Alone on the Oregon Trail by Vanessa Carvo Read Free Book Online Page B

traveled and I had already unleashed the horses so they could graze and the wagon was sitting unattached. I had gotten into the wagon to get some supplies and when I started to step down from the wagon, I nearly stepped into the middle of bunch of snakes.
    I grabbed my gun thinking I could shoot a few, but when I looked there were way too many. I would count twenty and then twenty more and so on and they just kept coming. I could not jump down from the wagon and I could not shoot them all so I remained in the wagon, keeping an eye on them.
    It seemed like I had parked the wagon in a path the snakes were taking down to the river.
    It was scary, but all was well after a few hours, so I stayed quiet and just had more jerky for supper in the wagon. The horses were all right as they were grazing far enough away where the snakes had no interest in being, so we were in no danger, but I had to wait them out.
    This is one example why I always made sure I had clothes cleaned as much as possible, as well as plenty of water inside the wagon. I figured I would be running into storms as well and that would be another occasion when I might be glad I had everything I needed in the wagon.
    It sure was not any fun watching all those snakes as they crawled around just under my wagon, making their way down to the river and I was as quiet as a mouse as I sat there watching. I knew I wasn’t getting out of the wagon until I was forced to.
    Being in the wilderness was making me stronger and I began finding myself to be braver than I ever dreamed I could be.
    There were times I came into contact with wild cats and coyotes and wolves and I was able to stand still with my gun in hand, ready to protect my horses and myself. I was very fortunate many times that I did not get myself in serious situations without having my shotgun with me, or enough bullets.
    I made sure it was glued to my side anytime I was away from the wagon. The horses were such a blessing to me because they have great ears to hear with and many times they awakened me in the night and were my alarm clock in the mornings as well.
    As tired as I was most of the time, I would have wasted many day time hours if it wasn’t for the team of horses. They would get to stirring outside my wagon and it seemed they knew when we should be getting back on the trail and they would stir around brushing their tails against the wagon cover and this would wake me up to start the day.
    They only brushed their tails in the mornings when they would wake me up, so it was like an alarm clock for me. They were such a joy to take care of and to have with me for companionship as well. We had become very close after the incident that took place when I lost my temper with them when I was in such pain from the loss of Nathaniel.
    There were days when I would get myself so discouraged thinking about how far I had yet to go before I could get off this lonely trail and get onto roads where then I would be coming upon farmers and ranchers.
    Nathaniel had talked about this as well and so glad he did because I would have found myself so lost if I had done as I wanted to do and wandered off the trail. I know that it will be several days before I can get off this rugged trail because he had talked about how far we would be going.
    He also gave me ideas of landmarks to look for as we would travel along so we would know it would be safe to get off. So, as I travel along I keep my eyes open for roads that will be paved out a little wider and they will be cutting off in different directions which will then lead to where people have settled into farms.
    That will be a wonderful day when I begin to see more of those cutoffs, because then I will be able to get off the trail and travel on and will run across people eventually. I look so forward to seeing other people and I can only pray that they will be friendly and take a little pity upon me in my condition.
    I have no problem working for my keep until I could carry on and