Jon & Carla's Great Divide Mountain Bike Adventure
2006
(or, Two Tails on the Trail)

In 1998, we rode across the United States from Oregon to Virgina with our children, Jodie, age 15 and Todd, age 12.  Read about our trip using the links below.  Now  the kids have grown up and left home, so we we are taking the dogs.  This time it's a mountain bike trip through the Rocky Mountains, roughly following the continental divide, called the Great Divide route, mapped by Adventure Cycling.  We are driving  from our home in Gaylord, MI on July 29th for our starting point in Rooseville, MT, on the Canadian border.  From there we will travel roughly  2470 miles to our destination of Antelope Wells, NM, on the Mexican border.  The route will be about  85% dirt and gravel roads, 10% pavement and 5% singletrack trails.  We will carry all of our gear for camping in two "BOB" trailers, plus panniers.  We hope to average about 40 miles a day and have three months to complete the trip.   Lander and Afton, our English Cockers will run about 20 miles per day and ride in the trailers the rest of the time.  We will experience wilderness, scenery and wildlife.  There will be many hard times, but many exhilerating moments as well.  Why do we do this?  Because God has given us a wonderful country and this is the best way to be thankful for it.   

We will be posting blogs as often as we can get on the internet at a library.  Check in frequently to see how we are doing.  Feel free to post a comment as well.  We'd love to share our trip with you.

Jon and Carla Elenz,
Lander and Afton (aka, Two Tails)                      
 

PHOTOS  We will be posting photos periodically from the road.  Check back often.  Be sure to scroll to the bottom for the latest ones.

FAQ Everything you've always wanted
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ARTICLES ABOUT US
Summit Daily News article

Willie's Handcart

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This entry was posted on 9/6/2006 1:02 PM and is filed under uncategorized.

Hey, this is a time for our readers to update us.  Our map shows a side trip to visit the place of a tragedy of "Willie's Handcart" on the Mormon Pioneer Trail.  This was an eight mile side trip on a long day in the Great Divide Basin area.  Please search the web and respond back to this blog via the comment section.  Thanks in advance.

Jon
 
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    • 9/14/2006 7:35 PM Dick & Jan wrote:
      Hi Jon & Carla - well, nobody has answered you so I'll try to answer your question. In 1849-1855, approx. 16,000 European Latter-Day Saints (or Mormons) traveled from Europe by ship to either New York or Boston, then eventually to Utah by oxen or horse wagons. In 1855 the funds declined and oxen and horse wagons were not affordable so the LDS people designed "handcarts" to be pulled or pushed by the poorer Mormons. Nearly 3000 Mormons made the journey in 10 "handcart companies". For two of them, the Willie (James G. Willie)and Martin (Edward Martin) handcart companies met with disaster after starting late in the season and were caught by heavy snow and bitter temperatures in the Rocky Mtn's of central Wyoming. These companies were the 4th and 5th to depart on the journey. More than 210 of the 980 pioneers in the 2 companies perished - 68 in the Willie company.
      Apparently, the place or site you talk about is the area where the majority of the Willie company lost their lives and a commemmorative statue of some kind is placed there.
      There - you're more educated!!!!
      Glad your trip is going good - the stretch thru the "basin" sounded interesting and probably has a beauty of its own!
      Hope this finds all 4 of you well - God Speed and Take Care.
      Reply to this
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