June 24th 
June 24th
Friday,
June 24, 2005 “Nauvoo and Hannibal”
"In the last installment, the wary travelers, sticking close to the settlements (as Uncle Craig says) so as not to starve to death, were making their way to Nauvoo.
Very little pemmican in this country and one must subsist on supplies brought with, or be forced to buy junk food at the mini-mart (it’s a jelly!).
But . . . back to our story . . . the wary travelers actually did arrive in Nauvoo, only to find that they had entered an internet wasteland with nary a connection (at least at the place they stayed). Thus incommunicado . . . they were forced back into the 1990’s, only able to communicate via cell phone . . . VERY PRIMATIVE.
Nauvoo was wonderful . . . especially the Temple, but we went to a lot of the sites and will hit the rest on our ricochet back through near the end of the trip. Our digs were merely 100 feet from the Mississippi river . . . very beautiful . . . and the only thing that might have marred the beauty was that we arrived just when the May flies hatched and they were all over (Mom was ecstatic! ;-) She loves the bugs).
It was hot (95 degrees) and humid (200% if you can get that high ;-). We had tons of fun though and there were plenty of places to get a drink, use the facilities, and get out of the heat.
Nick found a dying fire fly on the porch and we watched it blink on an off for a while . . . spooky.
Went to the land office and found where the
Clowards (in town), the Neeleys (up the river about 3 miles) and the Mitchells
(down the river 7 or 8 miles) lived in the Nauvoo era . . . we think the
Killians were here too but we couldn’t verify. IN ANY CASE, we’re back, and
to prove it we sipped cold root beer in front of
Joseph Smith’s old Red Brick
store and walked down Parley’s street to the water’s edge.
Today
we visited
We are in
Springfield now, birthplace of Abe Lincoln, and tomorrow we intend to visit Mr. Lincoln’s
library and museum and see just what he’s been up to. The boys are down
swimming in the water hole right now trying to recuperate from the day’s
adventure."
The Nauvoo temple and the steamboat at Hannibal.
NEXT: On to
the next message of the trip . . . 