Sunday, June 29

Our students arrived at camp about 9:30 a.m. and we began immediately filming.. .they had breakfast in camp: bacon, eggs, homemade hashbrowns, muffins, juice, and some fruit. Shortly after breakfast we talked about the wagon train safety rules and took a cast photo with everyone in their In Pursuit of a Dream T-Short.

Then we began to time travel.

First, we gave every student some new clothes…although we had them keep their own comfortable hiking shoes.

After they changed into the pioneer dress, we gathered together again and talked about communication. The Mr. Merchant collected all cell phones, headsets, and other electronic devices away from the students. So, parents, if you don’t hear from your child, don’t worry about them. We will definitely be in touch with you should there be any serious issue. They won’t get their phones back until the end of the trail.

After lunch everybody loaded in the wagons and we headed out on the trail.

We came upon a camp of topographical engineers. They were out working mapping the country. We learned about how they use the instruments to determine latitude and longitude and learned some drawing techniques for making some maps and documentation of our route.

The hot sun, the high elevation (camp is at about 6,600 feet), and some walking began to show the students how hard this journey is. A couple of our students weren’t feeling too well for a while, but we gave them plenty of good water and Gatoraid, gave them some oranges, and had them sit in the shade of a wagon. Before long they were back in the thick of things.

--Candy