We had so much fun on our road trip across the country. HUGE THANKS go to Scott and Jane, Jeni, Adrienne, and Dennis and Colleen for allowing us to do this without the kids. It would have been unbearable for them and thereby us if they'd been stuck in the car for as long as we were. As it was, we had a fabulous time and so you're stuck with hearing all the details. I kept my journal along side me and wrote down cool things we saw and/or did along the way. The length of this post is sure to give you an idea of the length of our trip. I hope its as fun a ride for you all as it was for us!
Friday November 2, 2007South Weber, UT to Laramie, WYWe begin our tale with a lone woman on a mission...to successfully pack all the belongings necessary for a 3 month adventure in Florida in one mini-van. Seriously, Ethan was gone so much in Utah (riding the bus from South Weber and back made each day at least 12 hours that he was gone) that he basically pulled the clothes he wanted packed for our road trip off the hanger and piled them on the floor for me to pack. I, with some help from a wonderful new sister-in-law-to-be-Sara- and Scott and Jane, did the rest. Here is how it looked for our journey across the country. Jane kept telling me she was amazed I could get it all in and dubbed me "Wonder Woman" (she also laughed at me as I stole the good stuff out of the kids Halloween buckets). I didn't think it was that bad but I'm glad that I didn't have to fit more in.
I then drove down to The Eye Institute of Utah to pick up Ethan. We said goodbye to everyone there, they were so great to work with. Ethan had nothing but good to say of them all, particularly Dr. Carter. Ethan was very impressed with his knowledge of so many diseases especially. It was a great rotation site!
Then we set out on the road much later than I had hoped, 4:45 pm. We stopped for dinner at Little America, WY. I can't say that I recommend it, Ethan's Turkey Bacon Club sandwich was terrible (dry, dry, dry) and the second fry he ate tasted like urine-GROSS! I got the French Dip and it was pretty good, but not fabulous. Luckily I didn't get any of the pee flavored fries.
Along the way we read aloud from The Princess Bride (our current
Book Club book-please join us!). Once it was too dark to read we watched part of Season 1 of The Office-there can't be a more enjoyable time passer. We stopped around midnight in Laramie, WY and stayed at the Howard Johnson. It wasn't bad, though I think they charge too much.
Saturday November 3, 2007Laramie, WY to Kansas City, MOThis was perhaps my favorite part of the trip-we actually got to be lazy in the morning. No kids to get out of bed, change diapers, get breakfast for...it was awesome! We took out time getting ready and finally got on the road, stopping at Wal-Mart for some breakfast (pumpkin muffins, bananas, juice, and chocolate milk).
Now anyone who has made the trek across Wyoming and Nebraska knows that there is not much to look at. We read more of The Princess Bride and Ethan was impressed that it was better than the movie (did I mention that it was our
Book Club book?).
We sang a bunch of songs, our soundtrack for the day included:
"Pioneer Children Sang As They Walked"
"Sing a Song About the Heartland,"
"Omaha"
"Low Rider"
"Shenandoah" Across the wide Missouri River
Why are there so many songs written about such a boring place? I think the people that wrote them, must have been crossing them at the time and needed something to pass the time so they didn't go crazy! So you'll understand why when we saw something of even a little interest we were thrilled...here is a list of some of things that thrilled us:
*as we were leaving Laramie we saw a giant monument-a carving of Abraham Lincoln(if anyone knows what this is, or why they have it there-I'm dying to know its significance);
*a "point of interest" (that's what the sign said)-a tree growing out of a rock in between north and southbound interstate outside Laramie;
*as we entered Nebraska we saw what appeared to be a huge statue of Jesus;
*a military helicopter perched directly off the interstate (I think it was advertising a military museum down the road);
*a HUGE herd of llamas
*Great Platte River Road Archway Monument
As we were driving through Nebraska an Office Max truck drove past us and it was carrying The World's Largest Rubber Band Ball!!! How cool is that!?! I realize it may not be that cool to all of you, but to us at that moment it was awesome! I made Ethan chase it down so I could get a good picture.
For dinner we ate at Arby's, I got the Turkey Bacon Club and it was WAY better than Little America's. Then we drove the rest of the way to Kansas City, MO to stay with Ali and Josh. It was so great to see them, we stayed up talking and lounging...happy to be out of the car for a time. They were excellent hosts! Thanks for everything guys!
Sunday November 4, 2007Spent the day with Ali, Josh and ConradWe got up and drove to Independence and went to their Sacrament Meeting. The ward there had a lot of members that were Samoan, three brethren left a big impact on us. The first was the chorister, he was so into it. His movements were HUGE, he was so involved with feeling the music and trying to get us all to sing he didn't have the words half the time. He had a great smile and you could tell he loved music and he loved his calling. The next guy was the first person to bear his testimony. He started out by talking about Everybody Loves Raymond of all things and then as if that weren't scandalous enough, he talked about an episode where Ray's daughter asks where babies come from. I wasn't sure where he was headed with it, but it came around in the end that we need to be sure of ourselves so we can always have the answers for our kids. We totally expected him to sound like he was from Samoa, but he was more likely from Utah. The third man also bore his testimony, but I have no idea what he said. His accent was so thick! However, I could feel his love for the gospel and our Savior. He was this short, BIG guy and as we were leaving his shook Ethan's hand, for the rest of the day Ethan smelled like Victoria Secret's Lovespell lotion-pretty funny! There were also a TON of missionaries in the ward, I'm really glad we went, we had a nice time.
The next thing we did in Independence was the LDS Visitor's Center. Sister Miller was our tour guide. She told us a little about Missouri history. They have a play area for kids and as you can see, we enjoyed it
Then we did a tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls wherein we learned about Qumran and the Light Seekers (Assines). They lived an extremely strict Jewish law. They also wrote a ton, I had no idea there were so many scrolls. The longest scroll was over 24 feet long, it is the Temple Scroll or the Isaiah Scroll. The tour was audiotape guided with Lloyd Newell (Music and the Spoken Word guy) as the narrator, Ethan's batteries were running low and so Bro. Newell's voice kept getting lower and deeper, he thought that was pretty funny! As we were leaving, Sister Miller told us "good luck in Florida" and the couple missionaries perked right up, asking us if we lived in Florida and where. We explained our situation and they asked if we would be near Satellite Beach, we told them yes and they said their daughter lives there. Their son-in-law is the Elder's Quorum president. So we took their information and a picture to share with their kids. What a small world we live in...
The next thing we did was tour the Community of Christ Temple. Its strange to think they believe they have the truth and that we started with the same root. Their video didn't explain the first vision at all, it was merely mentioned in passing and the Book of Mormon is not part of their doctrine. It is suggested that they study it at home, but it is never preached from at church. Actually I don't know if they have regular meetings, they didn't mention that either. What they did mention, a lot, was how worldwide their church is. Everything inside the Temple is from some foreign country. I got the impression that he was trying to play up the similarities between our churches on the good points and definitely define our differences on things that might be hard to deal with in our church. Such as, the reason they say they didn't follow Brigham Young was because of polygamy and women hold the priesthood in their church. Yet they have some of the same ordinances like baptism, ordination, baby blessings, etc. It was really interesting. They have some beautiful things in their temple, here are some pictures of it.
This is a gorgeous glass etching of the First Vision. It was my favorite thing there.
Something else I found very interesting is that the Community of Christ doesn't own the Temple Plot. There is another church there is is called the "Church of Christ (Temple Lot)" and they are protecting the land. Our tour guide kind of dismissed the "Church of Christ (Temple Lot)" but mentioned that there were 9 split off churches after Joseph died. I don't know of 9, do you?
The next stop was the Liberty Jail. This was by far my favorite thing of the trip. We had a very informative guide. He told us a lot of stories and one of my favorites was about two men whose names have left me, sorry. Joseph Knight might be the Mormon's name. Anyhow, a "friend" bombarded him with a mob and Joseph got shot. Well the "friend" felt bad about it so he brought a doctor to him. The doctor said that surgery would only make things worse and left. At that point an elder came in and as he laid his hands onto his head-before he even touched him-Joseph felt the power and once the blessing had been given he jumped right up, the bullet and a bunch of blood gushed out of him and he was healed. What a visual, it reminds me of Heroes. After his stories we went into the room with the jail, for those of you who don't know, the church bought the property and had to rebuild the jail using many of the same stones, but with new wood. The walls were 4 feet thick, with a layer of wood on the inside, a stone wall on the outside, and loose rocks filling the gap. They then built a visitor's center around the jail, its pretty cool. The jail has wax figures of 5 men and a very neat presentation. When it was over we could take pictures then everyone left. I had to make a pit stop and as I came through the room again, all by myself, I felt very surely the presence of the Lord had been there and I was walking in a Holy place. It was very special.
The width of the walls...
Isn't he cute?
Ali and me-she is so great!
After this we went home and ate a fabulous dinner of grilled chicken and potatoes, thanks Ali and Josh! We spent the evening visiting some more, giving Conrad his birthday presents, eating ice cream and talking even more. It was great and before we went to bed Ali and Josh gave us a traveling kit. It was filled with goodies for us to snack on for the remainder of our trip. Since the kids' candy was all but gone, it was not only super awesome and nice, but quite practical! Thanks again you guys! You totally rock! We love ya!
Monday November 5, 2007Kansas City, MO to Nashville, TNIf Wyoming and Nebraska were boring to sit through the beauty of the remainder of our trip made up for it. We saw the St. Louis Arch in Historic Riverfront in Old St. Louis. We crossed the Mississippi River on the Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge.
We went through Metropolis, IL and tried to find a giant Superman statue. I say try because they made it sound as if it were close by, but then we never got there. I gave up because I didn't want to take more time out driving, though it would have been so cool-the kids would have loved to seen that picture! As we crossed the Ohio River we entered Kentucky: Unbridled Spirit and the Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln (thats what the sign says). Ethan almost immediately turned the radio on to find some Bluegrass tunes. On only the second try he found it, so we can now say we've listened to Bluegrass in the Bluegrass State.
When we were driving through Nashville it started a downpour. I was driving and I don't drive well at night anyway, but throw wet roads into the mix and I was a wreck! Every muscle in my body ached I was so stiff. We finally found the Super 8 just outside of Nashville and I was able to relax. The Super 8 in Murfreesboro was very nice! I was totally surprised, it felt like a luxury place so if you're every in need of a place to stay near Nashville, I can highly recommend it. It was also cheaper (by about $20) than the Howard Johnson in Laramie. Go figure! We got there in time to catch most of Heroes which we were happy about, we like that show!
Tuesday November 6, 2007Nashville, TN to Jacksonville, FLWhen I was in Tennessee a few years ago, I was not impressed. This time between Nashville and Chattanooga all I can say is WOW! It was stunning, the hills were covered in fall colors and the lake we could see, beautiful. Of course we sang the "The Chattanooga Choo-Choo" all day. I didn't want Tennessee to end but then we got to Atlanta, Georgia I was equally impressed for different reasons. I had no idea it was such a gigantic city. Major businesses are set up there, Turner Broadcasting, Ford, AT&T, and more. We saw the Olympic torch just off I-75, signs for Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Underground Atlanta (again not sure about this one, anybody clue me in?), a building with a dome roof (like a capitol) with a gold statue of a person holding a torch on top, and TONS of planes coming in for landing-3 all next to each other-very cool! It was such a huge city, yet so covered with trees and green that I didn't see all the dirt and grime. It was very impressive. The picture I took isn't quite as impressive, but you can at least see that its big.
By the time we got to Jacksonville it was dark and the bridges were all lit up. It was another beautiful site. There were 2 that stood out, one big blue one and another big one with white lights that reminded me of Christmas. On the modis building about halfway up was written in lights "GO JAGUARS!" and just off the interstate was a giant 7-Up can. It was fun to see the biggest city in Florida (according to Rand McNally) at night.
Once in Jacksonville, we went to Ethan's cousin, Devin's, house. We had a nice little visit with him and then we stayed up and watch The Prestige. It was a good way to end our day.
We also finished reading The Princes Bride and loved it! And we watched The Office Seasons 1 and 2 (not all of Season 2, though we would have loved to get through it all).
Wednesday November 7, 2007Jacksonville, FL to Melbourne, FL We were again lazy in the morning, not needing to get on the road early. Amanda, our cousin-in-law got home from work and we visited with her. She told us the shuttle was landing that afternoon, so we headed outside to see if we could see it. We didn't see it, but we did get our first taste of Florida's space connection as we heard the sonic boom when the shuttle entered the Earth's atmosphere.
As we left we saw Sawgrass on PGA Tour Blvd. Devin said we should tell anyone who knows about golf about that and they would think it was cool, so if you're out there and you think its cool, there you go! I guess its a big PGA Tour Course.
On our way down the I-95 we saw a ton of billboards for RonJon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach (which is just up the road from us) and the World's Biggest Harley Davidson Shop in Daytona Beach. My dad really wanted to make it up there, but didn't get to this time, maybe next time, dad!
We got to our new home and met the Tolands, our new friends and landlords. I'll post pictures of the inside soon, but for now, here is the exterior. I wish I wasn't in the picture I look like I've been on the road for 5 days. It seems weird to have so many pictures in a post that have me in them, they are usually filled with the kids.
We are happy to be here and hope you enjoyed the journey with us. We went through 10 states (at least partially) including: Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. I'm sure it felt like it took 5 days for you to get through it all, but hey, this if for posterity, right? It was a great trip and we look forward to doing it all again in February!
