Here are the pictures from our Church History Tour in July 2000.
Each day one of the tour participants was asked to write an account of the day. Mine (under a pseudonym, of course) is shown below. As soon as I can find the full diary, I will put it on this page.
Day 5 of the "One and Only True Church History Tour", or "How I learned to stop worrying and learned to volunteer."
By
Obadiah Dogberry
It was a dark and stormy night. Oops, wrong story.
The always perfectly coifed Don the bus driver fired up the bus at 8:15 a.m. and we sadly departed the beautiful Canandaigua Inn on the Lake in upstate New York. The temperature was cool but the skies were clear and beautiful as we said goodbye to the beautiful region of Palmyra.
The tyrannical "Travel Guys" immediately commenced the daily harangue for diary writers. I, like everyone else on the bus, had been pleading since the tour started to be allowed to have the opportunity. Sensing my distress, Marsha, Sharon, Bill and Jane, stood and shouted "We want Obadiah, We want Obadiah". Soon everyone was on their feet in total agreement, whistling and yelling and pleading to the tyrannical Travel Guys that I be allowed to add my humble submission to the "daily diary". Sensing, apparently, the huge groundswell of sentiment, they acquiesced. Ok nobody stood up, and nobody whistled and yelled, but it is true that I was "volunteered" by the aforementioned quartet (who shall be assessed a fine of $21 inside joke).
At approximately, 8:51 a.m., Margaret strolled down the aisle for her hourly exercise. Upon her return, she offered the scribe a Snickers Bar. He accepted.
Because the hotel for the next evening didn't have enough non-smoking rooms, the tyrannical Travel Guys asked for a few volunteers to occupy smoking rooms. Following discussion of various incentives by the Senior Tour Director (which would have earned them the title of "the Liberal Travel Guys" and for which decorum prohibits their discussion herein), Bill Harvey volunteered, but only if he could smoke.
After finally regaining control of the group the Travel Guys put in a video on the First Vision which we watched as we continued through the countryside of hayfields and cornfields.
Dave Wheeler then told the story of Willard Bean, his grandfather's uncle, who had been asked by the Brethren to move to Palmyra. He related a special experience that Willard's wife Rebecca, had the details of which apparently didn't make it into my notes.
We sat back and relaxed until we reached Buffalo and headed to Niagara Falls. The tyrannical Travel Guys indicated that Bill Harvey had volunteered to buy dinner for the first person to see the falls. Bill indicated that they had misunderstood and that the offer was that the first person to see the falls would have the privilege to "eat dinner with" Bill Harvey. Jane Harvey was the first person to see the falls whereupon Bill rescinded the offer.
The Senior Tour Director then related the story of his San Francisco friend who went to Hoover Dam. The friend's poodle fell over the side of the dam and as the dog rolled down the concrete dam, it rolled with such velocity that it burst into flames. A veritable plethora of bad puns then ensued "french fried", "doggone", "hot dog", "dam dog", "scrapes suzette" .
The less senior Tour Director then related a poem:
Here is a place that will grab ya,
It is a place called Niagara,
He said he didn't have an ending to the poem (nor any meaning as far as we
could tell).
Mercifully, we arrived at Niagara Falls.
A boat tour on the famous "Maid of the Mist" was next on the agenda. We departed the bus at 10:20 and walked through a beautiful little park to the edge of the canyon to take a long elevator ride down to the river to board the boat. We were each given a blue plastic poncho which if you put it on too soon turned into a sauna but which if you put it on too late also turned into a sauna. The mist from the water pouring over the falls (202,000 gallons per second on the American side and about 600,000 gallons per second on the Canadian Falls - or in the inimitable words of the Travel Guys - "Folks, that's a lot of water!) was refreshing but wet.
By 11:45 a.m. we were back on the bus and at approximately noon, the Senior Tour Director handed out free postcards in lieu of lunch. We voted him off the bus.
By 12:15 p.m., Margaret's muscles must have stiffened
up because she was again seen heading down the aisle. Upon her return, she
offered the scribe a Mento. He accepted.
At 12:30, the Travel Guys indicated that they had arranged for Boston Market
sandwiches. Minutes later we pulled over and the Travel Guys ran into the
Boston Market and came out with chicken, turkey, meatloaf, and BBQ chicken
sandwiches along with Snapple and chips. We voted the Senior Tour Director
back on the bus.
Our route for the afternoon generally followed the Erie Canal to the southwest. Along the way we passed mile after mile of vineyards through western New York and into Eastern Pennsylvania.
One of the many enjoyable things about this tour is that the Travel Guys had some neat videos. About 2:30 p.m., they showed us a video about Parley P. Pratt and the Book of Mormon. Ezra Taft Benson made the comment in the video that "Every Latter-day Saint should make the study of this book a lifetime pursuit."
The highlight of the day, of course, was our arrival in the Kirtland area. Before arriving in Kirtland, we passed through Painesville, 10 miles to the northeast. A hotbed of anti-Mormon hysteria started in the Painesville area, along with the Spaulding controversy. The Travel Guys shared an article from the Painesville Telegraph from May of 1831 about the arrival of 200 Saints from New York.
We arrived at the Newell K. Whitney store in Kirtland around 3:00 p.m. and after a tour were treated to thoughtful comments from the Travel Guys. Another good thing about the tour has been the appropriate and timely comments prepared for us about each location that we visit.
We then traveled up the road a bit to the Isaac Morley farm, site of the second sacred grove. Following more commentary in the shade of huge tree we made our way up the hill to see the area where the little log school house once stood in which Joseph and others saw the Father and His Son Jesus Christ sitting on the right hand of God.
By 4:50 we were back on the bus headed back to the Kirtland Temple arriving at 5:00 p.m. Since we had a tour of the temple scheduled for the next day, we just strolled around the grounds and did a little shopping in the RLDS bookstore situated adjacent to the temple grounds.
The tyrannical Travel Guys had us back on the bus by 5:35 for a quick visit to the Temple Quarry in the Chapin Forest just up the road from the Temple.
Back on the bus at 6:00 p.m. to head to the Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Willoughby, Ohio. On the way, Steve Cornwall told us of his experience doing the stone work on the outside of the Manti Temple Annex, a project that was expected to take 6 months and which instead took 2 1/2 years, a project which he completed despite significant personal financial sacrifice.
We settled into our room after arriving at 6:20 p.m., and because of the paucity of protein purveyors in the area, most chose to eat dinner at "Damon's - Famous BBQ'd ribs." Those eating dinner with Obadiah only had to pay $21 each for their meal (Obadiah, in his magnanimous way, picking up the difference.)
Random Reminiscences of the Day
1. Chad and handcuffs. RM's, what are you gonna do?
2. Senior Tour Director forced to sit in back of bus because less Senior Tour
Director was asleep and Senior Tour Director didn't want to climb over him.
3. Jeremy Runnells sneaking up the aisle and grabbing his dad's pillow. Dad,
of course, promised retribution, since Jeremy and his dad had the same room
that evening.
4. Jane on the cell phone talking nonsense to her granddaughter at a $1 per
minute
5. Seen on the back of Troy's t-shirt; "I don't know if we each have
a destiny, or if we're all just floatin' around accidental-like on a breeze
- Forrest Gump".
6. Tim Orr trying to figure out how to lock the bathroom door.
7. Snapple drinkers had chances at prizes by looking under the bottle cap.
Dave Wheeler was the lucky winner of a portable CD case - as long as he sends
in $15 for shipping and handling.
And thus concludes my narrative, and it was called
the Fifth Day.
2000 Church History Tour |