It has been one week's travel from our camp at the Ice Sloughs, and I missed all the sights, lying in the wagon with a fever. I feel weak but am able to sit up on the jockey box at the front end of our wagon.
Now I can see South Pass ahead of us. We will cross the Continental Divide! We'll be on the western side.
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We already passed the "Point of No Return" when we left Fort Laramie. Now we have less distance to Oregon than we would have if we turned around and went back home.
The trail has changed us all, in ways large and small. We are quick to clean up after a meal and pack it all back up, getting back on the trail each morning. James and the other men are very fast at packing up the tents they sleep in, and stuffing them back onto the undercarriage of the wagons. They can hook up a team of oxen in no time! No one hesitates to pick up a buffalo chip and toss it into the fuel pile on the canvas stretched under the wagon.
We look forward to the Indians crossing our path on the trail, now that we know they would rather trade with us for food and clothing, than do us harm. Of course they would take any opportunity to capture a horse, or even an ox, so we must be vigilant, but we don't get hysterical anymore when someone says, "Indians!" Although we are always wary - of course!
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