From St. Louis to Chorley

 Here's my deluxe neck pillow . . . expensive, but it works, unlike most of them...

How do I look? . . . 

It worked.  I actually slept on that night flight over, unlike our red-eye to NC last spring, which was a bit challenging with regard to sleep.

We entered some weather, which means clouds, on the approach to Chicago from St. Louis.  I can't resist them.  Look!

 

In a cloud cave . . . looking toward the light beyond . . . Magnificent!  May I never get over the beauty of clouds and skies. 

The plane was delayed 3 and a half hours in Chicago.  They gave us a $12 voucher for dinner.  I had been fasting so I decided to make use of it.  I picked a $12 hamburger and fries (an amount I'd never pay from my own wallet) from Wolfgang Pucks.  I had passed up hamburgers all week in Nauvoo for salads, and this particular burger was so much better than average that I was glad I'd waited.  I felt pretty stuffed when done, so I took my baggage on a walk round and round the concourses of O'Hare Airport for an hour.  Worked up a sweat, even.  That removed some of the guilt.  What a busy place it was at dinner time.  By bedtime, when our plane was finally fixed and departure announced, it was getting pretty quiet except for the big cheer that went up from the waiting passengers.  I was surrounded by Brits, including a cute British family that was at the end of a 3 week vacation in Florida and...and ...somewhere else.

On both flights no one was seated beside me, which was nice, since I could spread out.  They still served us dinner which I slept through, and played movies though we were flying all night.  Someone watched them, I suppose, but I rested.  It was only about 2-3 hours, even though we left at 9:30 pm and arrived at 11 am.  7 hours into the future we traveled.  It was a short night.

When I woke, I opened the blind on the window, though it seemed dark outside.  Here's what I saw --

 Morning in the east, over the wing . . . 

 Quickly it became very light, traveling eastward as we were.  Here's the overcast Atlantic--
 And shortly this exciting moment . . . landfall!  See it on the right there?
 I haven't looked on a map yet, so I can't tell you if this is Ireland or the Hebrides north of Scotland or what . . . Maybe you can find out.

 Islands of earth beneath islands of cloud . . . 

When I de-boarded, I went through passport/customs easily, and down through arrivals.  I lingered there just a moment, then left to look for the car rentals, then thought, I'd better check if Emily's plane had landed, so I turned around and went back into arrivals where I heard my name called as someone took my arm.  It was Alex's Aunt Yvonne!  I had emailed and texted Alex before I took off to tell her not to send anyone, that we'd show up in a car.  But she sent Yvonne, who thought it was Emily getting off that flight, and who had been running between Manchester's 3 terminals for over an hour looking for us, because she'd heard I would be there sooner than Emily, and she wanted to find me, too . . . She couldn't have been more surprised.  I told her Em and I had planned to meet at the car rental, but Aunt Yvonne brooks no nonsense and is more than persuasive than, than, than anyone! -- she says, "Lets go to Emily's terminal!"  and off she marches so I just follow, dragging my bag behind me.

Fifteen minutes later we're there, standing at arrivals, and I am very doubtful that Emily will come out that door.  Yvonne goes wandering about asking questions, when out comes Emily.  Yvonne  has persuaded me not to pick up the car, but to ride up with her.  Oh, but first she had to get Kristen Metzger out of detention.  Yes, Kristen caught the flight on stand-by, and she like all of us was supposed to fill out a card telling what she was doing and where she was staying in the UK, and her plans were so indefinite that they suspected her and wouldn't let her through.  Well, Aunt Yvonne wasn't going to brook any nonsense from them either and soon Kristen was released.    (Unless you want that experience, be prepared to tell the authorities your plans and destination when they ask.)

We walked to Aunt Yvonne's vehicle, and I should have taken a picture of it.  It's a big  ancient, battered maroon-colored Land Cruiser, more like a Hummer than the L.C. we knew of old, with a diesel engine that sputters dark smoke when started, and is covered with stickers like our little truck had back when Jonathan drove it.  We climbed in as a storm was brewing, and soon Yvonne set up her SAT/NAV (GPS) so she could get us back to Chorley.  That was my first sign that driving might be a trick, and if that wasn't enough, I shortly had more evidence as she carried us out of the airport and onto the motorway in a driving rain.  I found it to be confusing.  I'm sure I'd have figured it out, but glad I didn't have to in a rainstorm, at least.  

It was little more than a half hour and we were there at the pageant site, the beautiful temple rising up above it.  Here's a screen shot:

The temple is the oval in the upper left; the stake center is the roof a bit to the right about in the middle, and those three roofs in a U shape below that?--the MTC and Temple missionary and patron housing

But a few more things . . .  

There she is, the beautiful, beautiful Preston Temple. 

Observe the topiary all over the grounds . . . reflecting the orderly detail of the temple.


That green rectangle is a row of oak trees!!

The grass is like a putting green!

here at last is the pageant entrance  . . .

Close-ups of the posters lining the entries . ..

 And the "big white tent"-- really a temporary building.

 More topiary . . . .

More about the pageant to come.  But one last thing:  In the bag you see below were once cookies, baked by Sarah Sumner.  She brought them over for Caleb last Monday night, and I told her I'd take them to Nauvoo with me, which I did.  All the way there we were tempted to eat them, as Sarah invited us to do.  But we resisted and saved them for Caleb.  Then I got to Nauvoo and completely forgot about them!  ...

...Until Monday night in Chorley when I unpacked my computer bag.  There they were, in crumbs.  Sorry Caleb, I ate them.  Tell Sarah they were delicious!  Even a week old and several thousand miles away.