Hi From Syracuse

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Iowa and Illinois---Nauvoo, here we come!!

Another early morning start by Gary and more sleeping by Jena and I. I think we left at 6:00 a.m. again.

Still in the Great Prairie, Iowa also has a lot of flat land along 80. We passed a number of these wind farms making electricity. It was harvest time for the first crop of grain. Notice the huge round bails--so different from the bales we see in the intermountain area.

And another educational rest stop in Iowa---

This one had a display showing the lost of the loam--or top soil--which was so rich along the rivers here in Iowa. The whole rest stop talked about

The date of the first farms in the area and a description of the
different layers of soil.

These are the murals INSIDE the rest room lobby (yes, those are the doorways to the Men and Women restrooms.) Seriously, remember the day when rest stops were basically outhouses in the middle of no where.

This rest stop was dedicated to a man who figured out some important concepts about farming this area. I can't remember his name but he was credited with rotation farming and other ways to protect the land. He eventually became Secretary for Agriculture at one point because of all his work in this area.

Field ready to pick up the hay

Another rest stop south of Des Moines where we finally left I-80. I kept hoping to actually see a real life bison this trip since they were an important part of the trek west, but no luck, so here is my token buffalo picture.

A gorgeous bird which we saw everywhere through Iowa and Illinois. I don't know what kind of bird it is but when it flies you can see the pretty red markings across its back.

This rest stop was near a prairie grassland exhibit. We didn't have time to make the detour to the actual park but it did tell us a bit of the botany of the area in some informational displays.

As we traveled southeast from Des Moines, we traveled on highways instead of the interstate. Looking at our map we thought they were going to be mainly 2-way roads, but they were divided highways most of the way. Of course we got to drive through many little towns. They have some very beautiful old houses and buildings in these small towns.

Here is a Catholic Church that we stopped and took pictures of in a small town prior to getting to Ft. Madison.

Next--crossing the Mississippi- 2017 style!

Wednesday, June 7

Our goal for today was simply to get to Omaha, Nebraska, so that on Thursday we would have short enough drive to enjoy some of the sites of Nauvoo in the afternoon. We hadn't really planned on making any stops along the way there except as needed for gas and food. However since our first stop of the day at the Lincoln Monument was so great, we started watching for other awesome things to see and learn about. Here is a flavor of what we saw traveling east on Freeway 80.

Another rest stop in Nebraska talking about the Platte River and some of the history of the region.

This rest stop had lots of travel information and a kind volunteer who actually gave us information about a great campground near Omaha. The rest stops were so well-designed and maintained.

As we drove through Nebraska, I noticed that I was feeling very excited--more than you would expect for a day of traveling only. I realized it was because of the big open skies and flat ground of the prairie. It was reminding me of my many trips to Amarillo from Utah. I knew I was getting close to home and my family when the skies opened up and "you could see forever". When we moved to Amarillo when I was sixteen, my mom made a point of teaching us about the prairie and "the High Plains" where Amarillo was located. I thought about her a lot while driving through these northern Plains of the US. We are so lucky to live in a country with such beautiful and diverse countryside.

For some reason (as near as I can tell related strictly to tourism), this is the Archway across the freeway. We didn't stop(surprise) but apparently from the literature you can buy Archway shirts and walk back and forth across the freeway. I don't know if there is any historical significance to this spot.

A farm in the countryside:

That night we stayed in Edward Mahoney State Park, a very nice campground and recreation area near Omaha. After about 13 hours in the car, it was a nice spot to spend the night. We took a walk around the area and saw some fun things.

The vegetation by our campsite:

My fellow travelers off on our hike around the small lake near the campground.

Paths through the grass are always enticing--- so up the hill we went

Jena and Gary made it up the hill. Jena is not a big fan of uphill climbs which aren't paved but she was a good sport and she made it with no problems.

We eventually found a board walk which we were able to follow through some gardens and prairie lands. The sounds of birds were everywhere as it was approaching dusk and they were enjoying some cooler temperatures.

Of course, Gary and Jena can't pose without being silly.....

Back to the lake again on the other side--

We suddenly saw one and then several geese slide into the lake.

It turned out that a young boy (you can see his body with the pink shirt) was feeding them from the boat dock. I would gather it was a regular event based on how many and how quickly those ducks crossed the lake.

There was a short bridge across the end of the lake--with a name (Ruth Musil Giger) and everything so of course, Jena and I had to cross it.

Then back to our nice RV spot for a dinner of Tacos and bed.

Day one was completed.

And off we go....

The original plan was to leave at 8:00 p.m. right after my class, but having a bad cold and sinus infection really had slowed down our preparations so I felt pretty good about leaving around 9:15 p.m. Funny time to head out on a trip but it gave us an opportunity to get three hours of driving down in the cool of the night and a little bit of a head start on the long drive.

Our first night stop was in Rock Springs......yes, at the Wal-mart parking lot. They have an open invitation for truckers and RVs to park at the back of their parking lot. Gary had found a review that said this was a nice one. I was amazed how many vehicles were parked when we arrived after mid-night. Not a bad deal for them as we made a quick run in for milk and a couple of other items we had forgotten.

Wednesday morning, Gary woke up before six, made another quick run to Wal-mart and then started driving...while Jena and I were still cozy in our beds. (These mode of travel is excellent for couples like Gary and I--he is a "wake up early" person and I like to sleep in, especially on vacations. Win-Win!)

The countryside in eastern Wyoming turned into evergreen trees which were beautiful.

We saw a sign for the Lincoln Monument and although we had no idea why there would be a Lincoln Monument in Wyoming, we decided to check it out. Turns out that this rest stop had a lot of history around it. I am one of THOSE people who like to read all of this stuff and try to remember what it is about.

We learned about ranching....

About the telephone line near here through which the first conversation in the west was held in 1982.

This rest stop had a free book library as well where travelers could leave books or take one.

The view outside from the visitors center/rest stop. This was a high class rest stop as you can tell. Rest stops have really upgraded from 'back in the day'!

And there was a huge Lincoln Monument. It turns out that this freeway--US 80 goes from New York to San Francisco and it was the first one completed that transversed from sea to sea. It was called the Lincoln Highway after the president. And in the mid-1900s they built this bust here to honor him and the accomplishment of this highway.

This spot was chosen because it was the highest spot on this freeway between the two coasts.

And it also has been identified as "The Purple Heart Trail" and we saw signs about this often as we traveled along this freeway.

I didn't know all of this about Freeway 80 and it was the perfect start for our trip since we traveled on 80 from Echo Canyon in Utah all of the way to Des Moines, Iowa.

(And just because of this rest stop, I am considering whether I want to add a trip from coast to coast on this highway to my bucket list. How fun would that be!!!)

And this was just our first spot of the day...............

The Facts and Figures

I will be posting several posts about our trip to Nauvoo and following the Mormon and Oregon Trails back to Utah. We had an amazing time and took over 2000 photos (well, some of them were of the ground and accidently videos of walking, but most of them were "real" pictures of the things we saw and did.)

For those of you who prefer the short version---here are the "Facts and Figures" of Our Nauvoo and Pioneer Trails Vacation.

Travelers: Gary, Jena and I

Mode of Transportation: Motor home

Dates: Tuesday, June 6 at 9:30 p.m. (we had to leave after my school class) through Tuesday, June 13th at 3:00 p.m. (just in time to unload and take a shower and get to my class)

Distance: Traveled approximately 1243 miles to Nauvoo and probably around 1400 on the way back. It took us about 21 hours of driving over parts of three days to get there with our RV and we took four days to get home.

States: Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois (and back again)

Meals: We ate most of our meals in the RV and only ate out 2 times and neither of them was McDonalds (if you have traveled with Jena you know that is an accomplishment.)

Traveling plans:

I started with an Mormon Trail map

our trusty atlas, two family journals, some mapquest maps printed for campgrounds, and a 20 page printout about the Oregon Trail.

Along the way, we gathered a lot more stuff about the interesting places between here and there. (If you are planning a trip, we got you covered.)

Sites seen: Lincoln Highway Monument, The Archway, Mahoney State Park, Lots of interesting rest stops, Bridge across the Mississippi, Nauvoo, Carthage, Montrose Crossing, the backroads of southern Iowa, Garden Grove, Mt. Pisgah, Pote Ruts Mormon Trail Park, Winter Quarters, Fort Kearney, Chimney Rock, Scottsbluff, Fort Laramie, Fort Casper, Independence Rock, Martin's Cove, South Pass, Lombardy Ferry and Green River Crossing, and Ft. Bridger. And that doesn't count the dozens of brown information signs we stopped and read along the trip. They were everywhere.

Scattered throughout the trip were signs acknowledging the three major trails of pioneer travel. Each time they would stated words along these lines:

"Pioneers left the east to travel to the west for different reasons. Those on the Oregon were seeking better farmlands for their families, those on the California trail were seeking gold and riches, and those on the Mormon Trail were going for religious reasons."

Driving along the route and walking in some of the areas that these pioneers traveled, dealing with heat and wind, and even get hailed on for a few minutes on our trip--I don't think that I would have made the journey with my little children for farm land or gold. And I can only hope that my faith would have sent me on that journey to Utah if I had been alive at that time. Time and time again I realized that my faith needs not be sufficient to walk across the plains but to walk in faith at this time and in these places where I live now. That is true of each one of us. We have to travel the journey placed in front of us in love, in faith, and in courage, enduring to the end! Good reminder!