Hitch-Hiking Across Missouri

R and I looked carefully into each other's eyes.  Do we dare do it?  We had just spent the last hour on the courtesy phone of the hotel trying every angle we could think of, but it was now very clear to us.  It was impossible for us to rent a car.

We had traveled by Greyhound bus from Utah, first to the Palmyra, NY area, and now in returning westward,  early in the morning we had gotten off at St. Louis, Missouri.  We had wandered the streets awhile, until we could finally entered this nice hotel near the Gateway Arch to find a free phone.  We planned on renting a car, and use it to visit the important sites of the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, like Nauvoo and Carthage, Illinois, ending up at a place we called Adam-Ondi-Ahman in Missouri.

The desire for the trip had started early in the year, as we began studying in Sunday School the Doctrine and Covenants--a volume of revelations to Joseph  Smith, and accepted as divine scripture by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Among the revelations, Joseph Smith revealed that before Christ comes in His glory to the world, he could come to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, There Christ would meet with his priesthood leadership and prophets--past ones, beginning with Adam, on down to the present ones.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman is located in the Grand River Township, five miles south of the nearest  town,  eighty miles north of Kansas City and 270 miles from us in St. Louis.  It is in the middle of nowhere.  And I had a great desire to visit it.

Yet we couldn't rent a car to drive there.  Why?  Because we had brought no credit cards with us. We had cash and travelers checks, but no cards.  It was in the 1980's.  I rarely used credit cards then.  We hadn't realized the importance of credit cards in such things as car rentals. And no matter what configurations we tried, no one would rent a car to us without us having a credit card on us.

It was much too far to walk to. No local buses went that way. We had no way to continue our journey.

Except, there was one very unthinkable, unreasonable option that came to mind. Taking a local bus, we could get to Keokuk, Missouri, (whatever Keokuk looked like!!!) on the banks of the Mississippi opposite Nauvoo. We would arrived at 10:30 at night.  We had brought with us a small tent and our two backpacks.  We could find the local KOA campground, spend the night, and then somehow find a way to Nauvoo on the other side of the Mississippi River.   And from there, somehow find a way to go on to ....

We had both received priesthood blessings, holders of the Melchezedek Priesthood laying their hands upon our heads and pronouncing among other things, as inspiration directed, an assurance of our safety and health during this trip.

We looked at each other.  Deep into each other souls.  Two attractive, thirty-ish young women, alone,  but full of faith.  We prayed together.  Would the Lord approve and support us in our plan to travel by this local bus to Keokuk?  Would he protect us, and would he provide for us a way to arrive at, not only Nauvoo, and hopefully Carthage, Illinois, but even journey all the way to Adam-Ondi-Ahman?  We asked for this blessing from His hand in the name of Jesus Christ. And as we proceeded with our plan, there seemed to be a spirit of peace hovering around us.

We found the bus terminal and got on the bus. It stopped at several places along the way.  Each time we looked at each other.  Should we get off here, or continue to Keokuk?  Each time we felt to continue, and we rode on until we got outside of Keokuk.

As we neared the city, the bus driver called us up to him.  The bus terminal in Keokuk was in a rough part of town, he related.  It was against regulations to do so, but he would sure feel better if we agreed to having him let us off, not at the terminal, but, instead, in downtown Keokuk.  Would we be okay with that?  We nodded our agreement, and thus began our blessed journey of faith to Adam-Ondi-Ahman.