Missouri or Misery?

Finals are finally finished!  It seems like I’ve been studying for a month, but classes just ended two weeks ago.  It seems like I took my last final a year ago, but it was barely on Tuesday.  This summer has already begun with a promising start.  Tuesday night I stayed at Faith’s house.  Wednesday night I stayed somewhere in Nebraska (North Platte?), and Thursday night we finally made it to Megan’s house in Marion, Iowa!  The drive was quite eventful.  Well, not really, but I’m pretty sure the middle seat of the car has a permanent print of my rear end from sitting in it for over twenty hours.  I did drive for about three of those hours as we left Nebraska, drove through a sliver of Iowa, and took a detour down to Missouri to see Adam-ondi-ahman.  I’m so glad I was driving for that part because I was able to look outside at the landscape.  I don’t know why, but Missouri was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  The Midwest is a beauty that I never even knew existed.  I love living in California, and the West Coast is insanely gorgeous, but I honestly have no idea how half the United States looks.  And it’s beautiful.  I love it.  I want to go back to the Missouri countryside, for I certainly am not in misery when I am in there.  Sometimes I wish I snapped a picture of the pleasant countryside, but I did not, and the memory of Missouri will have to live on and drive my desires to come back.  This road trip has been one of the things I’ve always wanted to do.  I’m not completely sure why, but I’ve always had a drive to drive around the United States and experience history and adventure anywhere.  Sometime I want to stop at every interesting place I see along the freeway, other times I want to be a tourist in a town or state I’ve never been.  It’s difficult to find time and money to do both those things, so I’m trying to soak up everything that I can whenever I journey beyond the OC.

Eventful times of the car ride:

visible from freeway (not my picture)

Passed the Point of Interest in Wyoming.  It’s a tree that has been growing out of solid rock and has fascinated travelers since the 1860s when they built the original railroad slightly around it.  The railroad workers would give the tree a “free drink” from their canteens.  I would elect Wyoming as one of the ugliest states we drove through on this trip, but I love learning about the random and interesting facts of places I’ve been.  I never would have known about this “interesting point” on the freeway if I hadn’t seen the sign and looked it up.  This tree may seem small and insignificant to many travelers, but I think it is so cool.  I love learning about history and the interesting things you may never know if you don’t go out and see for yourself.

my view from the free way (not my picture)

Head of Lincoln in Wyoming.  Considering that Wyoming was the most boring state we drove through, there’s quite some…interesting things here.  Like this giant head of Abraham Lincoln along the side of the road.  I looked up some information about it.  Some guy sculpted it for Lincoln’s 150^th birthday and put it at the highest elevation of the Lincoln Highway, but it was eventually moved to I-80.  Not very interesting, but who knew the people of Wyoming loved Lincoln, too?  All I’m saying, not worth the drive through the dry land of Wyoming.

Point of Interest was located in Buford, the smallest town in the U.S. with population one.  Buford consists of a single house, gas station, and postal office.  It was just recently sold. 

Adam-ondi-ahman in Missouri.  Possibly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  I simply have no words to describe it.  I think Megan said it best when she said: “There’s few places you can feel the temple spirit outside of the temple, and this was one of those places.”  The trees and the valley were insanely gorgeous, and I just felt a quieting peace there.  I was walking around and the word to describe it is “still.”  It just felt still there.  There was nobody there, and it just gave me the chance to think about the amazing things that have and will happen here.  Somewhere in Nebraska, I was thinking why of all places is Adam-ondi-ahman located in Missouri?  California is amazingly beautiful, correct?  But now I understand.  Missouri and Adam-ondi-ahman are just…I have no words…but I’m pretty sure I’ve used the word beautiful 500 times in this blog post.  Faith's grandma described Adam-ondi-ahman perfect to me: "Not much to see, but lot's to feel."