Rensselaer (pronounced Rencil - rhymes with pencil - eer) is the biggest city (said in jest) for about 50 miles in each direction. We have a high school, a private college, 6 movie theaters, a Walmart, a grocery story, a few gas stations, and about 80 auto, truck, and tractor stores of all varieties. But before I tell you of the wonders of this town, I want to back up a little.
Before we left St. Louis, we visited the arch.
When I last visited here, the monument was closed because it was too early in the morning. This time it was open and buzzing with activity. It's really, really high. Craig and I both chickened out and decided NOT to go up to the top. Besides there was a line (poor excuse but it worked at the time).
Oh, I included this picture because of the road signs.
See the MM sign? All over Missouri, there are road signs with letters like this.
AF, AA, MM, ???? I never could figure it out. Anyone?
Then it was on to Nauvoo. We got there about 4, just as all the stores and houses were closing. Winter hours are 10 - 4. So we decided to visit the temple.
The temple is beautiful inside. Rich, dark wood everywhere. Beautiful colors. Circular staircases that ascend 7 floors. The largest baptismal font of all the temples. (When they were excavating the original site, they found the original font, and President Hinckley wanted it recreated as close as possible to the original.)
The temple sits high on the hill, overlooking the Mississippi River.
This statue is down the hill from the temple, near the river. It depicts Brigham Young facing west, announcing the people were to leave the city and head out. Joseph Smith is behind him. He had been killed by mobs, but is shown guiding President Young.
There was a lot to see in Nauvoo. It is a historical city where all the volunteers dress up in period costumes. We saw:
The blacksmith shop.
The wheelwright shop. We learned how wagon wheels were made. Very interesting.
The print shop.
The gun shop. I did not know that Browning, inventor of repeating guns and even a machine gun, was a Mormon and lived in Nauvoo. The gun collection is beautiful.
We also visited the bakery and a few of the homes. There was much we didn't get to see. We wanted to get to Rensselaer by 8 and it was a five hour drive. We made one stop along the way to Carthage, Illinois. This was where Joseph and his brother, Hyrum, were shot by a mob.
The drive to Rensselaer was across vast expanses of flat farmland. We would turn on a country road and the GPS would say, "Drive 23 miles on this road." I told Craig, this road doesn't even have a name. It's like Bob's road. Sometimes there wasn't even a stripe down the road. He announced that when the road became dirt, he was turning around. But we found the town and our apartment. By the time we unloaded the car, our neighbor had dinner waiting for us. What a nice way to be welcomed.
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