adventure

Last Stretch to Home

| cnaglis63
Eden is a night sky town

We traveled to Eden, Utah and enjoyed a beautiful stay with Kathy and Brad. They were very hospitable and we again enjoyed a suite similar to the Kinnersley home. While we were catching up, Brad mentions that they have a new pet. Kathy says, “I’ll go get him.” I’m expecting a puppy and what comes out is a LAMB! The cutest little newborn lamb. They had been out voyaging in their side by side and stopped because this little lamb was running towards them, bawling and calling. He went straight to Brad and Kathy filmed the entire episode. They could see that he was dehydrated and needed immediate attention. So, they attempted to find his mom. She was no where to be found. They found other sheep and they wanted nothing to do with this little guy. Fearing that he would die if left alone, they decided to bring him to their home and save his life. Branner’s have a neighbor who is a vet and he looked him over and determined that he was in pretty good shape. Kathy and Brad bought him some milk replacer and a dog crate to keep him contained while in the house or traveling. Outside, they bought a little pen to give him time outside as well. The weather was warming up and this little lamb enjoyed some time in the pen with a ball to play with.

Kathy feeding Spartacus
Me loving on his cute mustache

They named him Spartacus (I asked if his name was Lamb Chops). He was pretty cute, especially while hopping and bucking around. They were getting up in the night to feed him and by the time we left, Kathy was feeding Spartacus at 10 pm and then he was good until 6 am. Eventually, they found a little hobby farm for him to live on and hopefully, Spartacus goes on to live a fulfilled life being loved on by four children. I checked up on his breed and he is noted for being intelligent, docile and alert. Romeldale are actually a rare sheep and their fleece is a fine wool.

He walks without a leash 🥰

On Monday, Erik and I decided to drive around the Ogden Valley. On the south end is Snow Basin (ski hill) and on the north end is Powder Mountain. It wasn’t very warm and we had drizzly weather. As we made our way up Powder Mountain, I noted the sign of a 16 percent grade! Our poor SUV was loaded so heavy and I started to hear the motor working hard. By the time we reached the first ski hill, we were at 8200 feet of elevation and it was snowing. I told Erik that we weren’t going higher and it was time to turn around. The longest ski run on this resort is 5 (km) or 3 miles. With 8,000 acres of skiing, it seems to be a great place to go. The road is quite twisty and we were imagining a truck needing a runaway ramp which was at the bottom of the mountain!

Powder Mountain

Tuesday came and we decided to go to Ogden to get some items from Costco. The weather was much nicer and we enjoyed a quick jaunt to get some beef sticks and simply look at all the different items for sale. Then it was on to Good Earth health food store to get some vitamins. The workers there were so knowledgeable and we were really impressed with the service we received.

Brad and Kathy had been having dental appointments while we were exploring. We drove past the Ogden temple and Tabernacle before heading back to Eden.

Wednesday, our plan was to get to Rexburg for the night and a session at the temple. We have never been to Rexburg Idaho and it had a rocky start with our hotel that we were supposed to be in. It was under renovation and rooms weren’t available. I had a feeling that we needed to cancel and move on. We found another hotel that turned out to be perfect for the night. Many rooms were full of construction workers. We soon found out as we needed a Walmart trip that the Teton River temple is being constructed in Rexburg. Between graduations and construction the hotels were sold out.

We went for supper at a smokehouse and enjoyed some smoked meat. I received news that my dad was not doing well and was in the hospital. The hospital decided to put him in Palliative care. I wasn’t ready for this as my mom just passed at the beginning of March. I was happy to go to the temple and take this care to the Lord.

At the Rexburg temple

The first thing we noticed about the Rexburg temple is that the average age of the workers and patrons is much lower than other temples. BYU Idaho is next to the Rexburg temple. These two temples will be the only ones in the world on the same street. Not side by side but still on the same street. Teton River temple is slightly ahead of schedule than the Lethbridge temple. We met the President on duty and his wife and they are friends with someone I knew from Calgary area. It’s such a small world!

Returning to the hotel, we headed to the pool and had the best pool yet in our journey; the water was the perfect temperature and Erik also went in the hot tub while I exercised in the pool. I was prepared for a lovely night of sleep. It was going well until 6:04 am when the fire alarms were going off. The fire detector had a flashing white light that was strobing us into the twilight zone while the screeching of the alarms was going full tilt. We were trying to decide if it was a real emergency. We heard the footsteps of guests above us but the hallway was quiet. The smell of burnt toast permeated the hotel. That had to have been some serious toast fire going on! Our next door neighbors checked out at the same time as us and said that they didn’t hear a thing! I guess that we were meant to be up and at ’em!

Carrying on north, we left Rexburg and headed up highway 20 towards West Yellowstone. We veered off onto highway 87 through the Targhee Pass which straddles the Continental Divide on the Idaho-Montana border. It sits at just over 7,000 feet. This passes by Henrys Lake first and it was surprising to see such a large mountain lake. The weather wasn’t favorable because it was cold and snowing.

Seeing the sign for Butte brought back some memories of living there while Erik was earning his Petroleum Engineering degree. We passed through Boulder Montana and headed north to Helena. Our original plan had us stopping in Helena for the night so that we could attend the temple but with my dad not well, we felt impressed to get all the way to Lethbridge and get more miles under our wheels. Seeing the Sweetgrass mountains makes a person feel like they are nearly home.

Crossing the border back into Canada was a non event and we were on our way. We turned our cars metrics back into metric from imperial. We made it to Lethbridge and decided to drive past the temple construction sight to see the progress. The information trailer wasn’t opened by the time we got there so we will go another time.

Lethbridge temple site

Getting to see our grandchildren, Henry and Penny was so fun. Penny is only 9 months old and doesn’t know us so she was a little shy. Later we were able to hold her and she was fine with us. I was finally able to give Penny her quilt that I made her. We toured the backyard the next morning to refill the hummingbird feeder and check out the trees. Then we learned that Lyndon has become a jam maker and has taken up canning. They grow grapes and cherries in their backyard.

Penny in her Buc-ees hat
Henry with his t-shirt

Now I got to drive my truck! Erik loaded the tires in the back of the truck and we were off for the final leg to our cottage. Once we arrived at the lake, we discovered that robins had taken over. The bird poop everywhere was incredible; just not in a good way that we were enjoying. Our plan was to take one day to do laundry and unload our vehicles and then to head to Bonnyville to see dad.

Made it home!
The robin mess
More mess

This journey home was 7, 410 kilometers, 85 hours and 20 minutes of driving!

By Sunday morning, we were back on the road with a much lighter car. We still have not been released by our Stake President but that will happen when we return from the Cold Lake area. Highway 28 from Edmonton to Cold Lake is not in great condition and I struggle to understand why this highway has not been twinned. There is a lot of traffic on this road!

We checked into our hotel in Bonnyville and then headed to the hospital to see how dad is doing. I was pleasantly surprised to see my youngest sister, Tanya and her husband, Kerry in dad’s room and we were able to catch up on the news. Dad’s struggling and we will be making some plans for and with him.

We surely know this as we face mountain after mountain. As we rely on the help of the Lord we can climb every mountain placed in front of us. It may feel that you have to conquer many obstacles in a day but remember that we place one foot in front of the other and deal with one crisis at a time. Everything will unfold the way it is meant to. God knows your needs and where you need to be. Listen carefully to that little voice that will lead you where you need to be.

Northward We Go

| cnaglis63
Monument of the Eight Witnesses

We left Liberty, Missouri on Monday and on our way was the Monument to the Eight Witnesses. The monument to the Eight Witnesses honors the eight men who saw the gold plates and signed their names to a testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon. This memorial sits in a small cemetery just outside of Liberty, Missouri, on property once owned by Michael Arthur. The monument is a large granite obelisk near the graves of Christian and Peter Whitmer. It was dedicated on November 19, 2011. There was a tour group also there and one lady who I talked to, told me that Steven C. Harper was their tour guide. I was oblivious to who that was but learned that he helped edit the Saints series of books.

Erik has been watching some videos on using RV’s. An important thing he learned was called the Rule of Three. 1. Don’t drive more than 300 miles in a day. 2. Don’t drive for more than three hours at a time. 3. Stay for three days in a spot. We have discovered this rule to be quite advantageous to having a successful trip even though we aren’t in a RV. The day we traveled from Atlanta to St. Louis was too much and we were both cranky. Even though we could have pushed and gone all the way to Denver, we decided to stop in Hays, Kansas for the night. We drove for around four hours and then pulled into Hays. We did stop at rest stops every hour as well and walked around.

In the song, “America the Beautiful”, the words are, “O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain! These words were running through my mind as we drove through Kansas. The undulating plain spotted by the occasional town, had areas of golden grasses rippling in the wind as waves of grain. It was a beautiful sight to see.

We soon crossed over the time zone change into Mountain Daylight time. It felt great to be back in our home time zone. The car’s clock changed automatically but our phones took a half hour to catch up. I was anxiously waiting to see the mountains but it took awhile. We were driving the I-70 westward and Burlington was the border town between Kansas and Colorado.

The Denver temple is the 40th operating temple for the church. It was dedicated in the fall of 1986. We had a 6 pm ordinance booked and are always thrilled to enter the Lord’s house and feel the peace as you leave behind the cares of the world.

Wednesday morning found us driving west again towards Grand Junction, Colorado. This was a stunning drive as we headed into the mountains. The west side of Denver has mountain sides full of large majestic homes perched on seemingly precarious perches. We continued climbing in elevation which I thought was so interesting as we were driving through Kansas, the elevation continued to climb and by the time we hit the border of Colorado we were at 4200 feet above sea level. Shortly after leaving Denver we arrived at the Eisenhower Tunnel. This tunnel takes you under the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains. With an elevation of 11,158 feet above sea level, it is one of the world’s highest vehicular tunnels. It is the longest and highest tunnel on the Interstate Highway System, with being 1.7 miles (2.7 kms) long. My first thought was, “I don’t need to go to Machu Pichu, this is high enough for me!” My breathing was a struggle and I was light headed.

We stopped in Frisco for a rest and enjoyed the beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. When we drove past the sign for Glenwood Canyon, we prepared for a stunning ride. Sure enough, we were stunned by the geology and the curving road.

Glenwood Canyon is a spectacular 12.5 mile geologic and engineering marvel in western Colorado. Carved by the Colorado river, the canyon features cliffs up to 1300 feet deep. This canyon is considered one of the most scenic natural features on the Interstate Highway System.

Onto Grand Junction where we left behind the Rocky Mountains and headed into the temple which is only six months old. It was stunning and very well run. We couldn’t scan our phones to print family cards because the cell coverage was limited in the office. I would go out to the vestibule and load it on my phone and then go back to the office to print it out.

I talked with a temple worker and asked her how this temple helped her life. She told me that before it’s opening, she drove three hours one way to the Monticello temple in Utah to volunteer. Now she lives three minutes from the Grand Junction temple. What a blessing!

As we left Grand Junction the next morning we continued south west on the I-70. We saw a long line of cars leaving Moab, Utah in the morning. Our goal for this day was to get to Manti and go to the temple. We had booked a hotel in Ephraim, Utah which is only 7 minutes north of Manti. The vistas of southern Utah are so incredibly beautiful. The geology is dramatic and awesome! It is a premier red-rock destination which spans the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Plateau.

I’m on top of a hill that I climbed in my sandals. I am afraid of heights and I didn’t stay long up there.

As we turned north on the I-89, our elevation was climbing again. We enjoy watching the compass on the car display to see how high we are climbing. We drive through Manti and headed to Ephraim. On the way to hour hotel, I spotted another temple and realized that it was yet to be dedicated. Our hotel was brand new and had a lovely pool.

Experiencing the Manti temple was indescribable! The feelings that I had were overwhelming. It is so historic being the third dedicated temple. It sits on what is known as “Temple Hill” and can be seen for miles.

Leaving Ephraim we headed to the Payson temple on Friday. This is a large temple and we were welcomed by another patron who helped me with directions and tips on where to go in the temple. There were weddings being performed in the temple and we saw a lot of guests coming and going.

Payson temple

The Payson temple is located on the southern portion of the Wasatch Front. It is the 146th dedicated temple and the 15th temple in Utah. From Payson we headed to Salt Lake City to our friends, the Kinnersley’s. They graciously hosted us for a couple of nights. Because they live close to the action of the renovations of the Salt Lake City temple and the Visitor’s Center, we were able to see up close the goings on. The blessings flowed as we entered the Visitor’s Center; it was the last day of the soft opening. We were immediately able to join a tour and see how the Visitor’s Center is now focused on the temple. We were taken through rooms representing the various ordinance rooms in the temple. It was a very special feeling!

Salt Lake City temple
A view of the interior of the temple.

Saturday evening, we enjoyed a meal and visit with fellow missionaries that we served with in Palmyra. We were blessed to see our neighbors, Tonya and Rick Gurr, as well as Eileen and Charlie Whitehead. We had such a great night together! I can’t believe that we didn’t take a photo of us all. We spent all our time talking and catching up.

Shauna and Dan serve in the Church History Museum one day a week and it is right across from Temple Square. We were able to walk through Temple Square and see the new landscaping and statues that were in place. The day was a bit cool but definitely a lovely walk. We went to Crown Burgers for lunch and I enjoyed a beautiful lettuce wrapped burger.

On Sunday, we went to church with Shauna and Dan. Their granddaughter was giving a talk in Sacrament meeting and she did a wonderful job. It was a wonderful Ward and then it was time for Sunday School and the teacher, Blake, was stupendous. His knowledge of the scriptures made it such a joy to be in his class.

The weather was changing and not for the better. Dan said that we would be heading into snow by going north to Eden. Our dear friends, Kathy and Brad Branner were hosting us for the next leg of our journey. It was raining in Salt Lake City as we left and the farther north it got a little heavy but by the time we got to Ogden, it wasn’t raining anymore. It was so delightful to see Kathy and Brad again. They are friends that we met in Huatulco and we hit it off really well.

Eden is in the Ogden Valley and is close to Huntsville where David O. McKay was born. The views are incredible and it is home to Powder Mountain Ski Resort.

We have really enjoyed spending time with what I call “Eternal Friends”. We really do help each other along the journey of life and can help bring joy and happiness into our lives. I absolutely love the people that have come into my life and cherish our friendships.

The Wheels on the Car Go Round & Round

| cnaglis63
Drying the Moola

We stayed in Santee, South Carolina for 3 nights. Erik went fishing on Tuesday for fresh water Bass. Erik learned many things about Bass fishing and the wildlife in the lake. There were alligators, snakes, so many varieties of birds. One morning, while using the Merrell App, I recorded 24 different species of birds all waking up and chatting with each other. Erik’s fishing guide had accidently snagged a Water Moccasin the week before. I was quite happy to stay at the lake house, crocheting in the screened in back porch, safe from the critters. Erik did have one incident where he lost his footing and ended up in the lake, hence the photo of the money drying on the table!

Safe in the porch
Erik and the Bass

On Cinco de Mayo, we wanted to eat Mexican food but it turned out that so did everyone else in town and it was crazy at the restaurant. We opted instead to go to the restaurant across the road. It had golf and fishing decor and there were tables that had all fisherman and other tables with the golfers. I looked around and the tables were full of seniors, (the gray-haired crowd, not the high school graduates). All the waitresses were older too and I felt like I was in a retirement home!

We headed out towards Atlanta, Georgia on May 6. Driving west along highway 20, we passed by Augusta which hosts the Masters Golf Tournament each spring. Arriving in Atlanta was a scary ordeal because of the amount of traffic. At one point I counted the lanes just on our side of the freeway; there were 9 lanes! We arrived just before 3 pm and the traffic was already horrendous. I learned from a lady that travels from Wisconsin to Florida, is that the best time to travel through Atlanta is around 3-4 am. Our hotel was okay. I dressed to go to the pool and got there before Erik. As I put a toe in the water, I realized that this indoor pool was NOT heated. I was determined to do my workout so I carefully immersed myself. Then I got to see Erik’s face when he entered the pool, hahaha!

Atlanta temple

We had an evening appointment at the Atlanta temple and the sky was looking very dark and ominous. By the time we left the temple, my phone started pinging for Tornado warnings! It was a torrential downpour and were looking for a restaurant to eat at. Nothing gets between me and my Birria tacos.

The next morning the rain was still quite heavy as we headed out to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was pretty tense driving in Atlanta with nearly blinding conditions. The farther north we got, it started to lighten and I could finally breathe properly again. We carried on in a northwest direction towards Nashville. I was so excited to see the Grand Ole Opry!!!!

Staying on highway 24, we drive into Kentucky and went through Paducah where the National Quilting Museum is located. Paducah has been part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the category of craft and folk art since 2013. We drove through at 3:30 pm and I didn’t feel like we had time to give proper attention to the museum; so we carried on.

At some point we changed to highway 55 to enter St. Louis from the south. We traveled west from Paducah into Cairo, Illinois. This town is now a ghost town. As we drove through it, it was terribly sad to see all the destruction and disrepair everywhere. It’s located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and was an important area for barges bringing goods up the river. Then when railways took over the major part of shipping, Cairo lost so many jobs. They also had a really bad patch with racial riots in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The history is very involved and really requires a person to study all sides.

The Tom Sawyer

We ended up in St. Louis for the night but in a suburb close to the temple. St. Louis sits on the Illinois and Missouri border. We did go on a river cruise on a steam boat called the “Tom Sawyer”. As we were walking to the dock, we met a gentleman who used to be a police officer and was now a tour guide. I had questions for him and in our short three minutes together he answered some of my questions. Why did St. Louis’ population go from 1.5 million to less than 300,000? Crime, violence and economic changes. This city ranks in the top five most crime filled cities in the USA. Where did everyone go? They left either to the suburbs or out of the area completely. As this city sits at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, we were able to see barges being moved around and unloaded. We sailed under magnificent bridges. The Eads bridge was built in 1874 and was the world’s first steel bridge. They have water markings in feet on the bridges as flooding does occur. The Dr. Martin Luther King bridge connects downtown to Illinois. The MacArthur bridge is used for freight railroads. Workers were repairing this bridge and all stopped to wave at us as we sailed under.

Eads bridge
St. Louis Arch
At the Atlanta temple

We were able to enjoy our time at the temple before moving onward in our journey. We carried along highway 70 towards Kansas City. I was really looking forward to this leg of the trip because we were going to see the Historic Sites of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We stopped in Independence first to go to the Visitor Center. We joined a tour and chatted at the end of the tour with the President of the Historic missionaries for that area. We finally got to our Airbnb by 5 pm after doing an Endowment session at the Kansas City temple. It felt good to be stationary for a couple of nights.

Kansas City temple

Liberty is a beautiful town to stay in. We stayed in the historic downtown area and it felt like being back in the Parsonage house in Palmyra; floors that creaked with every step and old door knobs and doors. We went to church in Liberty on Sunday morning. Sacrament meeting started at 9 am. Being Mother’s Day, the invocation and the benediction were given by young men. The young man giving the benediction said, “Please bless the mother’s that they can have a break from their children today.” It was so hard not to laugh out loud! Imagine the conversations in that household!

We saw a vanload heading out the same time as us and I wondered if it was a tour group. We passed them later in the day and then again today. We drove to Far West first to see the site. Amazing history here again to read about. From here we drove to Adam-ondi-Ahman. I absolutely love driving the back roads of America. I love seeing how people live and seeing the farms and little towns. Adam-ondi-Ahman is a sacred historic site in Daviess County, Missouri, identified by Joseph Smith in 1838 as the place where Adam and Eve dwelt after being expelled from the Garden of Eden. It is believed by Latter-day Saints to be a future gathering place for a major priesthood council before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was magnificent to stand there and look out over the valley and feel the sacredness of this site.

Far West
Liberty Jail Visitor Center

On the way back to Liberty, we drove through Hamilton, Missouri. This is where the Doan siblings founded the Missouri Star Quilt Company to fulfill their mother’s dream and in tribute to her talent on producing videos on Youtube. Jenny Doan and her husband Al are serving a mission in Ghana now and will be home later this year. Erik drove around downtown twice so that I could look at all the storefronts. MSCQ owns 26 buildings in Hamilton and is part owner in three restaurants. It’s too bad it was a Sunday!

One of the things that I discovered is that driving for too long makes both of us cranky. Our trip from Atlanta to St. Louis was a 10 hour day and that ‘s far too long to be sitting in a car with the occasional stop. We won’t be doing that again!

It’s a time to be grateful for those who have gone before us. I am at an age where many of my friends have lost their mothers and it being my first Mother’s Day without my mom here on earth, it gave me pause to think on her influence in my life. My heart was so blessed to talk with my oldest daughter on Sunday. She has a very compassionate heart and is kind and loving. She is not a mother but definitely has a mother’s heart with her traits of nurturing and kindness.

Remember who you are, a divine child of our Father in heaven, with divine attributes that can bless the lives of those around you. Enjoy your week!