So far!

These are a few things I've loved on the trip so far.

End of day seven

But to go back to Tuesday morning. . . went to the Nauvoo temple. Highlight of the trip, for real! Love that place. Left about midmorning for Bethany, MO. Hours in the car across north Missouri, woods, pasture, farms, sheep and plenty of rain. Cold overnight.



Up and out Wednesday morning Kent in shorts and freezing to Adam-ondi-Ahman, Far West, Liberty, and finally, Independence.

Like being in the temple to stand on these grounds.



Clouds, oh and barns, lots of barns in this state. Journeying to Far West. Got lost, even Tom Tom couldn't rescue us. Both Adam-ondi-Ahman and Far West are off the beaten path, little country roads in virtually the heart of Missouri. Finally found our way . . . only a church sign, the four corner stones of the temple on a grassy lot and a memorial, and restrooms. It poured rain. Stayed short and left fast, heading for Liberty jail south.





Couldn't resist the rose.



Front of the visitors center in Liberty, MO.



Truly memorable. Joseph, Hyrum and three others were kept in this underground lightless dungeon on false charges for four months. December 1 through April 6 - one of the coldest winters on record in the state. Cold enough for the Missouri River to freeze and the Saints to cross in their wagons heading east to Nauvoo, being driven at that time from Missouri. Emma carried or led four children the day she crossed, hiding records in her skirt, walking for fear any wagon she might ride in would break the ice. A dangerous act and remarkable faith.We sat in total darkenss in the jail a while before the tour ended. I was grateful for a even the tiniest of lights minutes later, and realized for maybe the first time ever some of what it cost Joseph and the others to be in the dark. I have no idea how they endured the cold, nor can I comprehend the other things they suffered. I learned here that Joseph was blessed with wonderful revelations from the Lord who, among other things, comforted him.



That was yesterday. Had a full day today and have pics, but way too tired to post! Tomorrow.

What day is it now?

Too pooped to post yesterday. Did you have a good Memorial Day? Grill out, or party? We had a busy one - started early, real early out driving around the flats by the river.



Too early for the site missionaries to be at their posts in costume at the restored houses, etc., so we went to the Visitors Center and saw the film Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration. I think that's the name - anyway, the one playing at the Legacy Theater in SL. It's here! Well that was a mistake; not seeing the film, but crying like a baby over it so early in the day. My face was puffy the whole rest of it. It was so humid and windy during the morning that after a while of walking up and down town I threw my frizzies up in a clip, and bare-faced and freckled and curl-free, I was fabulous, right?!!!

Couldn't resist - on the grounds of the Visitors Center.



Strolling Mulholland.



Where's Waldo? (See me?)

Behind the Mercantile.



After lunch we went to Land and Records and found where Joseph Holbrook and Perrigrine Sessions (friends in Nauvoo and later neighbors in Bountiful, UT) each owned property here between 1841 and 1846. We had plot maps and other genealogy documents burned to a CD then drove right to the Sessions property.



On the Lucy Mack Smith property.



Pulpit of the Seventies Hall.



Dinner at Hotel Nauvoo.



The temple last night.

Day three

We heard yesterday there is a separate missionary ward in Nauvoo; 400 missionaries are here, sisters and elders, senior couples, senior sister companions, temple missionaries, and performing missionaries, younger than 19 in some cases. We arrived 10 minutes before 8:00 this morning for Sacrament meeting at the Nauvoo Stake Center - the building was full. An usher near the chapel door snugged us into the end of a row right in the chapel - otherwise, we would've been at the back of the cultural hall. The stand held 60 or 70 senior members comprising the Temple Missionary choir, which sang midway through the service. Sacrament meeting was normal except there were no children, Nauvoo has two family wards and visiting families go to their meetings; the sacrament itself was passed by 10 missionaries; there were five adult speakers; the choir was awesome and the singing in general hearty, and in parts; and there were 800 people present. Much was said about "old Nauvoo," which brought tears to my eyes. Kent's too. And more, of Jesus Christ, and you know me. I cried. I wrote notes: "testimony of the Savior comes of knowledge, activity and study, and the spirit," which I believe, and was well-stated by Sister Stewart, the first speaker. It went like this the whole meeting, and five minutes overtime.

We came back to the hotel and ate lunch at 10:00 seeing how we ate breakfast at 6:30, then drove to Carthage. 22 miles from Nauvoo southeast we saw the water tower,



then shortly the church-owned property where sits the old Carthage Jail. By now surrounded by a visitors center and memorials with inscriptions and a sculpture of Joseph and Hyrum and bench seating and large shade trees, it's cared for and peaceful. About a city block is the property, so the regular city of Carthage encroaches on all sides - the property is a sanctuary. I've been here two other times, but Kent hasn't so the tour was for him really.





I wasn't prepared for how moved I'd be to hear the history and stories repeated, and again stand in the upper room of the jail, in 1844 the jail guard's own bedroom where Joseph and Hyrum, his brother, and two others were incarcerated. They had been brought on horseback from Nauvoo to Carthage two days earlier on charges of destroying an anti-Mormon press, charges they'd been acquitted of twice previously in court; but now jailed in Carthage, treason charges were trumped up. I shut my eyes as the audio tape in the little room reconstructed events on June 27th: John Taylor singing as afternoon became oppressive; Joseph writing a last communication to Emma and their children; sounds of men and threats and gunfire and Joseph's and Hyrum's deaths by gunshot, Joseph plunging from the window to the ground below near the well. The mob scattering, leaving John Taylor wounded under the bed and Willard Richards unhurt and shocked and a witness. Kent and I were almost last to leave after gazing out the window to where Joseph fell. I love this picture from the outside.



Our hotel in Nauvoo is up Mulholland several blocks from the bluff the temple sits on and the flats below it, the area where all of restored (or historic) Nauvoo sits. Back from Carthage, we napped a couple of hours then about 5:00 drove down onto Parley Street leading toward the river, a quarter of a mile of which is called the Trail of Hope. Parley is the corridor the saints used fleeing the city in February, 1846, mobs whipping up a furor behind them. Along the Trail of Hope the Nauvoo restoration committee has placed markers every 25 to 30 feet or so inscripted with journal entries or comments of some fleeing the city. Heart rending and insightful and in even hopeful and challenging. With the sun warm and setting and breezes blowing on us, Kent and I walked the trail this afternoon reading these quotes, holding hands and talking about our great-great-grandfathers Joseph and Perrigrine who doubtless walked here. Talking about the spirit of these people - we saw open fields, the amazing river bottoms farmland; acreage dotted with homes and workshops and mercantiles the saints built, restored to scale and style; the temple spire with angel Moroni atop facing west and glinting in the sun; the river in three directions around us; a perfect day. We're so blessed and this is breathtaking.

Day two

Awake at 6:00, grabbed Kent for a pic


Lunch


Across KY to southern IL. North then west to St. Louis, MO. Crossing over.


Uh, yeah.


Snack time


BACK to IL. Don't ask. Tom-Tom's driving.


Miles later, the Great River Road; Mississippi river on the left . . .


See? Nauvoo's around a bend.


Sunset on the Mississippi

Steve the IT guy is my best friend

11:30 this morning Kent calls and says Steve the IT guy from work will try to fix my laptop while we're gone (reformatting the hard drive, installing the OS) and we can borrow an old laptop from work. YAY! So we're in Cadiz, KY, and it's bedtime and I'm online. Pics not "fixed" - no way, no Photoshop that's on the dead laptop, right - kind of shaky and taken through a buggy windshield.

Out of Georgia into Tennessee




Small mountains and steep grades; pretty, huh


Rolling farmlands


Amazing skyscapes, even some rain


Nashville, through the back window in a hurry


The last hour, over the state line into Kentucky.

Pooped. Eight hours in the car, with a stop at IHOP for dinner. All you can eat pancakes in Dalton, GA.