We decided that this Spring Break, we'd change all that and go look at some church history sights. After all, we're only 1 long day's drive from Nauvoo.
Kyle got the Friday before Spring Break off of work, so we thought we'd leave on Thursday afternoon and drive at least part way. But when Thursday morning came around, Kyle was sick and throwing up with some sort of flu. Friday morning at 6:00 he still sounded a bit sick so I figured the whole thing was off and went in to work.
At 10:30, Kyle called and said he was feeling better and wanted to go. I hopped in the card and drove home. Packed some quick clothes (actually Nan had packed for me). We threw some stuff in the car and were on the road just after 11:30.
If you've never had the "fun" of driving across Kansas, let me summarize the drive for you. "Oh look, another farm and big flat fields". Repeat that about 800 times and you've driven across Kansas.
We arrived in Kansas city by 8:30 (central time). We asked Jill to find us a nearby hotel. Jill is our Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS. She never tells me to pull over and ask directions, or tells me to take out the trash. Jill obligingly took us 4 miles into the city to a nice hotel. The lady at the desk ponted us to a BBQ place across the street for dinner.
It was a bit late by this time and the BBQ was a bit dry, but it was still great. It was strange to be in a state that still had smoking in restaurants.
Saturday morning we grabbed some doughnuts from a gas station and headed North to Liberty jail. The jail had fallen down long ago and someone built a house on the spot. They kept the basement, and eventually the church bought the home to use as a mission home. Eventually the church tore down the home and built a visitor's center and rebuilt a large portion of the jail from measurements that had been made.
This was the favorite place of our whole visit. After the Sister Missionaries had finished their presentation, we were left to sit and think. I could imagine the long hours, the cold, and the frustration that Joseph must have felt in that place. I thought of the feelings of helplessness and abandonment he felt when he wrote:
O GOD, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?
And of course, the lord's gentle reply
My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment.
I found myself in tears thinking of the small petty things in my life that I consider adversity.
After we left Liberty Jail, we tried to decide between heading to Far West, or to Independence. We decided to try Far West. It was only 30 miles north. The only thing we found there was a book store. We didn't find the temple corner stone or any other markers.
By now it was nearly noon and we decided to go ahead and try to Nauvoo. It was another 5 hour drive across Missouri. We stopped in Keokuk Iowa to get a hotel, then drove over the Mississippi and up to nauvoo. We arrived after 6:30 and didn't see any of the visitor's centers open. So we drove around town a bit then headed across back to Iowa for pizza.
Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and went back to Nauvoo. The visitor center opened at 10:30. We looked around at the maps and watched a few videos. Then we went out to look at the bronze statues commemorating women.
At 12:00 we headed over to Carthage. The visitor's center there opened at 12:30. We went through the tour with 8 other people. This was Kyle's favorite part of the trip. We walked through the kitchen and family room, then up stairs to the cell room with a free standing steel cage. Then finally into the master bedroom where the prophet was killed.
The hole from the bullet that killed Hyram is still in the door, but all other evidence has been removed. We sat and listened to an account of the events and then sat for a time to contemplate the events.
It snowed on and off as we headed back to Nauvoo from Carthage. The drive west to the river is fairly plain, but the drive up the side of the Mississippi to Nauvoo is very pretty even now without leaves on the trees. I'm sure that in the summer it will be spectacular.
We arrived in Nauvoo at about 2:30 and began touring some of the homes there. One couple told us that on Weekdays, they work in seperate locations, but on weekends, husbands and wives work together, so sometimes the wife was the one who know everything about the home, and sometimes it was the husband. One brother gave us the whole history of the house in the first room before his wife had a chance to take us to the places where the information was relevant. It was funny to hear her scold him to slow down.
We saw the print shop and read some of the news papers from back then. Then we went to the Brick factory and even got a genuine Nauvoo brick to take home with us. Then the Browning home and gunsmith where the world famous Browning guns began. We saw several homes including the home of Lucy Mac Smith and John Taylor.
The last thing we saw was the blacksmith shop. They explained what all had to happen when the pioneers decided to leave Nauvoo all at once. For the first time, they created wagons with interchangable parts so that every 5th wagon could carry a spare wheel. They shut down all the brick kilns so that they could use them to dry out hardwoods. Everyone took wood home and cut out basic patterns for spokes and wheel segments. It was the first and only time that an entire community gathered up and moved all at once.
The last of the Nauvoo sites closed at 5:30 so we headed back towards Colorado. We headed South down the Illinois side of the river, then crossed the Mississippi right at Hannibal Missouri. We had dinner at the Mark Twain Cafe. Kyle got some spicy catfish nuggets that he said were fantastic. I got chicken fried steak and it was pretty good too.
We spent the night about 200 miles into Missouri. Monday morning we drove toAdam-ondi-Ahman and looked at the various hills and valleys.
Next we tried to find Hauns Mill. We only had a couple of tourist maps with no real detail. But finally Kyle said we should go North on Catawba road. It was a small dirt road and seemed to be going nowhere. I finally stopped and turns West on Highway F to just for Nebraska. When we got back on a main highway we stopped for lunch and I used my PDA to look up directions to Hauns Mill. As I read, "Go East on Highway F" and Kyle said "You mean where we just came from?". Then I read "Go North 2.2 Miles on Catawba Road" and Kyle said "You mean where I told you to go?". I didn't hit him, but I felt like it.
We drove to Omaha Nebraska to visit the Poineer Center by the Omaha Temple. We watched a film about the pioneers crossing Iowa and camping at Winter Quarters. They had a full size replica of the cabins that were built for the winter.
We left Omaha at 5:00pm and decided to drive till we got tired. By 10:00 we were entering Colorado and just decided to go on home. We arrived at 1:00am.
We drove just over 2,000 miles in 3 1/2 days.
Kyle and I leaving our hotel in Kansas City
Kyle by the Liberty Jail reconstruction
Me by the Libery Jail reconstruction
We had to wait 20 minutes on a draw bridge while this barge came through
Kyle in the Nauvoo visitor center
The statue of Joseph and Emma by the visitor's center
The statue of Joseph and Hyram
Kyle by the jail cell in Carthage Jail
The Carthage jail & the window Joseph fell out of
Kyle and a missionary couple in the Print shop
The view West from the front of the Nauvoo Temple
Looking out across Adam-ondi-Ahman valley
Kyle having lunch and mouthing off to me about not followng his directions
