"The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey" by Rinker Buck
People are familiar with the Oregon Trail. A lot of adults were introduced to it by a computer game in elementary school. History buffs have studied the 2,100-mile route that started in Missouri and ended in Portland, Oregon.
We are all familiar with the route and the dangers that came with it. Today, the wagon trails are replaced by the asphalt-laden state roads and interstate highways. High-speed vehicles are the norm today on the old trail, but there was a covered wagon that retraced the routes taken by the intrepid pioneers of the 1840's. If you missed it, you can read about it in Rinker Buck's "The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey".
Buck's book begins with stories of growing up in New Jersey. His father collected a myriad of old vehicles. One summer, he announced to his wife and eleven children the family was going to travel by wagon to Pennsylvania. "It would be a combined camping and coaching expedition, with stops along the way at historic sites like Valley Forge and Gettysburg that my father wanted his children to see."
Tales of Travel
As an adult, Rinker was in Kansas one day when he saw a sign that marked a junction of the Oregon Trail. Up the road from the sign was a restored historical site, a combined ranch and station from the Pony Express. Rinker walked in and spoke to Duane, the gentleman who ran the museum. Duane regaled Rinker with tales of travelling the trail and the pioneers' predecessors who helped along the way with shelter, food, and advice on how to make their journey safer, faster, and better. Rinker Buck walked out of the museum with the feasible notion that the Oregon Trail could still be travelled with vehicles powered by nothing more than mules, oxen, or horses.
"… I just want to ride the old route and see what’s out there today."
- "The Oregon Trail, A New American Journey"
Rinker enlists his brother, Nick, a big, lovable man to help with the trip. Nick has committed himself to a community theatre production, but agrees to join his brother up until the time he is expected to be back home for the show. Nick endears himself to everyone on the summer-long trip... Everyone, that is, except for a certain Karen and Daren couple in Wyoming who expected the brothers to know they were cutting through their sprawling ranch property. Despite repeated apologies, the Buck brothers received an earful from the righteously indignant couple who demanded to know what the trespassers thought they were doing.
"Trespassing" aside, there are plenty of adventures for the brothers and Nick's terrier named Olive Oyl. "The Oregon Trail" follows the brothers on their route through all kinds of weather and road conditions. There is even an unexpected encounter with a Union Pacific locomotive, an encounter that would test the mettle of anyone inside or out of a covered wagon.
Hazards of the Open Trail
As you read, you get the feel for what it's like to be on the open trails, trying to stay dry in a rain storm with nothing for shelter but a canvas wagon cover previously soaked in linseed oil to repel the expected rainwater. There are the decisions made to empty the water buckets to lighten the wagon's load before climbing a hill, hoping you'll find another river soon to water your mules and refill the buckets.
Speaking of mules, Rinker Buck's section on mules in the beginning of the book is the first of many interesting and fascinating deviations from his story on the trail. Parts of the book give the reader a glimpse of historical locations, people, and the reasons and circumstances that led to some of the tools and methods employed by the original pioneers of the trail. For instance, wagon drivers can thank George Washington for the mules needed to work the virgin frontier land. Washington received mules as a gift from King Charles III of Spain and immediately began to breed the beasts and cross-breed with horses for the "draft mules" that are known today. Three of these mules pulled the Buck's wagon.
Past and Present Mix on the Trail
"(Americans) would learn that by such activities that nothing happens by accident, and that the cordiality of the American West exists because real Americans with real problems willed over more than a century that it be so." - The Oregon Trail, A New American Journey
The brothers combine their appreciation of history with some modern conveniences on their trip. They spend the night in various trailers and barns and cook on Nick's Coleman grill. Rinker introduces the reader to what a "trail family" is how the brothers make it to Oregon with the help of kind strangers who offer meals and shelter. Fried chicken joints also provide the brothers, especially Nick, with needed sustenance.
"The Oregon Trail" takes the reader through the arduous route braved by naïve settlers who wanted land and a part in America's "Manifest Destiny". The brothers face obstacles in the form of broken wagon wheels, broken wagons, severe weather, and even a fight amongst themselves in the middle of nowhere that threaten to irreparably shelve the journey. From Missouri to Oregon, Rinker's book is a great read about a part of our country's history that everyone has heard of, but few can actually claim to understand.
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