group of people – my family. I have one son and four daughters. Each of them married really neat people. They have currently produced 13 of the cutest and funnest grandkids in the world.
THE RIDE IS BACK ON AGAIN. Monday I flew back to Omaha, Nebraska to continue the Bicycle Trip.
Tuesday I spent the whole day at Winter Quarters Nebraska (Florence or North Omaha to everyone but the Mormons). There is a lot to see and a lot to learn at the Mormon Trail Center, the Cemetery, and the old town site. However the highlight was that I was able to attend a temple session in the new Winter Quarters Temple. It was built in 2001 and is one of the small format temples. Although they do not rent temple clothes (I did not bring mine), they do have some extra for missionaries that they let me use.
Interesting information about the Council Bluffs Iowa / Omaha Nebraska area: The two are sister cities and are actually one big metropolitan area. They are basically separated by the Missouri River. However over the last hundred and fifty years the river has changed channels so part of Iowa is on the west side of the current river and is in Nebraska territory. There are many bicycle paths in the Council Bluffs / Omaha area and there is a beautiful suspended pedestrian bridge across the Missouri River so you can walk, run, bicycle or rollerblade between the two cities without fighting cars.
Brigham Young’s Pioneer Company left Nauvoo in February 1846 and originally intended to reach Deseret (Utah) before winter in 1846 but they had so much trouble with the mud and hills of southern Iowa that they did not reach the Missouri river until the fall of 1846. They decided to establish a camp for the winter and then proceed to Deseret the following spring. The decision was made to cross over the Missouri river in the late fall while the water was low so that they would not have to cross it with the high water “spring run off” next year. Brigham received permission to create “Winter Quarters” in the Indian Territory of Nebraska. He had to get approval from both the Indians and the U.S. Government. Negotiations over the 500 man enlistment in the Mormon Battalion played a part in the government’s approval. At that time there were 16,000 saints spread across Iowa and into Nebraska. They created a major settlement at Winter Quarters with over 500 log cabins and dug outs. They were laid out in organized wards with blocks for living and blocks for farming. Utah natives will be familiar with the street grid pattern used at Winter Quarters. Mormons migrating to Utah used Winter Quarters until at least 1852 and it may have been used until 1854.
A couple of the Apostles received a revelation that it was time for Brigham Young to be sustained as Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He had been leading the Church as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the two and one half years since the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed. After organizing the initial building and farming initiatives in Utah Brigham left and came back across the plains to Kanesville Iowa (Council Bluffs) and was sustained and set apart as the second President of the Church at a special Church conference on December 27, 1847. The big conference building has been reconstructed and there is a visitors center there now. It is in old town Council Bluffs.
In the future I will continue to blog about the trip across Nebraska and Wyoming and the fast descent into Utah.

This is the old townsite of Garden Grove Iowa. The grass outlines are where cabins once stood. Because the cabins were only temporary the pioneers did not lay a foundation of stones.

Present day Garden Grove is a short distance away. The people there are proud of the Mormon history. The high school is named "Mormon Trail High". I talked to the mayor and he told me all about finding the old cemetery and building a monument.

I took lots of other pictures but did not want to clutter up this blog. If you are interested I will show them to you.

There is a very good museum in Corydon Iowa that has a full life size diorama / statue that shows a husband/father leading an oxen through deep serious mud, a mother and baby riding on a wagon and a young boy prying a wagon wheel out of the mud. It is a very effective image but it did not photograph well (given the current state of the photographer's skill).

Other pictures and narrative follows.

This is one of many signs that tell you that the Mormon Trail crossed here.

In real life the scene is much more impressive.