Plan of Insanity

So maybe it was an idea that bordered on insanity.
Todd & I had an idea to ride our bikes (as in bicycles, the ones that you pedal) through the trail that the early Latter-day Saints (abbreviated at times to LDS or also known as Mormons) went through. Since completing our first leg of the trip two years ago from Palmyra, NY to Kirtland, OH, we have been looking to do the next leg of our journey.
Originally we were going to do the journey that was chronologically next, which would be from Kirtland, OH to Far West Missouri (which the Saints did in 1837). The only problem is that this was a distance of 900 miles. The Palmyra to Kirtland trek was 300 miles and took us 4 days, there was NO WAY we were going to be able to do a trek for 12 days in a row, not with Todd's schedule.
We decided that we would try to do half of the Kirtland to Far West trek, but we were still unsure about when this would take place. Todd's year for work starts in July, so we don't really know what his rotation schedule for the coming year/months is until mid May. When his schedule came out we found that if he front stacked his shifts in the month of July, he could take 6 days off of work to do the trek. The chief resident, who is a great guy, helped Todd in achieving this schedule and we started to get to work on the details of our trek.
After looking at the map, I decided that we would go to Champaign, Il for that was about half-way. I was talking about it to my friend Linda and she casually suggested that since we were going to be in Illinois, that maybe we should go the extra miles and end in Nauvoo, Illinois, making it more of a destination.
Nauvoo has a lot of significance for us. Not only was it founded by early members of the church and was the headquarters of the church for about 7 years (1839-1846), but this is also where Todd and I got married 8 years ago. After finding that it was only 150 more miles, Nauvoo became our final destination.
At first my mom protested the idea of doing an extra 150 miles. She tried persuading us to just do the 450 mile half-way course to Far West. Then Todd brought up the fact that our ancestor, Ira Sterns Hatch (both Todd and my ancestor, we're distant cousins) had not moved his family to Far West for his wife had been ill, but rather rejoined the Saints in Nauvoo. This sounded reasonable to my mom, so she agreed.
Of course my mom wanted to join us for this trip, so she arranged her schedule so that she could join us. She decided to drive her car, with her bike on back, across the country to our house, bringing Lana and my niece Addison along with her. LeNae flew into Cleveland the day we started the trek to help babysit my boys, and my dad who cannot stand not being part of the party and/or cannot handle the thought of us doing something so dangerous without him around to help protect us (he calls himself the Safety Patrol) flew into Cleveland as well.
As our trip got closer and closer, my mom whined more and more about the mileage. It made her nervous and it made me nervous for her. I knew that if she pushed herself, she could do it, but I also knew that it would be a lot of long, slow days. She is older than us and not in as good of shape. She may be able to keep up without too much trouble at first, but may find it more challenging as the week wore on.
A couple of days before our trip my mom informed me that she was not going to do the trek. Then she immediately told me that she was, but not the whole thing. Doing a portion sounded a lot better than not doing any of it, so I was not upset or hurt with this bit of news. She had decided that it was just too much for her and that she would join us on the first day and on the last two days of the journey. I found relief in this new plan. I didn't want to kill off my mom, but I also wanted her to come with us for she is a lot of fun. Plus with this new arrangement, Todd and I had several days on our own.
The plan was to do the 600 miles from the Kirtland temple to the Nauvoo temple in six days, averaging over 100 miles a day to get into Nauvoo at a decent time so that we could visit the Nauvoo temple. I used Google Maps to get directions, using the biking options which made the total distance 640 miles, after the second day we went with the walking options which brought the total mileage to 600 miles.
The trip was to start on Monday, July 25 at the Kirtland Temple. My mom would ride with us for the first day while Lana stayed at my house and watched the boys. Monday evening LeNae flew into Ohio and would come pick my mom up from where we were on Tuesday morning while Todd and I would continue riding. Wednesday evening my dad, who would fly in on Monday with LeNae, would drive my mom's car to where Todd and I were, to be the Safety Patrol. Thursday my mom, sisters and children would drive to where we were to meet us that night. My mom would join in on the bike ride Friday morning and complete the last two days with us, while my dad and sisters visited the surrounding areas. Early Sunday morning my mom, dad and sisters would drive back to Utah while Todd and I and kids would drive back to Ohio in time for Todd to work Sunday evening. Well, that was the plan, and as we all know, things don't always go as planned.