Most of today was driving, however the morning was spent in Palmyra and Fayette at the Smith farm, Sacred Grove, and Whitmer farm. The church has put out some really slick videos trying to explain the history, but somehow they still obfuscate the reality. Now on to a fun evening with friend of the show Jonathan Tindell of Secular Stories podcast!

Most of today was spent looking through microfilms of Luman Walter's probate file. He must have been somewhat wealthy because the surrogates who handled his possessions afterwards did a fantastic job of cataloging all of his personal inventory. The rest of the day was spent at the Hill Cumorah visitor center talking with a delightful elder missionary.

Isaac Hale didn't like Jo when him and Emma began courting. Luckily for Jo, Hale's heart softened and allowed Jo to move in to the farm once "persecution" in New York became too much to bear. We cover two days in this travel log because the majority of them were spent driving. The rest of the log includes my musing on an interview I conducted with a professor at Boston University about Joseph Smith's possible entheogen use.

Kirtland Day 3 landed me at the Sidney Rigdon church in Mentor, Ohio; finishing the day with a conversation with Seth Bryant and Tom Kimball of the Church of Christ. Not quite as eventful as the last few days, but still very productive.

Kirtland Day 2 involved touring the CoC owned Kirtland Temple as well as the Isaac Morley farm. The day ended with my recounting of a deep Mormon history discussion with Karl Anderson, known locally as Mr. Kirtland. He didn't like the entheogen theory, but the exchange was incredibly respectful and I'm happy to call him a friend.

It's a good thing this tour is spending 3 full days in Kirtland! I began with a tour of historic Kirtland at the Whitney store and home, ending at the sawmill and ashery. After that it was on to the temple to make an appointment for the basement to belfry tour. Then on to Hiram, OH wherein lies the John and Elsa Johnson farm. The rainy day made it so nobody else was on these tours so I took full opportunity to engage with all the missionaries and hear a number of touching personal stories.

Missouri is jam-packed full of really cool Mormon historic sites. It's also home to a number of break-off factions which differ in some small ways from the Brighamite sect in SLC. There are some profound differences between the visitor centers of the Community of Christ, the Temple Lot (Hedrickites), and the Brighamite LDS centers; some discuss Mormon history a little more openly than others.

Mostly a driving day, but I had to stop at Carthage Jail on the way to Missouri. Nothing in the world fires me up like revisionist history and Carthage Jail reeks of it. Luckily, if you know the right questions to ask, the missionaries there have to answer truthfully, despite the believing Mormons sighing in the background at the pursuit for truth.