Mormon Immersion

A Sunday departure out of SFO at 5 AM– even at 5 AM, the traffic was going strong. It seemed like a never-ending drive on 1-80. People were so bored that they had pulled off by the side of the road and created words and messages with rocks. It was a bit like the old Burma Shave ads. At long last, we arrived in Salt Lake City.

This year, we had arrived in time for the Mormon History Conference. After getting our badges and conference packet, we were ready for our first session. John’s cousin, Claudia’s husband Richard was presenting his paper, “The Spencer Brothers in Nauvoo”. We sat in the row with Claudia, Ed and Cindy and Claudia’s sister. The presentation style is not what we were accustomed to after years of corporate presentations filled with animations and interactivity. Papers are read and the Q&A sessions after could be heated. History is “contested ground” for these Mormon historians. Even the smallest detail could cause a discussion.

In addition to the 3 day conference, we had signed on for a post conference session on the Utah War. We were surprised to see the crowds waiting outside Temple Square for the 2 post conference tours. Prevost buses showed up and we got started at 8:30. On the drive to Fort Bridger, everyone took the mike and introduced themselves. To amuse myself, I gave them names; “Chapel Lady”, “Really old guy”, “Polka dot lady”. There were lots of retirees, many of them working as docents at the Church Museum of History and Art. There were descendants of Orson Spencer, John Tanner, and George Q. Cannon.

We drove to Fort Bridger and had a picnic lunch. The church ladies showed up and set up huge pots of barbequed beef and beans. After a hearty Mormon lunch, we did a walking tour around the site.

From Fort Bridger, we drove to Fort Supply. After walking a “path”, avoiding the cow pies, we arrived at the remnants of the site – a few wooden posts in the ground.

At this point, I was struggling to imagine how much more excitement I could stand. I started to read the itinerary to John. When I saw a 6:30 AM breakfast, I said, ****(expletive). John turned to me in amazement and we both burst out laughing. I guess polka dot lady in front of us knew for certain that she had the “gentiles” seated behind her.

At the end of Day 1, we arrived at the Comfort Inn in Evanston, Wyoming. We got our room, got a bucket full of ice and opened our bottle of wine (smuggled in our luggage). We had an hour before dinner. At dinner, John snagged a couple to join us, the grandson of George Q. Cannon and his wife. They were a charming older couple. He must have been in his 90s and had great stories of his father and grandfather.

After dinner, we all met in the Comfort Inn for Richard’s talk. He spent the first part of his talk talking about history and its interpretations. He introduced and acknowledged us- as “non-LDS”. Now, everyone knew.

Monday AM – Breakfast at 7:30. We were the only ones filling up coffee cups. We drove through Echo Canyon, making frequent stops to gaze at old Mormon camps, fortifications from the Utah War, old “billboards” from the Pioneer days. Cameras were flashing, video cameras were rolling. We called it the “Mo-gasm”, the Mormon orgasm. We called the Utah War “the war with no clothes”.

We got back to Salt Lake City and had some great times with Matt and Jay (the guys who bought John’s mother’s childhood home)

and with Bear and Robin. We’re still amazed at the absolute creative genius behind the cakes at Bear’s Bakery – Mrs. Backers Pastry Shop. The custom molds and cake decorating tools created by Bear’s father allow them to create cakes that look like spring gardens.

Richard and Claudia really outdid themselves with an all day tour of the Mormon Trail. With a van borrowed from Weber State, eight of us took off for a day of exploration. The story of the pioneer trek is well known to the Mormons. From 1846 to 1869, more than 70,000 Mormons traveled west along the Mormon Pioneer Trail. The trail started in Nauvoo, Illinois, traveled across Iowa, connected with the Great Platte River Road at the Missouri River, and ended near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The final 116 miles, from Fort Bridger to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, were the most difficult. After after almost 1,000 miles of walking, the pioneers were exhausted, their wagons worn and their livestock weak. They had to travel through narrow canyons and over rocky ridges of the Wasatch Range, at time, lowering their wagons and livestock on ropes down jagged cliffs.

Richard and Claudia made history come real –taking us to the trails and painting a picture so real that you could truly imagine the hardships and dedication it took for these pioneers to finally make it to Salt Lake.