simulation entry

August, 3, 1849

                                      Dear Diary,

  It has been two whole months since I have last written in this journal. Crazy, right! Well, it is not as crazy as what happened today. So, we left fort Laramie and reached the Rocky Mountains. People always said that it was lush, and full of life. Well, at a distance, you might think of it like that. However, if you got closer, all of the grass and trees you saw, were actually just sage bushes. What makes it worse, is that there is sand and poisonous springs underneath them. You might have been scared like crazy. You might decide to reconsider and turn back. We, went through. At the base of the mountains, was a man taking these items from the side of the road. They must have been abandoned items from the previous pioneers. He wanted to sell all the stuff at fort Laramie. The man asked us if they wanted to lighten the load on their load on the wagon. He didn't want to trade anything for it. He said that they needed to lighten the load in order to make it to South Pass. We decided not to, because we already have little weight on our wagon. We moved on. We were very low on food, so we hunted. Nathan hunted and brought back 50 pounds of food. Not as much food, considering the fact that he is very good at hunting and fighting. Now, we only had 83 pounds of food left! Not enough to survive in the rocky mountains. We decided to rest because it was getting late. I'm getting tired to, so good night!

August 5, 1849

                                       Dear Diary,

  Not much has happened yesterday and today. The only thing we did was hunt. Michelle hunted and brought two hundred pounds of food. We might have just enough for the next 20 days or so. Then, we moved on. We were all ready to go. It is getting really late now and I should be going to sleep. Good night!

August 21, 1849

                                     Dear Diary,

/  Today, was a special day. Today, people would see our names and know that we have been to at least to this point today, was the day that we were attacked by Native Americans. Today, we reached Independence Rock! We could finally, carve our names into the rock for future pioneers to see. As we carved our names into the rock, we saw something. We saw a big group of Native Americans charging at us. They were irritated that we were in their land. We all knew that we had only three decisions. Either we had to try and get out of there as soon as possible, fight them, or talk to them. We all decided to go up to them and talk. He then suggested that we turn the other way. We decided to negotiate with them. Shireen negotiates, and she was successful. The only thing was, that we had to give him something in order to leave. Either we had to give him a rifle, 5 boxes of bullets, or anything that was 40 pounds or more. We gave him a rifle. He let us go, and we left. Other companies did the same exact thing as we did. One wagon company gave him 5 boxes of bullets. Another wagon company, failed to negotiate with him, so they went back and waited 5 days until they could pass. After some time, we hunted. Kirsten hunted, and brought back 250 pounds of food. We all set up our tents and rested, Well, I'm going to bed too. Good night.

September 1, 1849

                                   Dear Diary,

  This landmark we saw today, showed our wagon company that we were very close to California. We were at South Pass. I felt so excited that I could burst out crying without getting embarrassed! The sad thing was, that we had to stop before we got onto the pass. I can't wait until tomorrow! I will finally see a hill filled with lush grass. Nothing can stop us from reaching California! As usual, it is getting late. I will have to write again some other time. Good night!

simulation entry

June 13, 1849

                                  Dear Diary,

  You know, about the decision our wagon company made two days ago? It turned out that it wasn't so bad after all. We only waited two days. Now, we can cross. We walked across the river and made it to the other side safely. I was happy. I knew we wouldn't end our journey here and drown. We would make it all the way to California. The other wagon companies who decided to wait, also waited only two days. The wagon companies that decided to float their wagons, made it across, but both companies had three people who weren't strong enough to cross the river. They lost some health. So we continued our journey. Now it is getting late. We are all getting ready for bed and I think I should be getting ready too. Well goodbye, for now.

June 27, 1849

                                    Dear Diary,

  We have traveled 140 miles so far, and it took us 14 days. We are really tired. But then, something very unexpected happened. Clouds came in fast. It didn't look pretty. They were all black. It started raining in seconds. We were facing harsh wind. After that, hail came. Not just small chunks you would find falling at your home. Enormous chunks of hail, the size of baseballs flew straight at us. We decided to go under the wagon for safety. I felt a little scared. The storm passed and we moved on until we found fort Larmie. We rushed to get there. I felt happy that we were at a safe fort. Well, food was still double the price, so we hunted. Shireen hunted and she brought back 300 pounds of food back! It is getting late now. Well, once again I have to sleep so, good night!

simulation entry

June 12, 1849

                    Dear Diary,

     It has been 24 days since I have written in this journal. It has been 41 days since we started our journey to California! Well, now we are going along the Platte River. The water is brown and its full of mud. We can't even drink that water. Well, to our luck we came along a fort. It was called Fort Kearny. Unluckily, the owner of the fort was very smart. He knew that this was the only fort for miles, so he doubled the price for anything we bought. We could sell things for half the price. Well, we were low on food so we bought 500 pounds of food. We have around 600 pounds of food now. Some wagon company sold 2 harmonicas for $.50 each! That is very cheap. We have only 280 dollars left. We had a lot to worry about. I am not so confident about reaching California anymore. It may be a lot harder than I thought.

June 22, 1849

                 Dear Diary,

  I was right about what I said. Today, was one of the days someone in my wagon company would do something ludicrous. The person who did that was Kate. Well this is how our day went. So, as we edged nearer and nearer to the ford for Platte river, we saw someone shouting to us. We came up to him and asked him his name and why he was shouting. He said his name was Professor Theodore Farnsworth. He also told us that he had an elixir that could cure cholera and make headaches go away. Kate bought it and drank it and Michelle negotiated for a better price and then bought it. She didn't drink it. After 30 seconds, Kate became sick. I knew that this would do the exact opposite of what he said it would do. That is why I didn't drink it. Soon, we came to the ford. It was night so we rested there. Well it is about time I should go to sleep, but one more thing. For some reason, the river was running unusually high. So, we had 2 options to cross the river. One float our wagon across it. I wanted to do this, but sadly we didn't. The second option was to wait until the water goes down. We went with that. Well, looks like it is getting late. I should sleep now.