Follow the Prophet

Sisters’ Log - Day Three

Today was our last day in Kansas, so we packed up the car and headed northeast. Our first stop was at Far West, Missouri. The cornerstones for the Far West Temple were first laid at a patriotic celebration on 4 July 1838. In October of that year, the infamous extermination order by Governor Boggs initiated the forced expulsion of the church from Missouri. Far West was virtually abandoned when the apostles gathered here on 26 April 1839. They re-laid the temple cornerstones on that occasion.

Far West Temple corner stone

We left Far West and drove to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. This is the Adamic word meaning Valley of God where Adam dwelt. It's located 70 miles northeast of Independence, Missouri. It's where members of the LDS faith believe that Adam and Eve first dwelt when they left the Garden of Eden.

Then it was on to Nauvoo, Illinois. We were almost to Keokuk, Iowa, and the road that Mrs. Garmin was taking us on was closed. There were no signs to take us to a detour, so we made a U-turn and pulled into a Quicki-Mart. Sandy walked in and started to ask for directions, but before she could get out the sentence, a gentleman handed her a piece of paper with hand-written directions. Evidently they’ve been asked before. The gentleman explained that due to heavy rains, the river had gone over the bridge and on to the road, necessitating the road closure. So we followed the hand written directions and took a long detour to Keokuk.

Sandy was driving and she was being very vigilant about driving at the posted speed limit (she tends to have a heavy foot—no need to comment on anything else she has that may be heavy). We didn’t want to get a speeding ticket and especially not in some small country town, or we’d never be seen again. She had to come to a complete stop in Keokuk, Iowa, to let a dog meander across the street. It walked in front of our car and then stopped in front of the car going the opposite direction and turned to look at us. Needless to say, the lady in the other car was not happy. She honked and yelled, and then the dog meandered to the other side of the road. A couple of miles later, we had to stop the car because a horse was in the middle of the road. A man and lady came after the horse, grabbed the reins, and led it to safety. Evidently, it’s let-your-farm-animals-run-free day in Iowa.

There was a bridge crossing when we came to the Mississippi River, but it wasn’t painful. Even though the river was rather wide at the point we crossed, the bridge was not scary at all, so we dodged a bullet there. There were about twenty miles of road that border the Mississippi River all the way to Nauvoo—very scenic, but not for the water phobic. The first sight to greet us was the temple. Edie tried to take a picture, but couldn’t get a good shot. Later when we got to the hotel, she looked at her phone and there was a picture of the temple (see below). Edie has no memory of taking this picture—it was a temple miracle.

Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum


Our hotel is across the street from the temple and our room is on the third floor with great views. It’s considered a historical sight and the building is very quaint. Did you know that in buildings that are considered historical, they don’t have to put in elevators. Apparently they don’t even have to tell you on the phone that there are no elevators or even that they’re not handicap accessible. With Sandy recently being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and with both of us just being out of shape, this posed a problem. We consolidated our belongings into one suitcase each, and we managed to get ourselves up to our room. Then we realized that the air conditioning wasn’t working, and that was a huge problem. It is so darn muggy in Nauvoo, and by this time we were soaking wet from the humidity. We must say, however, that the general manager of the hotel has been very accommodating and very nice. She was finally able to get an air conditioning guy here to fix the air—thank heavens! However, right now it’s still 80 degrees in our room. Hopefully, the temperature will start going down soon. This hotel also leaves a breakfast basket in the room full of pastries, juices, and instant oatmeal. We really do like this place—except for the lack of elevators and the broken AC. We'll post pictures of our room tomorrow--it really is nice

So now we’re in our room relaxing. Tomorrow we’re going through the 10:00 session of the Nauvoo temple, and then tomorrow night we’re going to the Joseph Smith pageant.

Time to turn in--more tomorrow.