Dust And Tears, Rain And Realization — Tribune Religion Reporter Retraces Her Steps On The Mormon Trail

It takes a certain kind of person to don King Arthur attire and joust in public parks, show up in gray or blue uniforms for reimagined Civil War battles, or walk 1,000 miles in droopy sunbonnets and long skirts as a Mormon pioneer. I am not drawn to such re-enactments — especially not the trekking kind. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, I share Woody Allen’s view that nature is lovely, “I just don’t want to get any of it on me.” So when my editor told me in 1996 that a band of Latter-day Saints...