• Day 1 Wednesday July 5
• Day 2 Thursday July 6
• Day 3 Friday July 7
• Day 4 Saturday July 8
• Day 5 Sunday July 9
• Day 6 Monday July 10
• Day 7 Tuesday July 11
• Day 8 Wednesday July 12
• Day 9 Thursday July 13
• Day 10 Friday July 14
• Day 11 Saturday July 15
• Day 12 Sunday, July 16
• Day 13, Monday, July 17

   Our final trip preparations were ready. At about 1:30 a.m. we began assembling at Tabernacle, eager to start. Terrance Beard, Pastor Wright and Mrs. Wright began loading the bus, as other scouts began to arrive. Photos were taken for ID’s, and final arrangements were made. Each of us carried a black and white speckled journal in which we are to write our thoughts and observations. We were given about 40 vocabulary words and told to use them in our writings. They were big words like: "Microcosm","macrocosm","delicate","abolish","eradicate","hypothesis","fragile","hilarious" and a whole lot more that we are required to use. Pastor Wright said we should learn as many words as we can and used them. There would be much to write about, and at 3:20 a.m. our incredible journey began.

    We slept through the first 300 miles of the journey. Mr. Fred Mitchell, our assistant scoutmaster, noticed that our bus was leaking water, so we stopped in Dallas, Texas, found a repair shop and waited as repairmen repaired the leak. It was a delicate and skilled task that required more mechanical skills than our drivers knew.  While the repairmen worked on our bus, another tour bus was chartered to take us to Chandler, Oklahoma. We rode on a huge bus that the driver said, cost $350,000.  It was smooth and comfortable. Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Freddie Perkins stayed behind to bring the bus to us tomorrow, once it is completed. The delay caused us to miss our “Star Party” tonight in Oklahoma City.

     We arrived at the Read Ranch in Chandler in the dark. It was nearly 10 p.m. The area was dark and some of the boys were startled when they saw buffalos roaming the open field. The presence of the buffalos, dispelled every hypothesis we had about buffalo.  The four buffalos we saw were just a microcosm of the millions that must have existed, roaming the Western ranges. If they were a simple microcosmic snapshot of the predators that roamed the prairie, the macrocosm must have been even greater. The screams of surprise, mixed with fear, when we saw the buffalo, would have been hilarious, were it not for the fact that some  actually feared that the animals would attack them.

At Read Ranch Traylane Wilhite writes in his journal

   We were taken to three small cabins where we quickly set up one tent and bunked out in the cabins. The cabins were fragile, crude buildings, but they were secure. They had bare mattresses were perched upon wooden platforms that substituted for bedsteads. There was an air conditioner in each of them. There were also two small windows and a small electric heater that is used to warm the tiny rooms on chilly nights. Two bunks were on the bottom and two others were at the top. An open area separated them, but we used it to place a mattress on the floor. We had to climb a ladder to reach them. The cabins were small, but they seemed even smaller because we crammed as many as 12 people in each of them. We bunked out on the floors and under bunks. 
      Our Junior Explorers (females) occupied one of the cabins. They peeled potatoes and fried fish on butane stoves. At midnight the smell of fish and homemade fries filled the air. We ate a midnight snack that was delicious, cleaned up and prepared for the night. The boys were assigned to walk the dark trails to bring back water and secure tents and the area.
      The sky was clear. Many of the scouts pointed out the North Star, Big Dipper, Little Dipper and other constellations as they studied the clear Oklahoma skies. The stars seemed to wink silently at us as we stared at them, like so many dots to be connected, then shaped into one constellation or another.

Katrina Patterson wrote:

   “When we made it to Read Ranch in Oklahoma, I was happy until Pastor Wright told us (the girls) that we had to peel potatoes. I think he was just exploiting our presence, even though that was kind of our job. I sort of felt like an Indian woman, but without a papoose. I think that women, especially Indian women should get a standing ovation because what they had to do was very hard and not normal to me.”

       Despite the fact the cabins could provide us with immediate housing and a sense of security, some of us were punished for a variety of youthful indiscretions that ranged from impertinence, lax behavior, and immature actions, to  unacceptable communications. Some of us had considerable friction between us. Despite efforts to mediate our childlike differences we ended up outside the bunkhouses, sleeping under the stars. Two boys clashed over a minor issue and were ordered to hug each other for two hours. The friction between them and their frequent clashes prompted the action which was intended to help build character, eradicate bad behavior and help them to understand the fragile nature of human life and friendship. 
       For some of the youth, the wilderness look of the Read Ranch was overwhelming. They were frightened to learn that the shower house was nearly a half mile up a dark road. They had visions of buffalo attacking them. Those assigned to collect water for the site insisted on going in a large group of eight or more. It was a strange sight, watching eight boys walk a half mile to bring back one jug of water. 
       The girls locked themselves inside their cabin and huddled under their covers. Before they could fall into a deep sleep the buffalos came to visit the site. The potatoes and fish aroma drew them to the site. They exploited our inability to secure food items out of their reach and invaded our area. They turned over pots and pans, sifted through trash and gobbled up left over food items which were left unsecured around the cabin. As they left, the girls cabin area was in a shambles. No one was injured or in any danger, but everyone kept a sharp eye out for the buffalo, which never returned, but they were they seen again.

      The still of the night carried its own sounds. Some boys shivered in their blankets at the sound of owls and a coyote. 

    Nathan Jones wrote:

    “I am looking at the stars and flyswatting mosquitoes. It was not a great accomplishment of mine but I did get a kick out of my shelter for the night...the mosquitoes itched.”

     As the night progressed, latent fears were revived.  Some had nightmares like Robert Tanzy, Jr. who mumbled in his sleep about spiders and tigers coming to eat him. Slowly the night dragged its erie silence across the scouts as they dozed off into a deep sleep at about 3 a.m. to close out Day 1 of the Yellowstone Tour!