This post is bound to be as epic in length as the title would suggest. We took a long road trip recently across Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and into Illinois to visit my parents in Nauvoo, serving an 18 month mission for our church. We opted to drive (most of the family - Noble - who had a Cross Country race - flew out a few days later to meet us), and I admit that this worried me a little. The Expedition is showing its age and mileage, we have 6 kids that would be cooped up in that car for several days (one of them a high energy 4 year old), the DVD player in the car has been out of commission some time and
1200+ miles one-way is FAR. Three days before departure I panicked briefly and actually proposed going out last-minute and purchasing a new family car - so I'd feel a little better. Mike didn't even dignify my proposal with a serious response. I reminded myself that the pioneers did it in wagons and on foot, and we made sure to pray for safe travels.
We got an early start Monday morning because we had to make Lincoln, Nebraska by the end of the day where we had a hotel reservation. I had put together a 4-disc road trip mix to try to keep things fresh; we started our journey with Willie Nelson, "On the Road Again", mixed it up with some 311, Don Williams, Howard Jones, Jackson 5, George Strait, and Midnight Oil to name a few. So we had good music.
People complain about driving across the great plains, so I was repeatedly amazed at how much I thoroughly enjoyed it. Miles and miles of rolling farmland, with picturesque farm houses, monstrously huge combines harvesting corn, wind farms...everywhere you looked was productivity and fascinating things to see and think about. Also, gas stations in Nebraska are awesome...
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| Ha ha ha ha... |
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| FYI - the Sapp Bros in Ogallala is a bathroom DESTINATION. If you are ever on I-80 in Nebraska you MUST stop and use their bathrooms. I have never wanted to just stay and hang out at a rest stop until we stopped there. We enjoyed the bathrooms so much we shelled out a bunch of money on snacks and extras just out of appreciation for their bathrooms. Seriously. |
After a better-than-expected first day of travel we started day 2 in high spirits. The kids were actually excited to get back on the road. As we were heading into Omaha Mike asked if we could stop at the recording studio where 311 recorded their first album. Since we were there (how often are you in Omaha?), and the studio was not far off the freeway we decided to stop for a quick photo and pay our respects. Rainbow Recording Studio is an unassuming little place, if it weren't for the giant mural of a drum set on the side of the building we might have missed it. As we were snapping pictures out front a guy pulled into the parking lot and struck up a conversation. He turned out to be the proprietor, and asked if we'd had a tour yet. I hesitated, because he hadn't seen how many of us there were yet (most of the kids were still in the car). Mike asked if they could handle 7 of us, and Nels welcomed us without hesitation. Inside was a junk-man's paradise, floor to ceiling electronic components, old amps, boards, etc. He led us through the dusty stacks of stuff, past his office staff (a little old lady), commenting on the provenance of everything around us....
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| Mike out front |
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| Posing for a family picture with Nels |
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| Nels pointing out some of the 311 memorabilia |
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| And his pride and joy, an authentic hand made sound board used to record the Jackson 5 |
After bidding Nels goodbye, we struck out across the Missouri River and into Iowa. We stopped for lunch in Des Moines at a cheese and wine shop. That was Mike's call; he googled "best restaurant in Des Moines" and there you go. It was really good stuff, and I'm sure we were the most out-of-the-ordinary customers they'd had in a long time; they didn't really know what to do with us. ha ha..
We crossed the Mississippi about 5:00 PM, and pulled in to Mom and Dad's place shortly thereafter.
Mom and Dad's house is literally around the corner from the Nauvoo Temple and everything is so close. They decided to take us around to see a few things before the sun set on the Mississippi. It was a beautiful evening.
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| Looking out across the Mississippi and Iowa from the temple hill. Joseph and Hyrum Smith monument. |
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| Dad showing us around at the stables for the draft horses that pull the wagons around town. |
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| These horses are HUGE! |
The next morning the first thing we did was to take a wagon tour with my Dad. We saw a lot and learned a lot from that alone.
After our tour we stayed and chatted with Dad and the other teamster for a little while, and the kids spent time with Mick and Chad, these awesome horses.
We toured several homes and shops around town, walked the Trail of Hope (Parley's Street down to the river crossing where the Mormons lined up to leave town and cross the river when they were driven out), had a picnic lunch with my mom at the Red Brick Store, and attended a lecture by Susan Easton-Black about the Kirtland Safety Society that night.
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| Looking back toward the temple from Parley's Street / Trail of Hope |
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| Keeping Abner occupied during a tour |
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| Browning Gun Smith Shop |
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| We also found one of my secondary mom's growing up, Carol Orme, at the visitors center that evening. |
The next day my mom drove us out to Cantrill, Iowa to get some produce at the local Amish market, The Dutchman, and then out to meet her favorite Amish family at their in-home bakery.
As we arrived back in Nauvoo, Mike's brother Jim and his family were just pulling in with Noble. They had driven down from Michigan and picked Noble up at the airport in Chicago, and continued on to Nauvoo to spend the week with us. (You guys are AWESOME Jim and Tami! We love you!)
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| Melton cousins hanging out with Grandpa before a family Carriage Ride (it was just us & my mom!). This was so special! I hope the kids will remember Grandpa's testimony. |
In the afternoon Mike and Jim took the older kids to the temple, and later that night we had tickets to see Mom and Dad in "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo". A highlight for everyone, especially seeing my dad in a kick-line, straight-faced, just trying to get it over with. So much fun!
After the performance Mike and I went to listen to Susan Easton-Black again lecturing on the Missouri Extermination Order. Mom and Dad couldn't come with us because they had to stay for a second performance (in high demand), so Mike and I sat next to the Orme's -- I think Gil fell asleep briefly. ;)
The next morning Mike and I did a temple session with Jim and Tami. It was a very cool experience.
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The Brothers Melton with the Brothers Smith.
Mike is wearing an Amish shirt that we picked up at The Dutchman the day before since we'd forgotten to pack one for him. |
Later we drove the 20 miles to Carthage and toured the jail where Hyrum and Joseph Smith were killed. It was a reverent experience. One of the serendipitous things that happened on our trip was that the night before we happened to be reading D&C 135 in our family scripture study. It helped us be in the right frame of mind for seeing the place where those events took place.
After touring Carthage Jail we stopped at the Carthage DQ for some lunch before heading back to Nauvoo. While there we met an 80 year old guy named Tobias who struck up a conversation over his Dairy Queen sundae and a Louis L'Amor novel. He was the friendliest guy. He was a 2nd or 3rd generation Carthage resident, who, as it turned out, was working with his son to install some cabinetry in a home being restored across the street from Mom and Dad in Nauvoo. I asked him if he'd ever taken a wagon ride in Nauvoo, and told him about my parents there. When we said goodbye to Tobias I hoped that Mom and Dad might be able to meet him somehow in the coming weeks, and maybe he'd want to know more about the church. I told them to be on the lookout for him. Sweet guy.
We spent the rest of our last full day in Nauvoo rushing to see all that we could see. Mom personally took us to a few places, including the Sarah Granger Kimball home a little ways out from the main part of town. It was such a bright and comfortable home. This was our favorite.
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| A view of the temple across the fields |
That night after dinner we all shared our thoughts about all that we had seen and done. Some of the favorites: Carthage, riding bikes (the people who own Mom and Dad's house have a fleet of all-sized bikes in the basement that we made good use of), foosball tournaments (the house also has a foosball table in the basement), meeting Tobias, the Amish, the carriage ride, the Sarah Granger Kimball home, the pioneer games, the lectures, the temple....what an amazing experience.
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| In front of the Smith family homestead |
The next morning, since it was Stake Conference for the missionaries, after breakfast all together, we said good-bye to Mom and Dad and headed north to Rock Island, Illinois. Mike and Jim's grandmother was from Rock Island and we wanted to search for the grave site of Mike and Jim's great-uncle Frank who had died in an accident when he was 10 years old. We found the cemetery and after some consultation with Mike's mom on the phone, managed to locate the grave. It doesn't get visited often, since his parents migrated to California and the family have stayed out west. We snapped a picture at the grave of all the Melton cousins except one. Frank is not forgotten.
After lunch together the Michigan Meltons turned east on I-80 while we turned west (Tami waving out the window till they were out of sight). We drove through to Kearney, Nebraska that night, where we stayed. The next day finished the drive to Utah.
Carol Orme had given me some great reading material and a map of the Mormon Trail at the Visitor's Center in Nauvoo that I consulted constantly during our journey home. I read to everyone about the long slog through Iowa that first season after leaving Nauvoo, the stay at Winter Quarters (Omaha) and Brigham's deal with the federal government that gave them permission to stay on Indian land in exchange for raising the Mormon Battalion, the trek across Nebraska along the north bank of the Platte (which I-80 follows almost exactly for quite a long way), the close calls with Missouri emigrants at Fort Laramie, the slow climb up the continental divide, the harrowing experiences of the Willie and Martin Handcart companies on the high plains of eastern Wyoming (Another coincidence from the trip was that we were traveling across Wyoming on October 19, the day 159 years ago when the blizzard trapped the Willie and Martin companies on the plains. It was a beautiful 65 degrees when we drove it), and the route through the mountains into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. It was awesome to see it all. As we drove west past Fort Bridger that evening, the sun was setting, silhouetting the wind turbines on the bluffs, and I thought about traveling it all by foot, those hundreds of miles that we had crossed. I just felt in awe of those people. And they didn't do it because they wanted to get rich or because they particularly loved adventure. They left a fertile and prosperous place (after being driven from two other places) and trekked across what must have been an incredibly intimidating landscape with their families, into the unknown because they had FAITH. After all they had suffered, they did not throw their hands in the air and give up. They picked up and followed a prophet into the vastness of the west. As I thought about them, I wondered what I am doing with my life that will have the same meaning and importance. We are all trying to make life as comfortable as we can, that's human nature, but it's sacrifice that brings power and meaning. What will I accomplish in life that can hold a candle to what they gave? I resolved on the plains of Wyoming to honor their sacrifice and learn from it and to make my life an offering. It was a beautiful drive.
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| Looking west through a dirty windshield. |
We got into Salt Lake about 8:30 or 9:00. It was a truly beautiful sight. End of the road, Zion.
What an amazing trip! Thanks Mom and Dad for having us and feeding us (it was so sweet to see you), my awesome neighbor for taking care of Noble for 2 days, Howard and Jacque for getting Noble on the plane, & Jim and Tami for making the trip down and picking Noble up for us. What a blessing to visit those places, to see my parents, to see Jim and Tami's family, to be together. I am so grateful we had the opportunity.
