The Pioneer Journey
By: Samantha Meier (Yoshi Yuki)
Journal Entry #1
We begin our journey with $300 and 927 BWU's of supplies. I walked with my older daughter and son while my mother and twins stayed in the wagon. Hours past as we walked in the sun and all I could see were wagons in front of me and behind me. We came upon a river, the Missouri River. We decided to not spend our money yet, so we didn't take the ferry across. We successfully crossed the Missouri River with our wagon and continued along the trail again. As an hour past an Indian approached our wagon. He asked if we wanted to do a gamble with him. We won and in return we got $25. I'm scared and a little nervous. What lies ahead, I'm not sure, but I can only wait for the adveture that lies beyond this possibly life threatening journey of 2000 miles.
-Yoshi
Journal Entry #2
We came upon a man and he said the leader of your wagon must pass this test otherwise there will be consequences. Before we left, we were numbered off by wagon numbers, some of us were a one and others a two, three, ect. . I was wagon #one, but I wasn't the leader. Sadly our wagon leader lost and the consequences were that we had to give him $50 and 100 BWU's of supplies. I was very mad. Finally we got to go hunting. I got my amunition and loaded my gun. It had been a while since I have shot a gun before, but hopefully I can get something good for my family and I to eat tonight. I ended up shooting a rabbit that was worth 10 BWU's, which wasn't too bad being as I am not very experienced. I hope that the rest of my days are as lucky as I have had so far.
-Yoshi
Journal Entry #3
This morning I got to hunting again and shot a turkey that was 15BWU's. The long days carried on and with each step I kept saying that were almost there Yoshi, just a little farther. Thankfully we were already halfway through our journey. We used buffalo chips a lot to help warm keep us warm through the night. My mom doesn't seem to be doing her best, but hopefully she's just a little homesick or something and it's not too serious. I don't know what to expect, it could get way worse or it could be a descent journey. Lets hope for the best.
We wake up early to continue our journey across practically the world and come upon another stranger. He asked the German Bakers and Ministers to come out of their wagon and join him by the tree. Being as I am a minister i'm nervous to get out and leave my family behind. I keep thinking what if something happens to me. When I have the courage to get out I hear something in the faint distance, then the man comes back. He takes my arm and shoots it. I scream. It was because I was a minister maybe and he doesn't like ministers or german bakers I guess. I jog back to the wagon while holding my arm with pressure. I quickly clean my arm and take out the bullet painfully. I begin to wrap my right arm up with clothes and take off. Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse my mother suddenly had a rapid heart rate, a loss of skin, and dry eyes, mouth, throat, and nose. She said she felt very sick and died within three hours. We had a funeral for her when we got to our next stopping point. I cried most of the night. I was s excited for her to reach Oregon because we were so close. Now I know my kids and I have to be careful and hope for the best.
-Yoshi
Journal Entry #4
When i woke this morning I felt different, even though it had already been a couple days without my mom, I missed her dearly. I'm trying to keep a straight face in front of my children, but it's really hard. I had always imagined us having such a happy life in Oregon, that I never really pictured it without her, and I don't want to. I haven't beeen eating much lately and it's probably because i'm still sad. I have to stay positive and move on otherwise I could become sick to and then my children won't have anyone to look after them, and that's not an option.
We are so close to Oregon, it makes me want to fly over there. I can't believe we have made it this far. It started getting really chilly during the day and that made me nervous. Another man stopped infront of our wagon and asked me and the leader of our wagon to step outside. He said we had three options 1: Risk it and try to find your way through the blizzard to a nice cabin. 2: Go back to our last resting point and stay there until the storm clears, which would cost us some time. Or 3: Make our way to a hill, but there would be a lot of problems along the way. Once we went over our options, we decided to take a chance and risk moving on in the snow storm. I have little faith in finding this cabin and I hope it's still going to be open in this howling storm, but that's a risk i'm willing to take. We make our way through a winding path and I look in front of my and behind me to see that there aren't as many wagons as there was in the beginning of this journey. It's very cold and makes it hard to walk 3 feet deep in snow. My toes are cold and the rest of my body is even colder. My feet are numb and it feels like pines and needles all the way down my spine. In the far distance I can see a faint light. As we get closer I realize that it's the cabin! I have never been so happy in my life. we open the door and huddle in there for a few days until the storm leaves. A few miles away I saw a rusty sign that said Oregon. I was so happy that that my kids and I could have the life they were meant to have.
-Yoshi
Corvered Wagon
Hunting
Bosma, Ger. "Playmate." Flickr. Yahoo!, 06 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.