Sorry! Been kind of hectic the last couple of days!

The weather has finally caught up with us. July came back yesterday and it is hot and muggy! Like it should be this time of year, but has not been. Insead, we have had rain, lightning, wind, etc. -- but never at pageant time. We have seen lightning around us at pageant time but we nothing has occurred which would hinder a performance.

We have had a great time meeting and talking with people as they come to the pageant. Melba is also in costume now (see picture) and people are much more excited to talk to us. When we go into the audience after the show, everyone says, "Oh you were wonderful!" We just smile and say, "Thank you!" and then talk to them about their experience.

We offer a CD of pageant music to those not of our faith. That music is wonderful and will likely lift and touch many hearts. Those who attend can request a CD for qualifying friends and family. But we also know they will not likely remember contact information for them, so we record their own information and then they receive a call when they return home during which they can provide that information.

Melba and I have had wonderful birthdays here. It is indeed a wonderful place to celebrate birthdays! And Melba's sister Marcia has gone beyond the mark in taking us out to dinner plus fixing us another dinner and giving us a couple of wonderful gifts attached to this wonderful experience here.

Yesterday, we helped take the youth in the pageant to the Nauvoo Temple. Needless, to say, it was another very wonderful experience! I was with a young returned missionary who had never actually performed baptisms in the temple before. So we made certain he was the one doing the baptising for a while. He really enjoyed that!

This morning we walked done Parley Street -- the one the saints used when they left Nauvoo and crossed the frozen Mississippi. Members of the cast were stationed along that path and portrayed people of that time, quoting from their journals about that difficult experience. It was very moving.

Today's question: Today that road is called the Trail of Hope. But how was it referred to by the saints as they left Nauvoo?