Front Sight

June 19^th

Several days have passed since my last post. After leaving New Mexico we headed to Pahrump, Nevada for Frontsight. Ahh, what a fun place, also known as Shoot-Em-Up-Camp by the kids. Matthew and I took a 2 day handgun class and Ashton and Cameron did the 2 day wilderness/survival camp. It is always a great opportunity to work on safety and skills and have a great time with the family. The only down side was the heat. The first day was hot but there was a nice breeze on the range most of the day. However, the second day was true summer in the desert. Little to no breeze and over 100 degrees did not make for a relaxing day. The day was intense for Matt and I as we entered the “Shoot House” to defend our family. Leading up to that point I had been experiencing diminishing returns on my efforts. Thanks to great instructors and a few minutes out of the sun I was able to eliminate the threats and rescue the hostage. That was a great way to end the training. I still hear “line is set, ready, fire” in my sleep. Oh well, worse things could be running through my head.

The kids were sad they could not stay for the 4 day camp. Cameron even met a few children that live there on site with their family and have parents who are instructors. Hard to imagine raising children out there. Truly makes me grateful for where we live. If I forgot to mention it, I love air conditioning. Even the water out of the faucets was hot. There are just times you can’t escape the heat and dust.

I think my favorite part was stepping over to the range next to mine and watching Cameron and Ashton get a chance to shoot an Uzi. Cameron was the brave one and decided to do a full standing pose and emptied her magazine. She was slightly disappointed when the instructor said it was someone else’s turn. Ashton was not quite as brave and opted to have the instructor hold the weapon for him. The photos don’t capture the fun they were having but it was still great to get to watch them.

We returned to the RV Resort and regrouped on Sunday to plan the next leg of our trip. From Pahrump we headed north to St. George, Utah. After a quick stop and dinner we continued on toward Provo, Utah for the night. Once we made it to Provo we bedded down for the night and enjoyed a cool evening. That was a great relief from the heat. The next day was about 82 degrees and breezy. Matthew had been battling a sinus and respiratory infection so we found a local Urgent Care near BYU and headed in for a quick visit. A couple of hours later and a prescription from the pharmacy and we were headed to campus to pick up a t-shirt and enjoy some BYU Creamery ice cream.

Cameron had a chance to see the younger youth who were on campus attending various sports camps and EFY. It was nice to see her get excited and really see the joy of college. She said she could see herself at school there one day. The thing she noticed most prominently was how the students were dressed modestly. She even commented on how nice it would be to go to school somewhere that you were not the minority for dressing appropriate and not to worry about that.

From Provo we headed up toward Montpelier Creek KOA in Idaho. The route was very rural but amazingly beautiful. The roads were terrible at best and I am surprised there is a screw left in the RV that did not wiggle out. In fact we did lose a couple of drawer mounts due to all the shaking and banging. Thank goodness for Matthew and his handy dandy tool box. The wide open spaces and beautiful  land made me understand why people are willing to live out in the middle of nowhere. Our past visits to Utah and Nevada have always been in the winter so we have not had the chance to see the beautiful spring and summer in bloom. It is a sight that you will never forget.

As we left Utah and headed to Montpelier we crossed the Utah/Wyoming border a few times before coming to the KOA in Idaho. The weather had definitely taken a favorable turn. It was breezy and cool. We woke up this morning to 39 degrees and a sunny morning. The campsite is truly the nicest facility we have been to so far. They had tee pee rentals and immaculate facilities. It was tempting to just stay here a few nights. Alas, we have our sights set on the mountains of Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

By noon we were winding our way through the small town of Geneva and heading through another small town known as Smoot which has a population of 100. We made a few scenic stops to take pictures of the breath taking views and stand amazed at how far you can see. The air is crisp and very cool. I think we may be a bit under dressed for this part of the adventure.

We are looking forward to settling in for a few days of fishing, rafting, joining the Chuck Wagon and going to a rodeo. Look out Jackson Hole, here come the Davis’. There will definitely be more to report and add once we arrive at our next stop. If the views there are anything compared to the ones we are seeing on the way, we are in for more wonder and amazement.