West to Missouri

This morning we got up early and went to church in Nauvoo. The missionaries who work at the Nauvoo area sites have a sacrament meeting at 8:00 before they go off to staff the sites. So we went to that meeting, rather than get a later start to the day. Funny. I wasn't sure if I would play hooky from church on this vacation; but I've sure enjoyed the meetings we've gone to. It also seems a bit incongruous to be learning about the restoration of the gospel, then skip church. Know what I mean? Any way, there more than 350 missionaries, mostly senior couples, and single younger and older sisters. So they have a full house at church! It was fun to be a such a large sacrament meeting and see missionaries and other tourists that you also saw at the sites. Two couple who spoke gave a kind of farewell. I imagine you can call on incoming and outgoing missionaries to speak, and not have not to work to hard on coming up with speakers.

After church we packed up the car again and headed west, crossing the Mississippi river into Iowa. The most direct route took us on smaller back highways. While Iowa is flat, in that there aren't any mountains I could see, I was surprised at the rolling hills. We would drive down long straight roads that went up and down like little roller coasters. After plenty of driving in the on-again, off-again rain, we crossed into Missouri and reached our first destination: Adam-ondi-Ahman. This was revealed as the place where Adam and Eve moved when they got evicted from the Garden of Eden for breaking the tenant rules.

Once again relying on our GPS (having to use coordinates because we didn't have much of an address), we traveled to Haun's Mill. This was where a mob massacred more than a dozen men and boys. Among the victims was my great-great-great grandfather, Tarlton Lewis, who was wounded but survived. His brother Benjamin, did not survive. In fact, I learned on this trip that his wife moved on to the Nauvoo but died there. Getting there was even harder, since the GPS said it didn't have accurate data for these small dirt roads. Actually, they were mud roads, victims of the heavy storms a couple of days ago. Our poor car got covered with mud. I'm glad we have 4 wheel drive. When we arrived at the site, there wasn't much to see: just a post that said Haun's Mill on it. There was also some kind of plaque on the ground, but it was covered with mud and I couldn't scrape off enough to read anything. There was also a path leading down to the river, but it was more of a stream and I didn't want to sink up to my ankles. There weren't any structures to see. But I'm glad I went, and could say I was there. I didn't have any spiritual feelings, being overwhelmed by the mud. But we did have a feeling of peace, almost forgiveness.

We made our way back through the same mud roads and then on to Far West. Somehow we forgot from our study of church history that there was a temple site in Far West. So it was amazing to see the cornerstones at the temple site. In 1838, this was the center of the church. There were about 5000 residents (almost all Mormon), with shops, businesses, houses, etc. Amazingly, after they were driven out by the mobs, the area quickly reverted back to farmland. There isn't much to see in the way of structures, other than the temple site and a Reorganized (Community of Christ) church across the street. What an remarkable and sad part of our history. Such betrayal. Such hypocrisy in a land founded to provide freedom of religion.

After all that, we went to the Comfort Suites in Liberty, and found dinner at the Longhorn steakhouse. Great food! Not a buffet, and really good food. Finally, we soaked in the hot tub. But the most exciting part of the evening was when Mary was getting out of her bathing suit and found a tick on her shoulder! She's happily never had a tick before. So this freaked her out and has her worried about Lyme disease. We certainly hope she doesn't get any illness. But the tick was not very gorged, so we're hoping it hadn't been there long, perhaps just getting from her sweater as she changed clothes. I imagine it joined us during one of our stops, such as Haun's Mill.

Now we just have to get some sleep... trying not to worry about bugs.