The Pre-quel

June 16 2008
“Are we there yet?”… Believe it or not we only heard that question twice yesterday. The drive seemed very circuitous, but it was interesting. We went through St. Louis, Hannibal, Mo of Huck Finn fame and about 5 thousand little towns with fewer people than a few of the Middle Schools I work with. We crossed the Tennessee River, The Mississippi River, twice the Cumberland, and twice and the Missouri River. All the way here Miriam kept reminding us that we had to go camping to see the yellow stone. Each time we would remind her that we were going to Nauvoo first, “oh yeah, “she would repeat, “we’re going camping at Nauvoo”. All four kids were extremely well behaved and good natured, especially considering we were in the car for 11 hours. Rebekah did hurt my brain a few times making me answer deep spiritual or political questions…. Don’t you hate those typical teenagers? Sarah was happy to play silly word games and sing songs all the way. Believe it or not, Sarah did not fall asleep, but Bekah did. Our little stoic Adam did finally break at 9:00 PM and asked, the horrible question for the second time, but it only took a gentle reminder that we were all tired and unhappy about still being in the car to return him to his all is well bubble.
We missed the camp ground, but this turned out to be a good thing as we came around a bend on 96 and there before us was the gleaming white and gold Nauvoo temple. Those simple lights are more attractive to me than all the lights of any big city I have ever seen. We turned around and found Nauvoo State Park in just a few minutes. Miriam had fallen asleep around 9:45 and slept until we had the pop up tent set up around 11. The weather was fantastic, 60 degrees, no rain… I actually got a little chilly with the fan on and had to get under the blankets.
We woke up, No alarms? : ) at around 8:00 showered ate, and drove into Historic Nauvoo. We started out by taking the wagon ride tour, which gave us a great idea of which restored buildings we really wanted to visit. At the cultural Hall we watched a really hoky kids show, and Miriam was asked to come up on stage. She loooooooved it, and was quite the ham. Sarah was laughing her head off and saying “that was so cute,”
It was deeply moving to see all of those restored homes and businesses and then to walk down the road the saints had to walk as they fled, once again, the violent mobs. This is especially true when you looked back over your shoulder to see the shining temple spire that they had all sacrificed and worked so hard to build.
Emotion aside the little well organized community reminded me of the new trends toward urban villages. With everything in walking distance and laid out in neat square blocks with room for businesses homes, gardens and community space. I mentioned to the kids that we kind of had a similar situation where we live with family, friends, and shops close enough to walk to, but we have the crazy curvy southern streets.


June 17,

Well today turned out to be quite an adventure. We got off to an early start and headed back through town, past the temple, towards the Fort Madison Bridge. Just as we turned left to head across the Mississippi, we saw the orange road cones, ant the bridge closed signs. At that same moment I felt the entire van lurch and looked in my rear view mirror to see the Pop up gently lay itself down in the road behind us. Apparently the wagon master (yes that would be me) had not tightened the ball hitch down and had forgotten to attach the safety chain. I did learn that a single 18 gauge ground wire does not work as a safety chain. Several kind souls immediately came to our aid and within ten minutes we were back together and on the road, but back the way we had come. The flood waters from the Iowa and Wisconsin floods had closed every bridge north for several hundred miles. There was one bridge open in Keokuk Iowa. It was only a thirty minute drive to the bridge but it took an hour of waiting in line to get across. On the way we realized for the first time how high the Mississippi was running as in several places it was with ten feet of covering the Great River Road, effectively trapping us in Nauvoo. It was only when we were half way across the what we thought was the bridge when we realized that we were driving on hastily constructed levy reaching across the flooded approach to the bridge. The van’s heavily loaded rear tires were sinking into the soggy levy causing a horribly terrifying noise as the hitch dragged across the ground. I must tell you that despite the positive out come, I never would have made the crossing had I known what we were actually doing. Once across we purchased a map and found a series of country highways that allowed us to by pass flooded Des Moine and Cedar Rapids. It was an uneventful drive from there, except for Mim singing “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” four or five hundred times, and the friendly but overzealous state trooper who gave me a speeding ticket for going 65 in a 55 zone. Despite the four extra hours of driving we had not anticipated we arrived at Dodge State Park before dark, and now its snooze time for this old wagon master. We have decided to change our drive plans tomorrow because of the long drive today. We are going to head out tomorrow afternoon drive about 250 miles and start looking for a campground.

June 18, 2008

In terms of personal adventures today was much calmer for the Alcantar clan; we got started around 9:00 and headed for the Mormon Trail Center. While there we had our own personal guide, Sister Street, She did a wonderful job. Without getting into the detail of the struggles of the saints surviving the year at Winters Quarters, and Kaynesville, I was pretty choked up. The kids learned a great deal from the museum. It was especially meaningful having just made the journey from Nauvoo. As we left I asked the children if they had felt anything special today. The three older children all had been taught by the spirit and they felt that special warmth that comes from such an experience. I pointed out that it is important that they learn to recognize that spirit and to listen to its teachings and promptings. All of us were very touched. Needless to say, while the physical adventures were less today, the spiritual adventure was powerful. We found a fantastic camp ground in Mitchell South Dakota, Lake Mitchell camp Grounds. It is clean, green, and quiet. Even better we are literally 15 feet from the shower house and a play ground. Miriam, Sarah, and Adam played while we got dinner ready, and Sarah turned herself gray on the merry go round… don’t feel too bad for her I warned not to do it : ) .
I gave Adam and Sarah a project today; I told them that if they could teach Mim the names of the four presidents on Mt Rushmore by the time we reach California, I’d take them all out for ice cream. Miriam yelled, “Strawberry?”, and already has the names down with very little help. Guess I better be careful with the reward offers.

June 19, 2008
Grass, road sign, cow, grass, road sign, cow, grass road sign, grass, road sign, small town- from Keokuk, Iowa to the Missouri river in South Dakota, that is pretty much all we saw. I was about to suffer from cabin fever in our van when we finally, and suddenly, came upon the Missouri. This was a beautiful scene, Big trees green grass, blue water and sky, and rolling hills. I could live there…at least until winter.
Unfortunately, the breather was short lived as the grass and road signs for cheesy tourist stops took over again. Finally we hit the badlands and we started to have some pretty amazing views. Unfortunately, the cheesy tourist dives didn’t end until we were well inside the Black Hills National Forrest. We are camping right on Lake Sheridan and the drive to get here is worth it. The lake view right outside the tent is so amazing that Adam begged Bekah to let him sleep near the window so he could watch all night. He even offered to sleep at her feet.
We had grilled buffalo burgers for dinner made a small fire to warm up a little bit, yes it is actually chilly, and went to bed. We have a big day ahead tomorrow. Rushmore, Crazy horse, and Deadwood are all on the itinerary.

June 20, 2008
Wow if I thought the view was beautiful yesterday; waking up to the sun rising over the lake was amazing. After a hearty breakfast cooked outdoors we were on our way to Rushmore, and The Crazy Horse Memorial. Each was spectacular for different reasons. The sheer scale of Crazy Horse and the fact that the have not accepted any government money to build it is spectacular; the patriotic zeal that Rushmore inspires is also very powerful.
“When heroes die, dreams disappear, and when dreams disappear there is no more greatness” (paraphrase)… as quoted by the sculptor of Crazy Horse. He was also an assistant at Rushmore.
Mim has memorized all four presidents, but prefers Teddy “Rosabelt”, who wears sunglasses and has a moustache, for some reason, and thinks Abraca Licon is hard to remember.
Bekah Sarah and Adam went swimming in that ice cold water. I think they all have suffered some form of brain damage, but it’s the closest they have had to a bath in two days, so I didn’t complain.