Do You Know the Way to Ibapah?

We didn't. In fact, we had never even heard of Ibapah, Utah. But we found out. We left the glitz of Wendover, Nevada and headed out on the West Desert towards Ely. We almost missed the turn that would take us back into Utah and thirty more miles to a mere bump in the road called Ibapah. Funniest thing- right at the turn there was an overturned garbage can and more were here and there along the thirty mile stretch, looking every bit like it had been garbage collection day, but there were no real roads and certainly no houses anywhere along the road, or, for that matter, on the horizon. There were cows, however. (Technically speaking, they were cattle.) We had been warned about the cattle- like, watch out for the cattle as you come around a curve or over a hill. And, there was the story about the school bus driver who hit a black cow, lying in the middle of the warm road, in the pre-dawn darkness of the desert. We also heard the one about the principal hitting, perhaps, the same cow, at the same time of day. We're not sure which story was true, but the cows were there, right along the road. We did stop to say "Hi!"- after all, we want our Utah cows to be as happy as those California cows on the cheese commercials.
Turns out, we were heading along some pretty historic territory. At one point, we got out and read about the Pony Express route that cut right through the Ibapah Valley.

And, we met a real live Pony Express rider- she has the pictures to prove it. She's an Ibapahite (one who lives in Ibapah?) who rides in the Pony Express re-enactment each year and teaches 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at the Ibapah School. . . which brings us to the reason why we were out in the middle of the West Desert looking for Ibapah.

David and I are involved again in a testing job for the Federal Government. It's called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). It happens once every two years and is sometimes referred to as "The Nation's Report Card." Twenty thousand schools and one million 4th, 8th, and 12th grade students participate in NAEP each testing year and we have 19 of those 20 thousand schools to test this year. David is the Assessment Coordinator and I am an Assessment Administrator (test giver), but I help David with Pre-Assessment visits to each of the schools where we will be testing.

Ibapah is one of our schools, thus the visit. There are only three 4th grade students that will be tested, but we had to go out and make all the arrangements for the test. The Pony Express rider was the School Coordinator, as well as the 4th grade teacher. It really was an interesting visit. This teacher grew up on a ranch in the Ibapah Valley and still ranches with her husband and family in this remote little corner of the world, which borders on the Goshute Indian Reservation. There are only 3 classrooms in the tiny Ibapah school which educates children of local ranchers as well as some Goshute children.

The teacher had been teaching at the school for 20 years and obviously loved her job, the students, the valley, and her life. It was so refreshing to talk to her. She told us of her experiences riding her favorite horse in the Pony Express re-enactments and showed us a book that she and her students had written and illustrated commemorating her rides. She was excited to share a copy with us and it is a treasure!

What could have been an annoying "And why are we doing this?" experience turned out to be great little adventure. Next time, not only will we know the way to Ibapah and to beware of cows that may be hanging out around the bend, we actually look forward to returning to test the three students who will represent "the best of Ibapah!"

(Now that we've whetted your appetite to know more about Ibapah, check out the link on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibapah,_Utah to plan your next trip!)