I wonder if there will ever be an end to this long, dusty road. We have been traveling for about 3 months now, and have almost reached the Sierra Nevada mountains which are supposed to be a gateway to a new life, one of freedom and prosperity. We were so anxious to get to California that we used a new shortcut which is supposed to take roughly 2 weeks off the trip. We all hope the rumors about it are true, that this shortcut will make the trip shorter.
I hear the sound of the creaky wagon wheels just barely holding on to the axles. We probably overpacked for the long trip as the wagons have no empty space and the wheels groan under the intense weight of our luggage. …show more content…
However, there is no “nearby stream” for miles so we had to chop off the ears of our mules and drink their blood. I grow tired of its metallic tang, but it keeps me alive.
I feel like this “shortcut” we took will not be as beneficial as people claim it is. We have strayed off of the wagon trails and have begun to ascend the Sierra Nevada mountains using a route nobody has traveled before. There is no sign of life here, and it grows colder by the day. Why didn't we go the way everybody else did, with confidence that we’ll all make it through?
I touch the bristle-haired side of an ox, encouraging it to keep moving through the cold and the lack of food and shelter. We had intended to make it through the mountains before the huge snowfalls come, but I can already see that will not be the case. I hope that God will guide us through and bring all of us, including the animals, safely to our new home in California.
I worry that my traveling group will not survive this grueling trip through the Sierra Nevada. All around me, I see my friends and family shivering in the cold, their appendages ever-so-slowly turning red and filling with blisters, then darkening from frostbite. Almost every one of us has suffered from one disease or another, whether it was caused by hunger, thirst, or just from poor living