The Trek

The trip of a thousand (or let's say TWO thousand miles) begins with a single virus. Yes, I said virus. It wouldn't have been a proper Jerdon move without the family curse coming into play, and we weren't disappointed. We started off our five day adventure, or rather the day that we were physically getting out of our Henderson house, with me getting ridiculously ill. 

Riley had been throwing up the week before, followed by Brendan three days later missing his chance to go with Nana Logsdon and Aunt Laura to Sea World, poor guy. Jake ended up with the "adult version" (diarrhea vs. vomiting) three days after Brendan...and then it was my turn. The day that I needed to be cleaning up the house before we packed the car. The boys' last day of school. The day I was planning to say my last tear-filled goodbyes to all my Henderson friends. Really, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

So, while I lay useless on a sleeping bag in one of the bedrooms, Jake took care of getting the boys to and from school, to their last day of school Primary water activity at the park, packing the car and tying up all the other loose ends. Meanwhile, his absolutely angelic Aunt Trisha cleaned our house. She cleaned out the fridge and spot cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms, mopped the floors. All those things that you have to leave until the last minute to do. Thankfully, I had had the foresight to clean the majority of things as I packed earlier in the week, so the oven, stove top, showers and things were all done.

I wasn't able to see the majority of folks that I had hoped to see one last time since I was pretty much incapacitated. My sweet friend Holly Foster had come by early in the day only to discover my wretchedness and sent Louise Miller over with essential oils to ease the symptoms and help me to be more functional. Rachelle Cox also came by the house with some travel gifts for the fam, found out I was sick and returned with some sick people food (aka soda crackers and Sprite), and also picked the boys up from the Primary activity for us. All I could do was air hug these dear women, but I was so grateful for their thoughtfulness and  friendship. 

Then, thanks to the plague that our family had acquired, we had to change our overnight plans. The original plan was to stay the night with Jake's cousin Kim and her family, but since we couldn't risk exposing them to my loveliness, Jake's aunt AGAIN jumped in to save the day and put us up in a hotel. Jake and the boys had dinner at her house while I got some rest in the hotel room, and then they joined me later to get some sleep before beginning the big drive.

With gratitude in my heart, I awoke the next morning feeling MUCH better (thankfully it was mostly a 24 hour thing), and we were off to Utah on the first leg of our trek. We all said a silent goodbye to our home for the past four years - the longest we've stayed anywhere in nearly 13 years of marriage - and turned our eyes towards the Rocky Mountains. 

In an effort to make the trip as enjoyable as humanly possible when one is stuck in a confined space for eight hours at a time, Jake and I planned to have at least one major stop each day of the trek that would be fun for the boys. For day one, it was the BYU Creamery in Provo. The BYU campus was under all kinds of construction, so a tour of the Wilk was out of the question, but everyone got to pick out their favorite ice cream from the creamery, so that made everything alright. 

We drove passed the Provo Temple and the MTC, which is always a highlight, as well as the Wymount apartments where we lived when Caleb was born. He loves hearing about his birth city. From there, it was off to finish the day be arriving in Vernal, Utah. That way we could be strategically placed for going to Dinosaur National Monument the following morning. But first, the boys tested out the hotel pool for an after dinner dip.

Jake and I both have fond memories of visiting Dinosaur National Monument as children, and it didn't disappoint. Day two dawned with the boys' first visit there. The visitor's center was very interesting, and Caleb and Brendan both set out to complete the junior ranger program associated with the Monument. After seeing what we could at the visitor's center, we drove up to "the Quarry" to see the exposed hillside full of dinosaur bones. There were computerized kiosks that helped you zero in on specific bones in the excavation site and then it would tell you what dinosaur part it was. It was very interesting. Riley mostly enjoyed running up and down the walkway ramps when he wasn't wigging out. 

We discovered quickly that Riley was taking the move the hardest. Every morning, he would become especially obstinate and end up throwing some spectacular tantrum for all the hotel patrons to enjoy during breakfast. It didn't usually end there, either. He was in high alert mode throughout the majority of the morning until about lunch time when he would become a human being again. Until then, any little thing could send him into "Hulk" mode. He would instantly turn green, his veins would bulge out of his neck and he would smash things. OK, he wouldn't turn green, but everything else.

But back to the Dinosaur Monument...we left shortly after Riley pulled a Hulk to minimize the family shame. Caleb and Brendan did get to return to the visitor's center to receive their junior ranger badges and take the oath to respect the environment and all that. It was a solemn moment. Riley was not present. 

After visiting the Monument, we weaved our way through the GORGEOUS views of the Rocky Mountains until we found ourselves in Colorado Springs, Colorado, home of the Air Force Academy. Caleb has always been interested in being a fighter pilot when he grows up, so we thought it would be a good educational field trip for him for day three. 

 The famous Cadet Chapel

After checking out the Academy, we had to do a long day of driving to get ourselves all the way to Omaha, Nebraska. We did take a pit stop at Dairy Queen for lunch to stretch our legs and have some ice cream, though.

 

Then after running through a big thunder and lightening storm, followed by a crazy dust storm that made England's fog look like nothing, we made it to my cousin Stacey's home in Omaha.

Stacey, her husband Chris and their son Patrick were such wonderful hosts. Stacey fed us some yummy homemade stew for dinner and the boys all played spies together. It was great to see the boy running around and pretending after so much time cooped up in the car. It was also good to catch up with Stacey and Chris. We hadn't seen them in several years.

Just as we were getting ready to leave their house, though, I suddenly noticed that Riley's face was covered in HIVES! Our little bubble boy must have gotten licked in the face by the dogs and ended up with an allergic reaction! We had to make a stop at Walmart for some allergy meds before hitting the road again. He looked like he had the measles or something. That was the start of day four.

Luckily, it was a shorter driving day that Sunday, since we were only going across Iowa and then down to the Nauvoo area. I have to admit that I was pretty excited to see Nauvoo again.. I hadn't been there since I was a teenager and the temple hadn't been rebuilt yet. There was only a sunken in grassing hill where it had once stood. 

Not long after crossing the Great Mississippi River into Illinois, we found ourselves in Historic Nauvoo, and I literally gasped when I caught a glimpse of the temple. 

 

I couldn't help but feel the tears spring to my eyes when I saw it. To think of the original Saints who built it up only to have to leave it behind to be destroyed. Then to see it rebuilt was a beautiful, wonderful thing. I was so glad that my boys were able to see it, too. Unfortunately since it was a Sunday evening, everything was closed, so we resolved to return in the morning to see some of the old town sites. 

The first thing we did the next morning (and day five of our trek) was to go take an oxen cart ride. The oxen were named Jesse and Owen (after the famous Olympian Jesse Owens), and they were so large. We learned from the missionaries that oxen are actually castrated bulls. I had always wondered if they were related to cows. I had no idea that they were in fact bulls. Just "tamed" ones if you will. We took a turn in the covered cart and the boys all sat enraptured. Even Riley cooperated. 

After that, we went by the Family Living Center to see how the early Saints made pottery and rope. We got to see some elders and sister missionaries dressed as pioneers perform some musical numbers. They were great! We also went by the bakery, drove by the Browning gun shop, the Manor House and Red Brick Store before stopping by the Smith Family Cemetery to pay our respects to Joseph Smith. 

We didn't pay our respects long, since Riley started losing respect and making to run all over the grave site. Kicking and screaming, I slung him over my shoulder and we waved goodbye to Joseph and jumped back into the car. I think he would have understood.

From Nauvoo, it was onward ho and on to Toledo. We finished crossing Illinois, made our way across the toll highways of Indiana and finally entered the birthplace of aviation: Ohio. Along the way, we finished listening to our audio book of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. (Note to self: the kids TOTALLY loved the audio book!) The rest of the trek was relatively uneventful and by close to nightfall we were in front of our very own house.

  

The ABF truck with all our worldly possessions arrived the following day, and we have been unpacking and organizing ever since. Now that Jake has begun his orientations at the hospital, I have started in as activities director again, too. I forgot how summers can be. At least we have a new town to explore. Toledo, watch out for the Jerdons!