As they prepared to put their house on the market they needed to move some things out of their old house and into their new house so it was emptier for staging. Kevin was set to fly out and then drive a moving truck back filled with Mom & Dad's things as well as treasures each one of us kids still had stored at the house.
Well, Kevin "decided" to spend a few days in the hospital and be grounded from flying for 30 days. Dan and I were called upon to see if we could come out and help. We had been talking about going back to visit before Mom and Dad moved and we didn't have a free hotel in Chicago. We checked our schedules and found the time would work for us to come.
Since we had to drive back and directly to Southern Utah, we decided to make a vacation out of the drive. The planning began...where to go, which days, who to stay with, what to see, etc. We decided to visit Church History sights in Nauvoo and Carthage, Illinois, and Missouri. Once the general itinerary was set we called family and friends for places to stay; Uncle Keith and Aunt Barbara in Bountiful, Aunt Jane, Uncle Chris, and Cousin Mary in Nauvoo, friends Greg and Keri Wilson in Kansas City, Missouri, Aunt Nancy and Uncle Keith in Cedar City, Utah.
We had estimated our departure and arrival times, none of which were even close to accurate from the start of the trip. Despite that, we had a GREAT trip!
Here are more details and pictures of our trek:
Day 1, September 19, 2009:
Depart Pocatello, Idaho and drive to Ogden, Utah where we met Amanda and Sid.
Amanda was moving into her new apartment in Morgan, Utah so after some shopping we followed them to Morgan to help with the unpacking. Pictures were hung, boxes emptied, items put away, shower curtain hung, things were getting all moved into her new place.
Dan and I left Amanda and Sid in Morgan to drive to Bountiful, Utah. We arrived at Uncle Keith and Aunt Barbara's home to help celebrate Grandpa's 93rd birthday!
That evening Dan and I again met Amanda and Sid in the Kmart parking lot in Bountiful, Utah. We departed for West Valley City, Utah to go to dinner and enjoy the performance of The Scarlet Pimpernel at Hale Center Theatre.
After dinner and the show it was back to Bountiful for the night at Uncle Keith and Aunt Barbara's.
Day 2: September 20, 2009:
Good-bye to Uncle Keith, Aunt Barbara, Aunt Nancy, and Uncle Keith as we headed off West Bountiful for church with Dan's Uncle John and Aunt Norma.
After church Uncle John drove us to the airport so we could fly to Chicago Midway where Mom picked us up and we headed back to the house I grew up in.
Day 3: September 21, 2009:
Picked up the truck:
After breakfast at Egg Harbor, it was back to the house to meet those who came to help load the truck (Dick Mitchell and Randy Peterson-HUGE thanks to you both, we couldn't have done it without you!):
An additional part of what we were driving across the country was a ton of coal (minus 50 pounds). Yep, we moved coal from Illinois to Utah, that's what's in the grey bags in these pictures. Dad's handing the nearly empty bag so that we are sure to not miss anything. :)
Dad sat down and had a chat with the local shepherd.
Within a couple hours everything was loaded and ready for our trek to begin!
A bit more than would fit in a handcart.
Day 3: September 22, 2009:
Our suitcases were loaded into the back of the truck and the cab was filled with things we'd need along the way.
Dan tying down our suitcases and a box of books for Cousin Mary.
Our trek has officially begun! Bye Oak Hill Estates, we'll miss you!
Crossing the Mississippi into Iowa for awhile then back into Illinois. A little crazy but the zigzag route was what our map said.
Finally:
NAUVOO!
The graves of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith
The Smith family homestead
The Mansion House
The Red Brick Store.
This is where the School of the Prophets took place and where the Relief Society was organized.
The graves of Father and Mother Smith.
They are next door to The Homestead along with he graves of other Smith Family members.
This was taken in honor of our Sid.
Sadly no Amanda Street that we saw.
The Mississippi River at the end of Parleys Street.
Not sure how I would have felt taking that step across the river and leaving Nauvoo behind.
Dan found his name on a list of Saints who died along the trail to Salt Lake City, that was a little odd.
The BEAUTIFUL Nauvoo Temple
We walked around the grounds and took many pictures.
While across from the Temple I heard a rustling in the bushes and looked down to find this:
It began to nibble on the flowers and leaves before we walked away.
Dan insisted on taking a picture of the water tower.
Not really sure why. I thought I'd include it in his honor.
After seeing a few sites (we arrived in Nauvoo at 4:00 and the sites closed at 5:00, darn winter hours) and driving through Historic Nauvoo, we met Uncle Chris and Aunt Jane at the Nauvoo House for a yummy dinner. (Cousin Mary was with us seeing the sites.) We then headed back to the Church's house and visited before turning in for the night. Nighty night Nauvoo.
Day 3: September 23, 2009:
We packed our suitcases back into the back of the truck and loaded up to return to the Nauvoo Visitors Center (Here for more information). A sister missionary from Chubbuck, Idaho (10 minutes north of Pocatello and Dan, of course, knew her parents) gave us a tour of the visitors center.
There was a traveling display of statutes depicting various events from the life of Jesus Christ and His healing power there for only a few more days. I'd heard about this exhibit in St. George but had been unable to see it. I'm so grateful it was in Nauvoo when we were.
Raising Lazarus from the dead
The woman taken in adultery
Christ carrying his cross.
The artist was training to be an opera singer. She was fed up one day and was prompted to purchase some clay to help relieve some stress. When she had finished plunging her hands into the clay she discovered she'd sculpted the bust of a girl. Prior to that experience she'd never done anything with clay and had no idea she had this talent.
We strolled through the garden at the Visitor's Center to see the Monuments to Women.
Stupid humidity was wreaking havoc on my hair the whole trip! Needing a haircut didn't help matters.
Even late in the season there were plenty of flowers in full bloom still, guess sometimes the humidity isn't so bad after all.
We left Nauvoo and drove to Carthage, for a tour of the Jail. (Information on the Carthage Jail can be found here.)
After our tour of the jail and some lunch we headed west. Our next stop was in Missouri at:
A couple shots in Adam-ondi-Ahman:
From here it was a short drive to Far West, Missouri (click for more information on Far West). We walked around the temple site and enjoyed the peace and quiet at the close of the day.
One of the cornerstones-encased for protection.
We traveled from Far West, part of the time via dirt road, and continued on to Kansas City, Missouri. We stayed with Dan's friends Greg and Keri Wilson. After dinner and some visiting we went on a nighttime drive of the Kansas City area. They showed us the Liberty Jail Visitor's Center (more information can be found here) and the sight of the soon to be constructed Kansas City Temple.
Our visit with Greg and Keri was great! Thanks again for letting us stay. It was great to see you.
Day 4, September 24, 2009:
Today was our longest day of driving with few planned stops in hopes that we would have an early arrival in Denver. Well, another later start to our day and we ended up stopping later at night than anticipated and not in Denver. We're here; let's not miss the sites...
We started the day with a visit to the Liberty Jail Visitor's Center. It was closed the night before when we drove by with Greg and Keri so we took a tour the next morning.
The replica of what the jail looked like in the 1830-1840s.
The tour ended and we were off again. This time to Independence, Missouri only about 20 minutes from Liberty. (Click for more details and information on the Independence Visitors Center.) After our tour there we walked across the street to see the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) temple.
Their temple differs greatly from LDS temples. It is more of a large meetinghouse or chapel in my opinion. They also have a bookstore and museum inside. We were there shortly before their "Prayer for Peace" so our tour was self-guided which wasn't a problem for us.
After these stops it was drive, drive, drive for several hours. We drove across the whole state of Kansas from east to west. Not much there to see but farmlands. Guess Goodland, Kansas has a giant Vincent van Gogh painting by Cameron Cross that's on an 80FT easel. We learned that from the postcards we picked up at a gas station. I think I saw it from the highway but no time to stop, Denver was our goal.
The day wore on and the weather was a little stormy. Since we were both tired and unsure if we'd drive through rain or snow, we decided to stop for the night in Limon, Colorado. Limon is barely an hour into Colorado from Kansas and about 1-1/2 hours from Denver.
Day 5, September 25, 2009:
The end of our trek is drawing near. Today after breakfast loaded up to begin the drive to Cedar City where we would begin unloading the truck.
We drove along I-70 which took us through some beautiful mountain passes:
We saw this sign along the way and HAD to take a picture:
(A shout-out to our Loveland family members!)
A fun fact about Colorado; hundreds of thousands of valentines are re-mailed each year from Loveland.
At one of the rest stops I saw this sign:
I didn't read it correctly and thought it said "To flush move around or up and down." I thought it was an auto toilet that had become very temperamental and that I had to jump around to get it to flush. What a sight that would have been.
On I-70:
we drove through the Eisenhower Tunnel
and Vail, Colorado.
Thankfully we had clear skies and roads through the mountain passes.
Finally we arrived in Utah, Home of the 2002 Winter Olympics. The end for the day was coming!
First we unloaded the coal:
Thank heavens for a forklift, it made the job much easier!
The coal was left here because their daughter Julie needed it for her home. Hence the Illinois-to-Utah drive with a ton of coal.
Next it was on to Mom and Dad's new house to unload their boxes:
Cousin Rendall was hilarious. Even though it was late, approaching midnight, he kept pushing us to get everything finished. I asked if he had a date he was hurrying off to. He said no that he wanted to go meet his friend's girlfriend and had to be there before midnight.
Aunt Nancy had set up a blow-up mattress at Mom and Dad's, just in case. Boy were we glad. By now it was nearly midnight and we were beyond exhausted. We settled in for the night and dropped off to sleep for in Mom and Dad's new house.
Day 6, September 26, 2009:
We made our way out of Cedar City with a lighter load. The coal was gone and several boxes. Now the final leg of the journey; stops at Deborah's and Kevin's homes to drop off their boxes then home to Pocatello.
A last minute decision had us stopping at Cove Fort, Utah. Yes, we stopped 1 hour into our trip home.
I'd not been to Cove Fort in years and it has changed significantly since I was there last. We took their tour and it was an unplanned stop worth it.
President Brigham Young stayed in this room at Cove Fort.
As we drove across the country I noticed that we never had a problem forgetting where we parked:
Yep, that's us, the big, yellow Hertz Penske truck in the parking lot. Just try losing that thing.
I loved seeing this sign on I-15. YEAH Utah! Don't just test it, make it a reality.
Quick hi's, bye's, and hugs to everyone then back on the road. Next it was off to West Bountiful. We visited a little with Dan's family there and picked up our car. Now on to Kevin and Kelley's house in Syracuse. Kelley had prepared, and held, dinner for us. Yum! We were able to spend a little time visiting with their family:
Cameron showed us the green bike he received for his 5th Birthday.
Nathan proudly measured to see who was taller.
(Psst, don't tell Nathan but I'm on my toes.)
Eventually it was time to load up again to take Kevin's things to their storage unit.
Cameron wanted to drive in our cool, yellow truck. I asked him who should drive, Dan or me.
Can you guess his decision?
See how empty the truck is now? Finally the "Grandma's Attic" is visible again.
Cameron was plugging his ears because he didn't like the noise of the dolly on the ramp.
The truck was empty...my things were in our car...time to drop off the truck in West Haven, Utah (west of Ogden)...then to make our way home to Pocatello.
It was an adventure for sure. Glad we did it...glad it's over...glad to have seen so many family members...glad we are left with all these great memories!
1 comment:
You two were such life-savers. Thank you.
I am so glad that you had a FUN drive back, even though at the time I thought you were crazy.
I love you two.
Mother
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