The way to the road,
days for them to recover, but once more because the Brown family fell ill. We waited a few
Read Skillfully
The Difficult Journey
Warm-
The wagon train departed bright and early this morning. I was disappointed that I had to tell
my friends goodbye, but I had chosen to remain here Denver. By that point, we had already been
traveling for several long months. I was sorry to leave St. Louis, but I heard there was gold in
Journey California. It was June when we had first left St. Louis and it was October when we got to Denver. I
had made the difficult decision that I would not be continuing onward with the rest of the families on
the wagon train
When we left St. Louis, we were extremely excited, because we were planning on traveling all
the ocean. We would journey to California. But that was not to be for my family.
Almost
immediately, we stumbled upon the first major problem of our trip. Our very first day
on the a wheel flew right off of our wagon. The wheel was badly cracked, which meant we
were unable to
to repair the damage ourselves. Since we were not terribly far from St. Louis at that
point John rode all the way back there on his horse. He returned to the wagon train with a brand
new wheel however, that took nearly an entire day while the other families waited.
After that, we struggled with yet another problem. There was an awful rainstorm, and with it
came so much mud that the oxen pulling our wagons were unable to get the wagons moving again.
We had to wait for the rain to stop completely and for the mud to dry before we could continue
onward.
Because of this, we lost an additional two days,
We were unbelievably exhausted and it had been a mere two weeks, but we kept on traveling.
had to
they eventually gave up and turned back
Every single day, we faced very difficult work, but we still persevered. Nevertheless, by the
time we arrived in Denver it was just too much to handle. We had decided then that we were going
to leave the wagon frater asked us to change our minds, and told us, "We've overcome the worst
night, we informed the wagon master of our plans.
now." However, I knew our trip would certainly not be getting any easier. The mountains we had
just crossed were only the beginning It had already been such hard work to get where we were now,
and I knew it would be even more difficult to reach the ocean in California. That is when we decided
the best option was to remain here in Denver.
Today, I have gone off to hunt for a new job. There are several jobs in the mines, and I hope to
fill one of the positions. Then, we will be able to get our own home. I am extremely thankful that
living in a tent beside the covered wagon is over. Instead, we will have a permanent place where we
can live
Although I will greatly miss my friends, I will not miss all the troubles and hardships we
endured. I wrote a letter to a friend I made on the trip. I wanted him to know we are doing well
although I miss him.
CCSSR1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical Inferences from it ailte specific textual
evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
These are questions you can ask and answer about any story. Write your answers on another page
1. Sequence: Which event happened first? Which happened last?
2 Character Traits: Name one character. What is one trait you infer that character has? Explain why you
think that
3. Motive: What is something that person does? Why do you think that person does that?
4 Summarize Summarize the story in four sentences. Tell about the characters and what they do.
5 Main Idea: What do you think is the main idea of the story? Why?