Day Two - Religious Roadside Pilgrimage

Day Two of the Religious Roadside Attractions Pilgrimage. Although, Mom and I have started calling it the American Roadside Religious Pilgrimage. 

We started out the day having coffee with a friend of mine from seminary. She is the priest of the Episcopal Church in Bentonville, and she rocks. We were granted a fellowship project together at Sewanee, and we made a documentary. It was very fun to see her, and she is rocking this priesting thing. 

Today featured a tour of the Holy Land. The guide for the first part of the tour was dressed like Moses, and he told everyone he was exactly the size of Moses. I, of course, didn’t agree with much of his information. AB and Mom were rolling their eyes. I kept telling them I would explain my thoughts later, and they were so excited to get a history lesson when we left.  

The second part of the tour was of their replica of the Temple Mount and Tabernacle. Mom got sick in the middle of the Temple Mount and ditched us. She left about the time things went off the rails. The tour guide told a lady she was very wrong about her interpretations of some of the figurines in their display. She said, “well I just Googled it.” It was an awkward moment. After which, the tour guide predicted the dates for the end of the world, and then asked us to buy his book. It was….interesting. He also knew I wasn’t having it, even if he said “Amen” every other word. 

Our next stop was The Thorncrown Chapel. It was amazing and looks a lot like the Chapel of the Apostles in Sewanee. Turns out, it was designed by the same architect. So, there you go. Mom somehow found something to buy in the Chapel. I, literally, can’t figure out where she found memorabilia to purchase. But, she did. We now own some Thorncrown Chapel CDs. No clue what is on them, or how we will even play them.

We drove the backroads from Arkansas into Missouri. It really was a beautiful drive. I never realized how rural this part of the country is, but it is pretty sparse. Mom and I commented on all the expensive farm fences, and barns. Seriously. At one point I thought, “why do we even know or care that this fence was expensive?”

Also, I am pretty sure we mainly drove on roads that were actually people’s driveways. Most of the roads didn’t seem to have two lanes. Oh, and the roads in Missouri do not have numbers but letters. Rather than Highway 231 or Highway 431, they are named Highway VV and Highway HH. We thought this was funny.  AB kept asking when we were going to find an interstate, and whether we were going to take backroads “the ENTIRE trip.”

At the end of the day, Mom and I have decided that we should turn our farm into a religious water park. The Jordan Lazy River, the Sea of Galilee Wave Pool, the Red Sea Parting Water Slide. Over dinner at an old diner on Route 66 we dreamed it all up. AB didn’t seem too enthusiastic. But, I think it has potential.