Nauvoo Trip Friday and Saturday

Day 1 and 2

 

After returning home from another FUN yet exhausting week at Girls Camp, we jumped in the car and headed for Nauvoo.  We were home for about an hour when we loaded the car and took off.  Crazy, YES!

We left Joseph City around 2 or so and headed to Kansas.  It should have taken us 16 hours, but traveling with kids always adds a couple of hours.  We made it to Pratt, KS early in the morning and met my parents and Clarence's parents along with Julie.  They had left earlier in the day and slept in a hotel there.  Clarence, Ethan, and my dad left and headed to our property in Kansas.  The rest of us got a couple of hours of sleep before heading out again. 

Around noon we made it to the Kansas property, located about 20 miles north of Iola.  Clarence showed the family the property, and we took extra precaution to spray ourselves down with DEET spray and wrap tape or soft wire around our ankles to prevent bites from chiggers and ticks.  We walked down to the pond and enjoyed the beautiful land.  On our walk back we found a patch of black raspberries or blackberries.  They were so sweet and delicious, and we filled our cups full along with our stomachs.  I wish we could have stayed and picked more berries.  They were a tasty treat! 

We started once again on our journey, our goal was to make it to Bellevue, which is right outside of Omaha for the night.  We had a couple of stops planned, so we had to hurry. 

Our first stop was to Independence, Missouri.  They have a visitor center there, and it was a great way to kick off our church history trip. 

Not the best picture of the good looking crew, but up to this point we have been traveling for about 18 hours.  Here we watched a movie about Joseph Smith and got to see replicas of the log cabins the pioneers would have built. 

 The kids were a little restless, but we did get to hear some good stories and learn some cool things.  I was just enthralled with the whole idea of being in a place where our prophet, Joseph Smith once lived.

Of course they weren't too unruly to make sure I got some pictures of them.

 Our next stop was Liberty Jail.  There was a different spirit here.  The kids felt it too, and they were more reverent and respectful for this part.  Clarissa was in heaven.  She loves church history, and we decided since she was going to be a senior and this was our last summer with her, we would make this trip.  We thought she would enjoy it, and we were not disappointed.  We entered Liberty jail when they were about to close, but they let us in and were very kind and accommodating to us. 

This is a picture of the layout of Liberty Jail.  It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

 You can see that there wasn't even enough room for them to stand up in.  For 4 months they were here.  Given the time of year I would imagine it was bitter cold there.  Lots of prayers were uttered in these walls and faith was strengthened.  These were great men.  The spirit was string here, and I did shed a tear or two for these men.

 After leaving Liberty Jail and getting a bite to eat we were once again on the road.  It was late, and as I was sitting in the car I felt an intense itching on my feet.  Chiggers.  I had taken every precaution, but I still managed to get nailed.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but there are more than 60 on one foot and leg and 30 ish on the other.  I am grateful that it was me and not my kids.  Ethan also got a couple of ticks, and Clarence had a few chiggers himself.  Dang bugs!

 Finally about 2 AM (Nebraska time) we arrived at our hotel.  Needless to say we were all a bit exhausted and ready for a break from the car.  According to MapQuest we had come nearly 1300 miles and been driving for almost 21 hours.  We had to stop several times along the way also because Eleanor and Eugene's car was acting up and had to "rest" to reset the codes every so often.  It made for some frazzled nerves on Julie's part (she was the main driver) and stress levels high as we weren't sure if the car would leave us stranded.  But with prayer and faith, we made it.  We were planning on attending church at 9, but since we had such a late arrival we opted to go to the 11 church instead.  What a long day.