Our Mormon Trail Journey

As we approached the sesiquentennial anniversary of the Mormon Exodus there were many ways to remember this event.

On July 4th, 1996 a group left Nauvoo, Illinois and begin their journey to Salt Lake City. This western migration was't be as slow as the teams & wagons used by our ancestors, but it certainly was equally arduous, as they will cover the nearly 1,300 miles on bicycles.

If you were fortunate enough to have seen this modern caravan pass it probably looked like any other group of long distance cyclists. I want to tell you about one of the quiet heroes you saw pass. Sharon Tanner was most unique amongst this group. Sharon has Cystic Fibrosis, is diabetic, and also blind. She is the one riding on the rear seat of the tandem bicycle, behind her father Lynn, and her mother (my sister) Beverly was driving the support van.

Sharon was grateful to live with what ever challenges were given to her. About 1996 within a few short months she lost her sight as a result of being diabetic. In 2000 she receIved a kidney from her mother, Beverly Tanner and in 2001 was gIven a pancreas transplant which ended the diabetes. One thing we have learned is that people who have had organ transplants are susceptable to infections the rest of us really don’t want to hear about. In late 2002 Sharon had a bout with the flu that she was not able to recover.

With Sharon’s death we all lost a true hero.


To give a sense of our family's heritage that includes this route I have assembled these pages which relate the journey our ancestors took.




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