Days 5-6: The wonders of a good night sleep.

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Yup, you're reading that map right. Over 2100 km.

For a bit of a change, we decided to spend the night at the Nauvoo Log Cabins. I highly recommend the experience. Everyone had their own bed last night, and for that I will always be grateful. I don't know if I have ever had a sleep so delicious.

What struck me as we visited Nauvoo was the sense of permanence--the location on the banks of the Mississippi, the carefully laid out streets, and the thick buildings of brick. It was a place that was, nearly for all, intended as the final destination of a long journey and not merely a waypoint. Many of the houses were built with the intention of lasting not only years, but generations. But despite having been led to such a beautiful and prosperous place, despite planting roots deep into the ground, despite, they were called to walk away once again from all that they had made and experienced after only a few short years.

There was too much to see and do in the day we spent there, but with a little guidance, I really feel like we made the most of it. In the Family Living Centre the kids learned to make rope, and barrels and rugs and ash bread.

In the blacksmith shop they gained a greater appreciation for the work that went in to forging a horseshoe, and in the brickyard they learned what it took to make a brick. We also visited the Browning home and saw some really cool guns. We ended the day with a cart ride around the town and then made our way to Carthage before striking west.

Carthage was the only place on our journey where I didn't take photos. It didn't feel right treating it as a site to see or a place to check off on an itinerary. It was there I began to get a greater sense of the pilgrimage aspects of our trip and how pilgrimages, whether they be literal or figurative can, if made with the right intent, have the power to refine and lift and change one for the better. There is value to what we are doing and I can't help but feel its impact on me.

OUr intention had been to drive a few hours, find a hotel for the night, put in a long drive the next day, find another hotel and then make our way to Idaho sometime around the middle of Sunday. However, a little intoxicated on the quality of the night's sleep, we decided to press on as long and as far as we could. It turned out we could go pretty far. With a couple of power naps at rest stops in Nebraska, we were able to push through all the way to Idaho. We arrived at Julie's sister's Saturday night. There's not much to report on from our journey other than the crazy spots of snow and wind in Wyoming (we saw almost a half-dozen accidents over a relatively short stretch of highway).

Our car after the mountain pass through Wyoming. Where did spring go?

And, against the advice of the GPS, we took a slight detour to come up to Idaho by way of Star Valley. It was breathtaking and worth whatever time we might have lost. I had forgotten how much I missed the mountains.

I also learned the perils of being a primarily one handed driver over extremely long stretches. I pretty much lost all movement in my right shoulder from holding it in place for so long. "Drive with two hands. Keep them at Ten and two." That's what my driver instructor had taught me, and now I know the reason why.