2009 Utah Trip

The 2009 tax deductable drive to Utah and back is complete. The last two weeks in September were spent taking lots of pictures, visiting historical sights, museums, graveyards, and ghost towns. Followed the Oregon Trail through Idaho and entered Utah by way of Bear Lake, south through Logan, Salt Lake City, I-15 through to St. George, and east to Zion National Park (Grafton).
Characters in my novel have roots starting at Bear Lake and touching every 1863 pioneeer foothold all the way to Nevada and Arizona. The focal point of the journey was the 2009 Grafton Pioneer Ancestors Reunion, held the last Saturday of September, in Grafton, for the past 50 years. There were a few ancestors there that have attended all 50 reunions (1959-2009).
There are 72 or so people buried in Grafton Cemetery and I have ties to 45 or so of them. Settlers there had a long journey ahead of them to find members of the opposite sex, so many of my ancestors just married other people in town. In some cases, one wasn't enough. James Andrus had two wives. Both of them, Laura and Manomas, were Sisters from my Gibson line. One of the Gibson men marred to sisters as well.
I met so many relatives there I never knew I had before. And, of course, they were all great people. Some things just get passed on. It was wonderful to listen to songs and poetry, anecdotes, and scandalous pioneer histories. I was able to spend time with a newly discovered cousin searching for and finally locating where the Gibson and Andrus homes were located at one time.
The entire trip allowed me to gain perspective as to where things were, and how things looked in the mid to late 19th century in Utah. In many instances things that I had learned before had to be trashed and the truth put in its place. Many new ideas came flooding into my writer's brain, and new stories are begging to be inserted into the manuscript.
'Twas a fantastic trip for the novel, and the personal parts of the trip were just as amazing. Can't wait for next year.