Leaving Nauvoo

On the Road Again!

We got up a 6:30, had oatmeal, and finished loading the car.  Feeling we were leaving home, a home we definitely didn't want to depart from, we waved goodbye to Nauvoo.  We were sad to leave the spirit of our forbears, their spirit of faith, the spirit of the Lord, behind us.  Even the children mourned our departure. 

But, onward and forward we must go, on all journeys, including that of life.  So our exhausted crew headed North to our next destination--Mitchell, South Dakota.  We originally planned to go to the Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluffs, Iowa



"(The Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluffs, Iowa, was built in 2½ weeks by 200 Saints in late 1847, to provide a meeting place for a conference held on December 27, 1847 at which Brigham Young was sustained as the second President of the Church. That conference marked the first time in modern Church history that Church membership sustained a First Presidency of the Church.)"


and Winter Quarters in Omaha, Nebraska,
 

 
"(Winter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they waited during the winter of 1846-1847 for better conditions for their trek westward. It followed a preliminary tent settlement some 3½ miles west at Cutler's Park. More than built more than 800 cabins were built at the Winter Quarters settlement. Located in present-day North Omaha overlooking the Missouri River, the settlement remained populated until 1848.)"
 
Wes and I decided trying to get the exhausted kids to wake up and go on yet another tour was not a good idea.  Not this time.  We both felt it would be our point of crossing the grouchy line.  So we just kept driving.  We will have to see these historic sites on another vacation trip. 
From a week of go-go-go, this long travelling day was a blessing to all of us (except Wes).  We slept.  And slept.  In between sleeping we enjoyed crackling thunderstorms and pouring rain in Iowa.  We shopped for groceries and bought new memory cards for our cameras.  And we ate too much candy.  Ugh.  Too much!  But it was a bribe that seemed to keep the monsters of fighting, whining, and moaning at bay. 
We hadn't planned on driving all the way from Nauvoo, Illinois to Mitchell, South Dakota in one day, but we did.  That was an 800 mile leg of our journey.  It was a loong day in the car.  I was surprised that Wes wanted to drive so long, but he did.  He had a mind to get to our next destination--his mother's childhood home. 

Here is a funny story to add to the day.  When we went into Wal Mart to pick up supplies, I noticed Elias chewing on something.  When confronted, we found that he hadn't stolen any food or found anything on the floor to nibble--even worse, he had shoved an old band aid from his arm into his mouth and was chomping away!  Gross.  Later, at a pit stop, Elias got out of his car seat to discover a treasure trove of melted M&M's all over his bottom.  Yup, he ate them!

We set up camp in Mitchell at the local KOA.  I've decided the worst thing about camping is bug spray.  I hate it.  It smells bad.  It tastes bad.  It makes you sticky.  But if you don't use it, you become bug smorgasbord.  Mitchell has tons of mosquitoes and Ryanne and I are crying!  Why doesn't anyone else have bug bites?