We packed and cleaned and packed and cleaned and said goodbye
to our wonderful neighbors. We gave Jeannine
and Susan and Gretchen all copies of the book of Mormon which was fun. Jeannine
had given us four sets of home crocheted house slippers for our four Utah
grandchildren and Susan and Allison had given us a gift card!
These sweet ladies!
Paul went to his Bible groups and had made
packets for each of them which included a copy of the Book of Mormon and they
will really miss him! He has done amazing work with that groups! We left
Coshocton when it was cold and snowing and that made it easier to leave.
We drove to Chillicothe to see the Hopewell mounds and
decided to spend the night because the visitors center was closed for the
evening. The next morning it was so interesting to learn more about the mounds
there and we met a great guy named Kelly Moorehead who will be working in
Yellowstone this summer, so we well go look him up! He had said that church
members come to learn more about the mounds and so we read to him from the Book
of Mormon Alma 49 and 50 and gave him a copy to read for himself!
Then we took off and traveled through more beautiful Ohio
countryside, we took some of the backroads because we were towing the
trailer. We stopped at the Serpent
mounds and found that really interesting as well!
We got to the Ark encounter, which is a life size replica
of Noah’s ark close to its closing time, which was wonderful, because they let
us in for just a $10 parking fee and we got to walk around, take pictures and
then eat at the Emzara’s Kitchen (evidentaly they say that this is the name of Noah’s wife) instead of the $76
dollars (plus $10 parking) to go inside.
It was amazing and so huge!
It was very impressive!
We made it to Corydon, Indiana that night and decided that
we had better kind of move along since we had only gone 266 miles the first two
days. So, we just booked it home and so
glad we did! Many many hours in the car, but we were anxious to get home to see
our family, our home, Aggie and not live out of a suitcase any more.
We did stop outside St. Louis for a picnic lunch and
explored the Cahokia mounds. This particular one located at the Cahokia Mounds
UNESCO World Heritage Site near Collinsville, Illinois, the mound size was
calculated in 1988 as about 100 feet
high, 955 feet long including the access ramp at the southern end, and
775 feet wide.
It was huge! We then went through the visitor’s center and
then hiked to the top and while on the stairs met a BYU grad who runs up the
stairs for exercise. We could see St. Louis in the horizon- you can barely see
it over Paul’s right shoulder in the photo.
The next night was in Lawrence, KS where we found a
delightful ward and attended church.
At a rest stop that afternoon, we ran into a truck driver and his brother who were hauling Henderson Marching Band equipment and he mentioned that he was a member of the church and that a young woman from his ward is serving in the Columbus Ohio Mission - Sister Wolf! We said that we had just seen her a few days before and had taken her out for ice cream! Then he showed us a picture on his phone of her eating ice cream! Probably (not 100%sure) that it was the same ice cream that we had bought for her after Arayah's baptism! talk about a small world!!
We
then drove to Fort Collins where we spent Sunday night and then drove the rest
of the way home on Monday. When we drove into our driveway at 6:00 pm the
odometer had just registered 2007 miles! Whew! And Paul drove the whole way, he
wanted me to rest and so he did all of the driving! What a lucky gal I am!
