Road Trip! Day 1

Tears were shed as we said our goodbyes - David and Noah were driving my car back to Maryland to finish packing up and getting our house ready to list; Savannah and I were continuing west to Utah.

David was a mess!

Girls road trip!!! SUU, here we come!

I had decided it would be nice to not rush right out to Utah but to stop at interesting places along the way to break up the long drive. Our first stop was Springfield, Illinois, to see Abraham Lincoln's home.

Due to Covid all the buildings were closed but the street was still open so we just wandered around for a little bit, taking in all the history. It was so cool to look at his home knowing he had lived there and walked where we were walking.

A bonus of Covid? No one else was there. We had the place to ourselves!

Illinois roads!

Second stop of the day - Carthage Jail where the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered.  A bonus of Covid? We had the place to ourselves!

Since we couldn't go inside (stupid Covid), we sat outside on a bench and talked about what had taken place here. 

The upstairs window from which Joseph fell.

The sweet older missionary couple did come out and talk to us for a few minutes and took a picture of us in front of one of my favorite statues. I'm so glad we got to spend some time here.

Our final stop of the day - Nauvoo!! After checking in at our little motel, we headed right over to the temple.

We then headed down to the city of Nauvoo and guess what? We pretty much had the place to ourselves!! There was a family leaving as we pulled up but that was it. Other than the sister missionaries that would come out of the buildings and say hi to us (because of course we couldn't go inside), we didn't see anyone else. We spent our evening wandering the streets of Nauvoo!

Although it was an extremely hot and humid evening, we enjoyed having the place to ourselves; it was so beautiful and peaceful.

We encountered this beautiful falcon!

Some of our favorite quotes posted along the Trail of Hope.

Another view of our friend the falcon...

but he got a little camera shy and decided to take off.

The names of all those who died "before their journey's end".

I can't believe how hard it must have been to leave. For Savannah and I, it was a beautiful spot to pause and reflect on their great sacrifice.

A few more stops...

and one last look at the temple.

Nauvoo was basically a ghost town with no dining in available anywhere so we ordered some dinner from the Nauvoo hotel and ate it back at our motel. What a wonderful first day!