Despite cell phones and a portable shower, riders on the Van Fleet Wagon Train have gained a keen appreciation of what earlier pioneers endured.

The wagon train's 1,400 mile trek is the same route the Mormons traveled from 1846 to 1857. Today, this trail is a part of the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail.

The first leg of the four-stage journey began in 2008 when riders traveled 30 days by horse and wagon from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

This year, riders will be on the road for five weeks covering 450 miles from Council Bluffs to Ogallala, Nebraska. “By horseback it's 450 miles. By car it's 390, but because we stay off the highways, it adds a little mileage,” said Danny Van Fleet, wagonmaster and scout for the Van Fleet Wagon Train.

The wagon train was going to travel 610 miles to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, this year; however, because of the popularity of the trail ride, numerous requests to make it possible to get time off work cut the trip, extending it another year.

Next year's ride will trail from Ogallala to Independence Rock, Wyoming; and in 2011, it will take them to their final destination of Salt Lake City.

“We have people here from 15 states. There's a spirit on this trail that attracts people and they stay with it,” Van Fleet said. “Two or three miles is the farthest we've ever got off the Mormon Trail. We keep picking up people as we go. We started with six or seven wagons the first day, then more wagons pull in each week. By the last week we'll have around 15 to 20. We had a young lady that went with us the first week and called back just about in tears. She misses it so much she wants to come back.”

Van Fleet, who does the wagon trains because of his love of entertaining people on horseback, says the initial challenge is the logistics.

“I go in the wintertime and lay out a trail and make the connections. The toughest part is leading these campers to the next campsite because I always take the back roads to these towns. I don't want to go out of our way with a horse any farther than we have to, but I don't want to travel the main trail which is the highway.

“Then you have to get help and excellent cooks, which we have. We also have music and comedy in the evenings by the campers – it's down to grass roots entertainment.”

No Junk Mail On The Trail

Frank Schulte of Mayo, Florida, says he's in the wagon train “for the long haul.”

“I like the whole atmosphere of the whole thing,” Schulte said with his wide cowboy grin. “It's laid back and run good; we're like one big family and they feed us good.”

The roughest part of the ride for Schulte has been the traffic when back roads weren't available. At certain times the train has had police escorts, such as when they were leaving Council Bluffs. Still, Schulte readily admits, “the pioneers had other challenges, but we're doing this in comfort – we're roughing it smoothly.”

Approximately 50 people were on the wagon train when they settled for the night at the Nance County Fairgrounds in Fullerton on June 3. The participants stay in motor homes, tents and even their cars, which they transport to their next destination around 7 a.m. the next morning. A van then brings them back to hook up their wagons and saddle their horses. “You get a lot better participation that way,” said Lefty Olson of Papillion, one of the chief cooks on the ride. “For somebody that's not used to it, you get out here and go 20 miles every day, that's tough on the body. Another advantage of the ride is you don't get much junk mail out here,” he laughs.

For Lefty and co-cook Darryl Monhan of Wynona, Minnesota, the day begins at 4:30 a.m. and by 6 a.m. they have a breakfast buffet on the table, one of their specialties being the “mountain man breakfast.” Stops are made when necessary at local grocery stores.

Another camp cook, Rich Newhall of Waterloo, Iowa, was persuaded to come along with his motor home after the wagonmaster learned he knew how to cook with dutch ovens. The cooks have four supply trailers which include two freezers in case of long distances between stores.

“They say we bring everything but the kitchen sink, but we brought it,” Rich laughed as he pointed to a portable sink in his trailer.

Rich also took his personal horse trailer and rigged up a shower with a 12-volt water system. “We were camped in a city park and a mom and her two girls were out looking for a hydrant at 11 o'clock at night so they could wash their hair. I thought I could do something about that.”

So Rich turned his horse trailer into a shower trailer. “It's all modular so I can go back home and turn it back into a horse trailer.”

Comparing this trip to the one made by the pioneers, Rich adds: “It's amazing how the first Mormons came across as well as other pioneers. It took them a year to get across what is Iowa now. It's been said the Mormon trail is the longest grave yard in the world. What we can drive in a day took them weeks to accomplish.”

One Day At A Time

Leon Wilkinson, a retired educator from Bloomfield, Iowa, made the trip from Nauvoo last year and joined the train again this year. “It really makes you appreciate some of the things they went through. Although if something goes wrong we can call AAA or a doctor.”

“What gets in your blood is the people,” said Paul Fuchs of New Martinsville, West Virginia. On their trip last year, Paul and Jane Fuchs met Clair and Brenda Christensen and their seven children of Spanish Fork, Utah. It didn't take long for the Christensen children to adopt the Fuchs couple as grandparents. Now they keep in touch weekly by web cam when they're back home.

When Paul was getting a new horse team ready to come on their second trip, his border collie spooked the team, and team and wagon went over a bank. The Amish rebuilt the wagon and his neighbor lent him a team of mules. “I was a little hesitant at first,” Paul said, “but I'm kind of a mule man now.”

The trail ride brings back mellow memories for Paul, whose dad used to farm with horses. “I can remember when Dad would be coming in from the field with the work horses. I'd run out and try to ride them to the farm. The horses would be all sweaty, but you didn't mind. You'd get up there and get a ride.”

So far, this year's ride has fared easier than last year's rain, floods and mud. “You get a sense of what they went through by traveling like this,” Paul added. “But when we lost our horse, they'd not only be losing horses, they'd be losing people. And they didn't know where their next meal was coming from. They had to hunt and provide for themselves. If a storm came up, they had no shelter. There was no basement to go to. It took a lot of determination and willpower just to get there.”

Paul said as he rides along the dirt roads he likes to let his mind relax and wander back and imagine how it would be without any roads, dealing with ruts and crossing streams with no bridges. “You don't know what you're missing when you're in a car riding down the road. Out on the trail, you kind of disconnect from the world. You go a day at a time.”

Clair and Brenda Christensen's 16-year-old daughter was supposed to go back home to Utah during the trip for an FFA convention, but opted out so she could stay on the ride. “She loves it that much,” said her mom. The children noted they like everything but the “ticks” which they have to check for every night.

For Brenda, the trip offers a reality check from a different perspective. “As soon as we pulled out of the house, you realize you leave everything: your house, your extended family, your washer and dryer. But at least you have a change of clothes; they wore the same thing over and over.”

A Lifetime Opportunity

The wagon train is made up of about half Mormons who are reliving and recreating their history, while other folks that have horses and like to drive or ride and meet new people come for a weekend, a day, or a two-week vacation. They can eat with the other campers or fix their own meals.

Four of Marc and Annette Swantek's children from Genoa rode the train for a day from Genoa, Nebraska, to Fullerton, Nebraska, and called it “a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Twelve-year-old Philip said the best part was the ride. “I would definitely go again,” he said. Eight-year-old Kelsey liked meeting the people from the different states best and “watching how the horses hitched up.” Wagonmaster VanFleet noted some of the kids who rode switched to horseback. “They were grinning from ear to ear, tickled they could ride a horse. We went on back roads I picked out and riders (from Genoa) said it was so pretty. They live right in the area and had never been on them.”

On June 26, the campers will hang up their hats when the second leg of their journey ends.

It won't be easy.

“When the wagon train is over, you have a let down when you get home. A guy just called me from Kansas and said ‘I just can't keep my mind on work. I might just as well quit work and come back out, I'm just not functioning',” Van Fleet said.

“I enjoy watching people have fun, seeing the smiles on their faces and watching them and the bonds they form,” he adds. “This whole group will be locked together as a family unit for the rest of their lives.”

For more information on the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, log onto www.MormonTrails.com or www.VanFleetWagonTrain.com or call Danny Van Fleet at (309) 337-1100.