Around the middle part of August I decided that we either had to schedule some kind of a camping trip, or else the motor home would stay winterized for the rest of the year. We had made a couple of trips for a few days each to North Salt Lake, but that was the extent of our travels for this year.

It looked like Labor Day weekend would be a good time to go somewhere. The criteria were simple: close and inexpensive. We’ve gone to Yellowstone quite often over Labor Day weekend and have enjoyed those visits. Since most of the kids are in school, the Park is much less congested and more congenial. Besides, the bison seem to start migrating around the park about that time of the year.

However, the last time we were in the Stanley, Idaho area was before we went to Japan fifteen years ago. It’s a pretty area, is about a five hour drive from the house, and pretty much met the criteria. Further, if we took the motor home up to the Idaho Falls Temple for our Friday morning shift and left from there, we would already be an hour closer to Stanley. So that’s what we’ve done.

We packed up the motor home during the early part of the week, hitched the Tracker on the back on Thursday evening, and drove away at 4:15 a.m. on Friday, September 3rd. We worked our shift at the Temple, ate lunch in the motor home, and headed west on US Route 20 towards Arco, Idaho. From there we drove up to Challis, Idaho and then followed the Salmon River into Stanley.

Much has changed since our last visit at least 18 years ago. The town itself is pretty much the same, but a number of new Forest Service campgrounds have been opened along the Salmon River. I kind of wanted easy camping (that means electricity and WIFI), so I pushed for staying in a private campground. We settled on the Elk Mountain RV Resort four miles northwest of Stanley. It’s just OK. We have electricity and fairly slow WIFI (that makes it possible to write this blog entry). The spots are close together. There are no fire rings, and there’s no table at our campsite. After seeing the nice Forest Service campgrounds along the way, I wouldn’t choose to stay at the Elk Mountain RV Resort (quite a stretch of imagination to call this a “resort”) again. When we come up here again in a few years, we’ll stay along the river somewhere. Further, the State of Idaho is putting WIFI into the State Parks!! A $29 per year fee gains access to the internet at selected state parks. The fee is used to pay for installations at more parks across the state.

So far we’ve mostly just driven around the area, stopping here and there for photography opportunities. We went to Church this morning at the Stanley Branch. I enjoy Church here a lot … helped by the fact that Church is 2 hours long and they meet in a building with huge glass windows looking out over the Sawtooth Mountains. There’s nothing boring about a church meeting in Stanley, Idaho!

Tomorrow we’ll visit the Yankee Fork gold mine area. Plenty of old buildings and equipment to keep both Nina and me happy photographing stuff. Then it’s back home on Tuesday. And we’ll be done playing around for a while.

Two grandkids had procedures recently. Michael had all his wisdom teeth removed and Stephanie had some fairly important surgery on her left ankle (which has left the doctor a bit dumbfounded as he didn’t find what he expected). So, Nina and I made a trip down to North Salt Lake to visit with the recuperating kids.

On the way we stopped in Layton to watch another grandchild Danielle (aka Speedy) and her team play in their championship soccor tournament round. They played very well, as did the other team, and the game ended with a 4-4 tie. I was impressed at how well her team has improved over the season.

It was DANG HOT in the Salt Lake valley today. I was glad we were able to spend most of the time indoors.

Meanwhile, my cousin Merrill Gillette called and he’s having some computer problems. I wasn’t able to help him out very much over the phone. He’ll probably end up having to wipe the hard drive and reinstall. My favorite brother Perry over in Green River has two (2) computers infected with a virus that won’t go away. Those may well have to suffer the same fate. Since things come in threes, that should be all the computer problems for a while (knocking on wood).

About 3 p.m. on Tuesday, August 10th the phone rang. Caller ID said the caller was “Bannock County”. I answered the phone and an automated message started to play telling us that there was a fast-moving wildfire near our area and that we should prepare to evacuate.

Preparing the evacuate isn’t the same as actually evacuating. I was experiencing the Enhanced 911 Reverse Calling system that the county installed several years ago. But, I’d been seeing on Twitter that there was a fire not too far from our house so the advice to prepare to evacuate was good advice.

Some time ago Nina and I had decided that if we needed to evacuate, the motor home would be our evacuation method. We could put whatever we needed in there and hook on the Chevy Tracker so it could be towed. I’d drive the motor home and Nina would drive the Toyota Avalon and we’d be on our way. We’d have a place to sleep and whatever we needed for a couple of days.

However, we were actually singularly unprepared to prepare to evacuate! I went out and got the motor home ready to drive away and noticed that we had only about a third of a tank of gas. That wasn’t going to get us very far! It also hadn’t been cleaned up since our last use of the vehicle … which was last year!

I put the equipment on the front of the Chevy Tracker so it could be hooked onto the motor home and towed. Nina gathered up some of the “absolutely must be saved” items. We both got some clothes together. I turned on the sprinkler system to wet down the yard (with no idea whether that would make a difference). And then settled down to wait for the next step.

About 4:45 pm we got the next call to say that the fire had been contained and the need to prepare to evacuate had been cancelled.

This morning’s paper said that the fire had been knocked down quickly as the fire department had been notified almost as soon as the fire started. Some children playing with matches and burning toilet paper were the source of the fire. It came close to a couple of residences, but never got closer than a half-mile or so of our house.

I’ve no idea how much time we’d have from the time that the “evacuate” phone call came and when we’d need to be on our way. In this instance we “kind of prepared” but I think it would have taken a bit of time to really be ready to go. So, with this experience in mind, we’ve made a few decisions.

1. The motor home needs to be always ready to go. That means full of gasoline, cleaned up, stocked with sheets, towels, and sundry other items. The vehicle spends about half the year winterized … and that’s it’s condition now. Rather than wait for the first use to un-winterize the motor home, I need to do that as soon as the threat of freezing is past. With the anti-freeze still in the holding tanks, I couldn’t load up with water before leaving. By the end of this week, the motor home will be ready should we need it.
2. All of the “must take with us” stuff is scattered around the house and much of it is downstairs. We’ve decided to gather all of that stuff into our bedroom closet so that if we have to evacuate, we know what we’re going to take with us.
3. It’s not a certainty that if we need to evacuate that we’ll both be at home. We have busy lives and quite often one or both of us are not here. I’m not sure what the alternate plan is (we’ll have to work that out), but which ever of us is not here may not be able to get back here before the evacuation order happens.

Several years ago a wildfire came over the hills to the west of us and did some pretty incredible damage. It was before we moved here, and there’s been a LOT of new housing built since then. I think we’ve become a bit complacent!

Kudos and props to the fire departments in the area for quickly knocking down this fire. I’m glad we have the reverse 911 system in place and to know that it works. While there’s no need to go overboard on this preparedness bit, we can certainly be better prepared!

Nina woke up Sunday morning (the 18th) with a sore arm. She said it felt kind of like a very sore nerve running down her left arm.

It kind of got worse during the day and by the time we went to bed she was having difficulty finding a comfortable and somewhat pain-free position to get some sleep. I woke up about 1 a.m. Monday morning as she was coming back into the bedroom in obvious serious pain. We talked about the situation a bit and decided we needed to make a trip into the Emergency Room and get it looked at just in case it was something serious. Further, they might be able to give her a pain killer that would let her get some sleep.

Nina doesn’t have much in the way of medical insurance, so trips to the ER are carefully rationed … this one was important. Besides, I got to drive way too fast through the 20mph park and almost needed to run a red light. The last time I got to do that was back in 1973 in Germany when our daughter Traci was being born.

After a bunch of tests, heart problems were ruled out along with a number of other potential ailments. What was left was a musculature / skeletal problem commonly known as “tennis elbow”. A couple of good doses of morphine and a prescription for Lortab took most of the edge off the pain. Problem was, however, we had to stay in the ER for an hour after the last dose of morphine. Around 5 a.m. she was finally discharged and we picked up the prescription at the 24-hour Walgreens and went home to bed.

I drove the speed limits going home. I didn’t have an excuse to do anything else!

Today I was assigned to speak in one of the Wards in our Stake on the topic of our Mormon pioneer heritage. This is the text of the talk that I prepared:

I should like to tell you a love story.

15-year-old Jane Sant was in love. Love at first sight, actually. She had looked into the sparkling black eyes of a young westerner carrying a bull whip over his shoulders, clad in a full buckskin suit, fringe down each side of the pants and a beaded design on the front of the waist coat, his dark hair, a bit long as the westerners then wore it, curled back over his ears, and a broad smile on his face.

Jane turned to her older sister Margaret and said, “That’s the man I’m going to marry.”

“But Jane, he may already be married and have a dozen wives!” Margaret replied.

“I don’t care. I’ll find him again and win his love.” Jane declared.

John and Mary Sant had lived on the Mercy River outside of Liverpool where John was a riverboat captain carrying merchandise up river from Liverpool. They met the missionaries and were baptized. A year later they sent their oldest son George to Utah to prepare the way for the rest of the family.

John, Mary, and the rest of their family set sail from Liverpool in June 1860 for Zion. They sailed to New Orleans, took a riverboat to St. Louis, the train to Omaha, and joined a wagon train company for the remainder of the journey to Utah.

The wagon train company was about three days east of Ft. Bridger in Wyoming when Jane first laid eyes on her future husband.

Nathan Smith was the oldest son of William P and Mary Grimshaw Smith. William and Mary had joined the Church in 1840 while they were living near Manchester, England. In 1842 they left England for Nauvoo and arrived in early spring of 1843. They, along with the other saints, were forced out of Nauvoo and went to Winter Quarters where William P operated a ferry across the Missouri River for several years. They travelled to Utah by horse and buggy, making the trip in less than a month where William P settled in Ft. Union and set up medical practice.

Nathan’s younger sister Alice trained as a midwife and as a doctor and married George Done. They settled in Smithfield, Utah where Alice worked as a midwife and a doctor for the rest of her life.

Meanwhile, Nathan had been called on a temple mission. He and a number of other young men would load wagons full of provisions, take the mail, and head east to St. Louis, resupplying wagon train companies in Wyoming as needed. When they reached St. Louis, they purchased needed items for the Temple and for the settlements in the west and made the return journey. From Omaha they would lead a wagon train across the plains to Utah.

On his last trip to St. Louis, three days east of Ft. Bridger, Nathan met the Sant wagon company and delivered a letter to John Sant from his son George in Smithfield. George had come to Utah, married, and built a small cabin in Smithfield, Utah. He was waiting there for them to arrive.

Jane Sant was in love.

Upon completion of his mission, Nathan went to Smithfield to spend a few weeks with his sister … and, as he said, to do a little dancing.

On their arrival in Smithfield, the Sant family immediately set to work at whatever work was available. Alice Smith Done needed an assistant in her medical practice and hired sixteen-year-old Jane Sant.

Nathan arrived in Smithfield to visit his sister Alice the same week that Jane Sant began to work for Alice.

Jane said that as soon as she heard his voice, she knew who it was. She wasn’t dressed to be meeting her husband-to-be! She ran and hid … and Alice had to find her and coax her out to meet Nathan.

It must have been love at 2^nd sight for Nathan! Bishop John Sant, Jane’s father, married them on October 3, 1861. They then went by wagon to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City where they were sealed for time and all eternity that evening.

Speaking of our pioneer heritage, Elder Dallin H. Oaks in a conference address in October, 1997 said:

A few years ago I showed one of my senior brethren a talk I had prepared for future delivery. He returned it with a stimulating two-word comment: “Therefore, what?” The talk was incomplete because it omitted a vital element: what a listener should do. I had failed to follow the example of King Benjamin, who concluded an important message by saying, “And now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them” (Mosiah 4:10).

For many months we have studied the lives and accomplishments of our pioneers, early and modern. We have thrilled to some modern reenactments, in which many have been blessed to participate. I was humbled to walk in the footsteps and wagon trails of my 31 pioneer ancestors for 13 miles over the Wyoming heights called Rocky Ridge, and for 5 miles on the trail 3 of them later followed down El Cajon Pass to settle what is now San Bernardino, California.

Now after all these studies and activities, it is appropriate to ask ourselves, “Therefore, what?” Are these pioneer celebrations academic, merely increasing our fund of experiences and knowledge? Or will they have a profound impact on how we live our lives?

This question applies to all of us. As President Hinckley reminded us last April, “Whether you are among the posterity of the pioneers or whether you were baptized only yesterday, each is the beneficiary of their great undertaking.” All of us enjoy the blessings of their efforts, and all of us have the responsibilities which go with that heritage.

The foremost quality of our pioneers was faith. With faith in God, they did what every pioneer does—they stepped forward into the unknown: a new religion, a new land, a new way of doing things. With faith in their leaders and in one another, they stood fast against formidable opposition. When their leader said, “This is the right place,” they trusted, and they stayed. When other leaders said, “Do it this way,” they followed in faith.

Two companion qualities evident in the lives of our pioneers, early and modern, are unselfishness and sacrifice. Our Utah pioneers excelled at putting “the general welfare and community goals over individual gain and personal ambition.” That same quality is evident in the conversion stories of modern pioneers. Upon receiving a testimony of the truth of the restored gospel, they have unhesitatingly sacrificed all that was required to assure that its blessings will be available to their children and to generations unborn. Some have sold all their property to travel to a temple. Some have lost employment. Many have lost friends. Some have even lost parents and extended family, and others as new converts have been disowned for their faith.

(Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Following the Pioneers, Ensign, Nov. 1997)

I’m blessed to count a number of Mormon pioneers in my ancestry. What does that heritage mean to me?

My wife Nina, however, is a convert and was the first in her family to join the Church. What does the Mormon pioneer heritage mean to her?

What should it mean to all of us … and, as Elder Oaks said, “Therefore, What?”

We stand on the shoulders of stalwart church members who stand on the shoulders of others before them.

I want my children and grandchildren to know about John and Mary Sant, William P and Mary Smith, and Nathan and Jane Sant. I also want them to know about Nina Nettleton, a 20^th century pioneer from Hamden, Connecticut who exercised great faith and stepped into the font in March, 1964 to be baptized by her future husband and thus inherited the title of Pioneer.

But, it’s not enough to tell the stories to our children and grandchildren.

We also have the obligation to “pay it forward.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his 1841 essay Compensation, wrote: “In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody.”

I once overheard a conversation that went something like this:

“Why should I have to be paying taxes for the schools. I don’t have any kids in the schools. Let those who have kids pay for the schools!”

The other party replied, “Well, you went to school, didn’t you? You’re educated, can read and write, and can do arithmetic. Who do you think paid for those school buildings and classrooms and teachers? Taxpayers who didn’t have any children in school, either. You were the beneficiary of their sweat, just like generations to come will benefit from your work.”

That’s the concept of paying it forward.

Just as we stand on the shoulders of those who went before, we want the future generations to be able to stand on our shoulders.

1. Our pioneers were faithful. Do we follow the counsel and instruction of our leaders? Are we faithful Sunday School teachers, Primary teachers, Home and Visiting teachers? Do our children, grandchildren, and those around us know that we can be counted upon to do our duty, regardless?
2. Our pioneers were unselfish. Do we give freely of or time, talents, and resources? Do we pay a full and honest tithe? Do we make a regular, generous fast offering contribution? Have we taught by example those who will follow in our footsteps and helped them to understand that it isn’t “all about me”, but rather, “all about us?”
3. Our pioneer heritage is a legacy of inclusion. At a conference in 1845, they covenanted to “bring all the saints with them.” By commandment each company was to “bear an equal proportion … in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army” (D&C 136:8). Are we caring for the poor, lifting up the downtrodden, even making sacrifices that all may come to Zion? Are we known as being inclusive and unselfish? Are we demonstrating these qualities in our families, occupations, and social circles?

I could cite many other qualities demonstrated by our pioneer forefathers. However, each of us need to decide for ourselves how we will “pay it forward” and follow King Benjamin’s counsel:

“And now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them” (Mosiah 4:10).

It’s so easy to get out of the habit! I got real tired of the Project365 application on my iPhone. About half the time it wouldn’t upload the picture to Facebook. I tried different methods, none of which were nearly as successful. Then the creator came up with a “pro” application which would upload the pictures to a website (his server, though). So, I bit and bought ($0.99) and found it has a MAJOR bug … you can’t sign in. He’s been promising an update Real Soon Now for a couple of weeks. I’m beginning to become a bit skeptical.

Today I got up with intentions of doing some things outside. Then I turned on my ham radio.

About a week ago I was tuning across one of the Ham Radio bands (the 20 meter band 14.225 – 14.350 mhz) and heard a station out east announcing that he was a Special Events Station. I gave him a call on my radio, and by golly, he answered! Over the next few days I found several other special events stations and was able to contact them. I’ve sent off QSL Cards (confirmation of contact information) and hopefully will be getting some in return. Special Events Stations usually have very fancy and nice QSL cards that ham radio guys like to collect.

Then, I heard a station in Pennsylvania that said he was part of the Original 13 Colonies Special Event and that there would be one or two stations in each of the 13 colony states on the air between July 1st and July 6th. That sounded like a real challenge. While these stations were going to be available on a variety of radio bands using a variety of operating modes (morse code, single sideband, RTTY, PSK31, satellite, and others), I only had one antenna available for one band only … my trusty 20 meter hamstick dipole in the back yard. I also had a number of other things to do, such as visit mother in Soda Springs and go to Church, which would increase the challenge. By the end of the period, I had contacted 8 of the 13 colony stations. In addition, I had also made contact with stations in Cuba, Russia, Hawaii, and Brazil.

Generally the process is to put my QSL card into an envelope with a self-addressed stamped return envelope and send that to the other station. They’ll use the return envelope to send a card back. For stations overseas, instead of a stamped return envelope, I put in an envelope without a stamp and buy an International Reply Coupon (IRC) from the post office, which costs $2.10, and put that in the envelope. The receiving party can then exchange the IRC for postage back to the US. So, I made up all the envelopes and went to the post office.

The lady at the counter knew where the IRC’s were located, but couldn’t figure out how to charge me for them. She’d never sold one in her 13 years working at the post office. The fellow at the neighboring counter had never sold one, either. So, she had to go back into the office and find a manager, who brought out a book of instructions. After several attempts, they finally managed to get me charged for the three IRC’s I needed. I decided if it was that much work, I’d buy 5 more so I would have them on hand. They only had 3 more available. So, I bought the post office out of IRC’s. They think they’ll have more in next week. According to the manager, they haven’t sold an IRC in more than a year. Interesting!

So, this morning I turned on my radio … and heard a station calling for contacts for the contest going on this weekend. I looked up the contest on the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League … the US amateur radio association) website and found that it was a full blown, world-wide contest on the shortwave frequencies. My radio and antenna work in the sweet spot of shortwave! So, I returned his call, along with several dozen other people. In ham-radio-speak, this is called a “pile up”. That first contact was in Texas. It took about 5 minutes, but I eventually got through.

Making a contact in this contest is a very brief conversation … He calls for contacts. I answer. He gives me a signal report and a location code. I return with a signal report and a location code. He calls for contacts. The whole exchange went something like this:

CQ CQ CQ Kilo Charlie 5 Hotel November Hotel CQ Contest…. (He’s asking for contacts using his call sign KC5HNH spelled phonetically)

Kilo 7 Oscar Juliet Lima…. (I answer with my call sign, K7OJL spelled phonetically)

Kilo 7 Oscar Juliet Lima … Five by Nine Zero Seven… (my signal good and strong and he’s in zone 7)

QSL QSL Five Nine Zero Six… (Acknowledged the report, his signal is good and strong, I’m in zone 6)

Kilo Charlie 5 Hotel November Hotel QRZ… (He’s asking for contacts and going on to the next person)

I wrote him down in the log and started tuning around the band. Lots of people looking for contacts. So far today I’ve made 25 contacts. Some in the United States, but others in Germany, Sweden, Croatia, Brazil, Italy, Northern Ireland, Russia, and Latvia.

So, I’m going to post this and turn the radio back on. I should be hearing folks from Asia….

This is fun!

I really like air shows. I like airplane museums. I like just about anything having to do with airplanes. Consequently, when the decision was made about six months ago to put together a Pocatello Airport Appreciation Day evening, I wanted to somehow be part of that activity. Planning meetings were being held monthly up through May and are now being held weekly and I’m in attendance for the meetings. My contribution will be to arrange for the printing of some signs to help people find their way around the displays at the event.

One of the most exciting activities will be incredibly inexpensive airplane and helicopter rides … including free rides for young people 8 – 18 years of age. I’l hoping that a lot of people take advantage of this opportunity.

TTFN!

I had my weekly Veterans Administration weight management class today. The process is that I check in at the front desk and then wait for someone to call the class participants. The past two weeks I’ve been the only participant here in Pocatello. We go through the magic door (that separates the workers from the waiters) and get weighed. The fellow handling the class setup records the weight and then we (actually, I) go into a conference room where the facilitator sets up a video conference call with the VA conference room in Salt Lake City. There are three sites participating in the video conference, Salt Lake, Orem, and Pocatello.

The meeting lasts for an hour. Today’s topic was reading food labels and how to use the information on the label. So far I haven’t really learned anything new from these meetings, just reinforcement of what I already knew. Today there was a new participant (even though this was week 4 of the six, or is it eight?, week session). He had to comment on *everything* which caused the instructor not to be able to get through all the material she had planned.

There’s lots of things I don’t like about this whole setup, including that observation above on the new guy. However, it is causing me to do some things that will probably be helpful, such as keeping a food record and looking at how many calories I’m actually eating.

However, at the weigh-in today, I gained weight from last week. Definitely didn’t expect that! I had an appointment yesterday with my primary car doctor and according to their scale I had lost 10 pounds since the previous weigh-in at the VA clinic. So, these scales are definitely weighing differently! I think I’ll need to drag out our scales and use them once a week to see how I’m progressing.

TTFN!