During the night, a very loud thunderstorm went through the area and we had to adjust our morning plans because of continual rain predicted up by Adam-ondi-Ahman until noon. Instead, we decided to head to Hamilton, MO first. No it is not a historical site for the Church, but a famous quilting location. A woman (who does happen to be LDS) started a quilting store then blog then YouTube etc. and created this quilting mecca in the middle of no where. I had never heard of it but then I am just a novice quilt maker. It was a fun hour or so checking out the streets and shops--I do like fabric!
Because of the ongoing storms in the area, the clouds were impressive in every direction.
Here we go...into Hamilton.
There are a large number of Amish in the area and I was able to get this shot of a young man with his younger brother coming into town.
Always enjoy a good Church sign even in the middle of a quilting adventure.
There were some fun murals around the downtown area.
And you know that we like trains and historical markers....
Downtown Hamilton
Some views in one of the quilt shops
I loved this quilt--the patterns not so much the way they did the colors--of all of the states. It would be fun to do one that had the places where you had lived in your life.
They have some nice couches to sit at for the un-fabric loving people.
Gary found a spot to rest as well.
Another mural and the store fronts along one side of the street
which included the Mansland, specifically a place for men to come and watch sports, have snacks, play pool. etc. while their spouses--girlfriends shop.
Even the windows were fun to look at--a crafty place to be for sure. Jessica and Tosha would find things to do here.
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Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap
but by the seeds that you planted.
I loved that thought!!! |
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I am looking for a piece of Arkansas art to
honor our time here. I actually loved this picture
of the pickup truck and sunflowers, but the license plate
is clearly North Carolina so it won't do.
It is funny what type of art speaks to you since I am not really
a truck person--but these are my colors for sure. |
A clear picture of the mural with a small park in front.
And the community theatre to the west of the park.
Just outside the main street, you can see the mills which have provided employment for years in this small community.
More millstones from 1838.
I headed a few blocks away to take a picture of the Largest Spool of Thread and found it on the corner of the Quilt Museum which had this quilt limo parked to the side. They hold big quilting retreats here so I assume that this provides the transportation to the events.
And here is the thread. You are invited to bring thread to add to it, but I wasn't prepared to do that.
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Hard to read but identifying this as the biggest spool of thread in the world--
I don't know if there is some type of competition for that honor or not. |
We didn't have time to actually go to the museum. It looks like they have some interesting exhibits...oh the random things to learn in this world!
Close-ups of the limo
Gary wanted to make sure I took a picture of the "Owl" sign because I am a member of the "Owl" patrol for Wood Badge in Boys Scouts.
It wasn't until after I took the photo that I noticed it was for the Owl cigar. Gary thought that was hilarious.
Another Amish woman this time posting signs for selling jams. The Amish only sell outside the city limits so they don't pay city taxes.
One unexpected treat from our stop in Hamilton was that the man who started JC Penney's grew up here and they have made his boyhood home a small museum.
My grandmother had a stove like this when I was little.
The best part was a video about James Cash Penney. He was a very interesting man who led an interesting life of trying to do good and to be successful. I had no idea about him and his life before watching this video. Now I am interested in learning more about him. People are so interesting!
We then started heading north to Adam-ondi-Ahman. The skies were a bit grey but the weather was cool and actually perfect for sightseeing both in Hamilton, Adam onti Ahman and in Far West. Just a bit of rain now and then....
The countryside is filled with crops and cattle and these mills or storage places in between. I really know very little about agriculture and what it takes to get food from here to the stores--I am very glad that I don't have to live on what I can produce only.
We arrived. Things have been upgraded quite a bit since we were here with our family in 1997.
Love the moss patterns on the trees.
Part of our group heading down to the view area
It is so green.
This is the view from the first stop overlooking the valley.
The odd thing that we figured out is that the marker for north is not correct. North is actually almost directly behind us. So I texted my friend at the Church History Library to contact her friends in historical sites and see why it is that way. She will check on it she said.
I know...another tree tunnel but it is so pretty.
Flowers at Tower Hill--so named because a remanent of a tower was found here when the Saints were developing in the area--that is the story anyway.
I thought this tree was cool--how the two trunks intertwine with each other.
We took a short walk down to an site of a house built during the time some members of the Church lived in the area.
This might be "speaker" rock. If you stand here and talk, the shape of that part of the valley makes it easy to hear in every direction. We didn't try it out.
The house
This is a different rock that I convinced Jena to stand on so we could get a view of her with the valley in the background. She is a good sport for this type of traveling.
There are several couples who serve at this site keeping the grass mowed and the fences in good repair among other things. We didn't actually see any of them while we were there, but they have their names listed by their housing places.
Not sure why the main street within this area is called Koala--it sounds like we should be in Hawaii.
We stopped in Gallatin for Subway lunch and Gary ended up having a conversation with a couple whose daughter is taking the missionary lessons in town. They have been a couple of times and have sit in on lessons, but mostly just to support her. I joined the end of it. They like the missionaries and how good the other YW are to their daughter. It is fun to be a part of these conversations which come up because we are wearing missionary tags.
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Raining started as we headed out of Subways
the county building |
And back on to the rolling roads back to Far West........
We got held up by the couple in the Subways, then we got stuck behind a tractor type thing going about 35 miles an hour....and then after Gary did a quick dart around inside a small town to get ahead of the tractor, we ended up going about 20 miles an hour behind this buggy.
but that was a classic moment and I love these photos!
The little boy standing in the buggy was actually chewing on a staff of wheat or something similar. I wanted to get a picture as we passed them, but then I realized that taking pictures of kids you don't know without permission is inappropriate. I hope that these two are okay.
Because of the delays, I texted the rest of the missionaries and told them to go ahead and visit the site at Far West without us.
They did but then waited until we arrived so that we could talk and then say a closing prayer together. It was good to be with them and to get to know them a bit better. We are all very isolated in our areas of service and it is good to know that there are others doing similar things but in their own ways.
We then visited the site and actually spent some time talking with these two young adults--accidently in the picture. They were traveling back to BYU for the semester and stopping in at sites on the way from Washington, DC. They were both returned missionaries and we had a good conversation about missions, BYU, and the Church. One had served in Armenia (I think) and the other one in India.
The stones and markers around the temple site here in Far West.
When we came here last time, Jena wasn't even a year old. I don't think I have those pictures on the computer yet, but here we are now....26 years later.
As we left the Far West site, we headed back to the Far West Store that we had seen. Early in our mission, Elder and Sister Skimbo (not sure of the spelling of their name) served as zone leaders in the Family Search Library. I remembered that they owned a store in Far West, so we decided to stop and see if by chance they were there. Turns out that they have an apartment in the basement. They live in Far West from May to October and then move to Gilbert, AZ, the rest of the year. We surprised them by knocking on their door, but they took it in stride. I guess many other missionaries have stopped in since they returned home. I forgot to get a picture before we left--darn. Our lives are full of these amazing people we have met while serving our missions.
Instead of returning to Ft. Smith down the major interstate that we traveled to get to Kansas City on Thursday, we decided to head straight south down the middle of the state...and of course, in the process found ourselves on a few dirt and gravel roads. Our car had been washed pretty clean by the overnight thunder storm but by the time we got home, it was dusty and dirty again.
Kingston Court House and County Building....
We stopped at the historical marker...not realizing that it was about the LDS Saints who ended up in the area before being driven completely out of Missouri.
Coming out of Kingston, there was an abandoned overpass--it looked like--with just bushes and vines growing on it.
And more clouds.....
Notice the purples and blues tucked up in the clouds. That lasted for 10 minutes or so as we were driving west into the sunset.
Stopping for gas I got this photo of the mud splatters on our car...again! We have washed this car more in six months than we have our other cars in a few years.
And there you have it--Our Kansas City Senior Missionary District Meeting. We got home at mid-night and we were very glad that we have afternoon Church.
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