Westward Ho!

It's 1860 and we just set out on the Oregon Trail!  Before we left, we needed to decide why were were going...Free land? Gold?  Patriotism? Adventure?  Free land and gold seemed to be the most popular reason in our crowd.  We spent some time carefully considering what we should take to make sure we survive the over 2,000 mile trip that might take us four to six months to accomplish.  We are leaving at just the right time of year to make it through with plenty of water in the creeks and rivers and to avoid winter in the mountains.  After making sure everyone knew the route on the map and all the parts of the prairie schooner (like where the grease bucket was and what it was for or where to find tools in the jockey box) we were ready to go!

Today, we spent our first day officially on the trail!  It was fun acting out a day, starting off with a 4:00 a.m. wake up call.  We got busy making breakfast, packing up the wagon, gathering animals, hitching the oxen, collecting water to take along the way and we were on the trail by 7:00 a.m.  It was pretty dusty since we were towards the end of the train today but we saw coyotes, prairie dogs and a couple of foxes!  We collected buffalo chips along the way to fuel the fire we would build in a trench or hole in the evening.  We stopped to rest and eat around 12:00 ("nooning time").  Then, it's back on the trail.  Luckily, we learned how to say left and right to the oxen ("Haw" and "Gee") to get them to go where we want.  The wagon is too jostling so we put a bucket with cream on the side of the wagon to make butter by evening, and walked.  One of us was on a horse up ahead to scout out a good camping spot so by 5:00 we were ready to corral, unload a bit for the night, make dinner, have a lesson, mend clothes, wash up, sing some songs and go to bed by 8:00.  A couple of us took turns staying up to guard the animals and our belongings.  What a day!!!  Going about two miles per hours is pretty slow going!

We have been learning some fun games the pioneer kids played, too.


Checkers

Get the ball through the hole!  Tricky!

Marbles!

 We need to know how to sew and mend our clothes on our journey!  We made beanbags to play a few pioneer games.

What's up ahead?  We might meet some new friends on the trail, see some cool animals and landmarks, and figure out how to survive the hardships on the trail!  Happy trails!