Sunday, January 25, 2015

Are We There Yet?

Since history is recorded to be revisited year after year after year the same can be said of blog postings. Questions posed in an earlier year can still be reflected upon a year(s) later, especially in relation to travel in the 21st century where "on the trail" so to speak is much different. Whether traveling by car, bus, train, boat or plane, one question inevitably pops up from at least one of the passengers on the trip..."Are we there yet?" If a kid is involved (maybe even more than one), the question more than likely arises multiple times to the point a headache consumes the listener's entire brain allowing one thought to find its way out, "SCREAM!"

Step back in time...

Do you suppose the children of the early pioneers questioned along the way "Are we there yet?" Every five minutes a repeat of the refrain, "Are we there yet?" An ever nagging, whiny "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?"

Pioneers, Wagons & Oxen

Needless to say, the mode of "trail" travel was not by air conditioned automobile, camper or RV. Instead, it was by crude wagon, horseback or on foot. Everything you owned was crammed into one wagon. A grueling 2000-mile journey across western plains and mountainous trails would last five months, instead of a few hours! Conditions were harsh plagued with accidents, illness, raging river crossings, mud, dust, monotony, and often terror. In spite of unimaginable, unforeseen circumstances, they trekked onward ... onward toward a dream, hope of better times in a land to the west. Could you endure such a journey if all modes of travel today were nonexistent?

Pioneer Wagon Train

Not your typical flat tire!

These Oregon Trail pioneers were lucky they weren't seriously injured or even killed when their wagon overturned. Yet they might say their hardships were well worth the price of freedom; and it is for that unique Western experience that preserving the Oregon Trail is vastly important to our national heritage. – True West Archives –

Not a bridge as we know it today, yet this is its beginning!

Read on...travel along the 'trail' doesn't get much better...

A fateful morning...

The shadow of fear loomed endlessly regarding the possibility of encountering native Indians who had been 'reported' as being savages. Can you imagine traveling into a territory where it was known for men to be killed and scalped while women were taken prisoner? That, of course, would indicate the women witnessed the brutal slaying of their husbands. While many of the women were eventually saved, it was reported they went insane and lived only a short time after being rescued from captivity. They had nothing left, their husbands were dead, more than likely the children too, wagons were burned and all possessions taken from them. They were stripped of everything in life they had ever known or owned.

Pathways of Pioneers: Massacre Rocks

Had it not been for the determination and perseverance of these early pioneers the west would not have been won. Winning, however, came at a high price for both the white man and the Native American Indians who, by the way, were not all savages.

But, that is another story. . .

Now, back to our initial question: "Are we there yet?" I do fear had one asked that question he or she would not have been brave enough or in the condition to ask it again! What do you think?

Long dresses, trousers with jackets, hot sultry weather, &
tumbleweed were commonalities along the trail.

Hardy Pioneers

After taming the eastern seaboard, crossing the Western Frontier
proved to be just as treacherous as crossing the Atlantic.
This, however, did not impede the push westward
as hope, faith, and courage continued to prevail.

By crude wagon they traveled

With limited communications

Across the Mississippi

Westward to the Appalachians