I slept late this morning, after being up a couple hours through the night. I don't know why, just awake. That always means good "God Time". We are studying Westward Movement in the USA now in school. I found a couple of Trail Cookbooks at the library so we are trying some recipes. Last night we had Oregon Venison Stew- used beef though- and my husband dubbed it Death Stew. That is because I had a story to go along with it. I also checked out several diaries at the library and the boys and I are to read them and give a book report. Well, in my book, the girl was making stew similar to the recipe, but she poisoned it accidentally with hemlock. It seems hemlock looks very similar to parsnips. Yes, my stew had parsnips...so it was called Death Stew, though no one got even a stomach ache. Tonight we are having corn and black beans, fried vegetables, bread, rice, and fish. This would have been a meal they would enjoy during a longer stop of a day or two, usually spent making repairs or trading at a fort. I finished my book today, since it was such a gloomy, rainy day, perfect for curling up and reading. I was struck by how much death occurred during the journey. There were many accidents, drownings, snakebites, etc. They just kept going, because there was no other choice. The journey took about 6 months, from Missouri to Oregon. About 100 years later you could fly it in a couple of hours!