Harold Johnson and the first Johnson Journey

Harold Johnson, my Great-Grandpa. 


Probably one of the things that is really unusual about him and his wife is that they raised a large family. Now when I say large, I mean LARGE. Fifteen children, to be exact. He was also a man who loved the Lord. One instance in his life had an unexpected influence on my life. In 1964, he and his family (excepting married children) took a twenty-two day trip to New York to pick up one of his daughters as she returned from her LDS mission in Holland.
The reason this road trip is influencing my life is due in a large part to my mother, his granddaughter.

The motorhome is the vehicle we will be driving in; the van is the one my Great-Grandpa used. 

I think the best way to tell this part of the story will be through her own words. Below is an extract from my mom's journal. I quote:

"Feb 18, 2013

All  my life, I have heard my dad talk about the trip his family took back to New York to pick up his sister, Janice, from her mission.  They drove the whole way, attracting attention wherever they went because there were 12 of them and they had decorated their van with a sign that said, “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “New York or bust”.

They saw many Church historical sites and, of course, national historical sites, too.

Well, the cool thing is that they also kept a history of this trip and the spiritual experiences that led up to it. Last summer we read the account of the trip each day, on the day it originally happened. The trip started on July 14th, 1964 and went for 22 days.

At some point while we were reading the history, it occurred to me that in 2 more years, it would be 50 years since that trip! What if we were to recreate it? Wow! Wouldn’t that be cool?

I talked with my dad about it and we started entertaining the idea. At Thanksgiving, we presented the idea to the rest of the family (my siblings) and shared with them the events that led up to the taking of the trip.

More recently, as my dad and I have met in efforts to plan the trip, we've discussed the logistics, the obstacles and possible alternatives. We have also met with our former bishop, who does travel tours for a living, to get his input on the idea.

Right now, I feel so confused about what to do and whether to do it at all. I feel a need for Heavenly Father’s guidance! One of the biggest things right now is: It just isn’t terribly realistic to completely recreate the trip, yet that *idea* still holds a certain magic and excitement for  me. If we don’t retrace their steps,what will we do?  which parts? any parts? Will we just create our own memory in honor of the trip?"

Eventually, after lots of prayer, she came up with these guidelines.

The purposes of the trip are:

- to commemorate (but not necessarily duplicate) the Johnson Family Trip of 1964 on the 50th anniversary of that trip (and Grandpa Johnson's 100th birthday).

- to have spiritual experiences together as a family, as stated in the history of the Johnson Family Trip account, "We thanked the Lord for the great opportunity that was ours, to share such faith-promoting experiences as a family.  We knew that it was only through the help of God, that we had such a great opportunity.  Our prayers had truly been answered."

- to have a better understanding of our family history

With that in mind, she set off to plan the trip. What a momentous job that turned out to be!

Here she summarizes the journey since that time:

We have considered many ideas and ways to commemorate this trip.  The biggest of which was that we applied to participate in the family cast of the Nauvoo Pageant.  Two of my siblings and a cousin also applied. We waited for many months to find out whether we were accepted or not.  In the end, we were not, so early this year, we were back to the drawing board.

Through some miracle, we have found a way to actually do a longer cross-country road trip much like my dad’s family.  First, we decided to purchase a motorhome and found just the right one for our family not more than a block from home!  Then, we found that our former bishop had a road trip church history tour planned for this summer.  My parents signed up to participate and we have received permission to tag along in the motorhome.  That part will be the first two weeks.  We will drive from Utah to New York during that time, taking in many important LDS church history sites.

Once in New York, my parents and our two nephews will fly home. My sister has made the sacrifice to participate and plans to be with us the whole time.  That is really helpful since Mike isn’t able to take five weeks off of work.  It will be important to have another driver and adult along on this adventure!  Her boys will be with us for the first two weeks.  Mike will join us for a little more than two weeks, mostly while we are back east.

After the tour completes, we will busily see many important historical sites in the East, focusing on Revolutionary War and Civil War time periods, seeing places like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington DC.  In Virginia and Indiana, we will visit some of Mike’s family. On the way home, we will likely go back through Nauvoo to see the pageant while my cousin and her family are in it (we will miss the pageant when we are there with the tour).  

Then, if we aren’t too wiped out, we will retrace the steps of the Johnson Family (but in the opposite direction) coming through Colorado on the old highways (the interstate system wasn’t there when they took their trip), stopping at my Grandma’s childhood home, and driving up over the Continental Divide before coming back into Utah. We will be gone for 5 weeks.

Last August, we made a plan to save a chunk of money for the trip and have been setting it aside since then.  It is a real blessing to have been able to do this, but it has been a sacrifice and a hardship, at times.  Also, as a way to tie the experience in to our family history, we got a “duck bank”, which is what my grandparents used to collect spare change and save for their trip.  It was their symbol of thrift.  Our duck bank has collected our spare coins and cash gifts for the last nine months.

This project has been quite consuming for me, especially as our departure date has gotten closer.  It has been very discouraging at times and I have wondered whether to keep trying and sometimes feel completely overwhelmed by the scope of this trip.  I also sometimes feel quite nervous when I think that it is going to be a reality.  We have had tests of faith and disappointments along the way.  Yet, it is my sincere hope that, just like my dad’s family, we can say, 'We thanked the Lord for the great opportunity that was ours, to share such faith-promoting experiences as a family.  We knew that it was only through the help of God, that we had such a great opportunity.  Our prayers had truly been answered.' "