CRATERS OF THE MOON EXPEDTION!

Want to know where you can experience terrain resembling the moon's terrain, but never leave Planet Earth?  Visit Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho!

The invitation to "EXPLORE THE MOON" will be a definite eye-catcher to youngsters interested in becoming astronauts!
On one of my many solo driving trips Out West, my PLANS did not have a particular deadline for returning to Arkansas, so I took the time to make a short detour off the Interstate, to visit Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (www.nps.gov).  I knew nothing about the park (except for a scene I remembered from a movie), so I was thankful to be able to read about it, on one of the bulletin boards available to visitors (photo above).  A picture of the current visitor center is shown below:

 

The first cinder cone I climbed, provided the opportunity to get a wider view of the surrounding landscape, as shown in photo below: 

The park is huge, comprising 750,000 acres, of rugged volcanic landscape, amounting to 11 square miles.  

One can get a sense of the height of the cinder cone I climbed, by noticing how small the cars look, in the parking lot at the bottom.  One can PLAN in advance, to know the elevation change, from bottom to top, by studying the park information at the visitor center.  

With an advance PLAN, you can calculate your total mileage walked from the parking lot to the top, and back down again.  

The only trail marking on the ascent, is the pressed down cinders, from hundreds of visitors making the trek to the summit.  

To help frame a photo of the surrounding landscape, I eventually found a tree limb, to place in the top of the composition.  The black areas of the foreground and in the valley, show the extent of the lava flow, that helped create the park.  It was a result of The Great Rift, which is a 52 mile long fissure in the earth's crust, that developed over 15,000 years ago.  

This is a photo of me by the aforementioned tree, where I had used one of its limbs, as a "frame".  The tree has to be a hardy specimen, to survive the harsh growing conditions on the top of a cinder cone!  Likewise, I was feeling like a "hardy specimen", because I had successfully made the climb to the summit!  So, of course, I wanted a photo to prove it!

I set my camera on "automatic" so I could get a view of the other side of the summit, from the previous photo.  I also took a photo that showed the 7-mile loop road that visitors can drive through, but it does not show up in the photo.  

I was not the only one who wanted a photo at the summit, to commemorate the accomplishment!  This couple also wanted proof of their summit location!

I took the photo below, of a couple shielding themselves from the hot sun, by using an umbrella!  They obviously established their PLAN to prevent sunburn, before they started their walk!

The reason I capitalized the word "PLAN" in these paragraphs, is because I am using these photos as a visual aid, to help me learn one of my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com) memory verses that says, "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your PLANS."  (Proverbs 16:3)  Although my original PLAN only called for visiting relatives in Oregon, when I realized I was retracing the wagon wheels of pioneers on the Goodale's Cut-Off section, of The Oregon Trail, (www.OregonTrail.org), I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about the hardships they experienced.  I had visited one of my elderly cousins who lived in Dairy, Oregon, and he was a wheelwright, who repaired wagon wheels.  I had read that the volcanic stone of this part of the trail was extremely wearing on wagon wheels, and resulted in many abandoned PLANS, so I can imagine someone who knew how to make and repair wagon wheels would have been very important! 

I am thankful that the LORD established a PLAN for me to be able to visit Craters of the Moon, because the experience gave me a visual aid for a wisdom Bible verse, and "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia 

Covered Wagon Expedition

The report that follows was written by my mother about twenty-five years ago, to go along with the picture above. The occasion was for her grandson (named Grover) to have something for a "Show and Tell" class in elementary school. The story is about my mother's father (also named Grover) and his wife, Effie. She wrote it as if it were the young Grover telling the story to his classmates as he held up the painting shown above: "Grandmother, at the age of 4, traveled in a covered wagon to Oklahoma to a farming country near Fort Sill. The family (consisting of her, her mother, and her father) was all that was on the long trip. They had their belongings and what they would need for camping along the way. A team of horses was used to pull the covered wagon that transported them. It took 17 days to make the trip from Lead Hill, Arkansas. Among their belongings were 16 head of mules. My great grandfather said that at night when they camped, he would tie the team of horses out to graze the green grasses. In the early mornings when they would start to travel again, all the mules would follow the wagon. When they would pass through a town, the mules would all get very close to the wagon for protection. No mules were lost. One night at camp, my grandmother and my great grandmother laid their hats on the coupling pole (or wagon tail) for the night. The next morning, they left camp really early, and forgot about the hats hanging on the back of the covered wagon. Needless to say, the hats were lost. The family came back to Arkansas by another mode of travel within the next two years." I am very thankful my mother wrote out this account, because it gives a little glimpse of what life was like in rural Arkansas in 1919. It is a reminder to me that what we call "hard times" today, dims in comparison to the hardships of life that our ancestors experienced. As far back as I can remember, anytime I was going to be traveling in Oklahoma, mother would tell me to keep a lookout for that hat she lost---Sooooo, if you ever see an old hat blowing like a tumbleweed across the fields, remember this story! Miles of smiles! Tricia
ADDENDUM:  I recently had the opportunity to travel along two historic pioneer trails, and observed two items that reminded me of my mother's story about traveling by covered wagon with her parents.  The first was a mural in the town of Hines, Oregon, in Southern Oregon, that had a mural reflecting its location on the Oregon Trail.  Since it showed a mother and daughter in bonnets, I thought of my mother and grandmother, wearing their bonnets!

The other item I saw was in Lamar, Kansas, along the historic Santa Fe Trail.  It was a statue called "The Madonna of the Trail", of a pioneer mother---facing the unknown with her children.  She was wearing a bonnet, as well!

I am thankful for these reminders of the hardships our ancestors overcame when they were pioneers in this country called the United States of America.  Remembering their perseverance, gives me "Miles of Smiles"!  Tricia