Did you know that lunch at Courthouse Rock tasted a lot better than in the middle of nowhere? The three separate layers of rocks just make the plain bacon and bread taste so much better. After leaving Fort Kearney 10 days ago, I traveled along the south side of the Platte river to the California Crossing. Since I wanted to see Jackson up in Oregon, I stayed with the train and crossed the river to follow it north. Over on the other side of the river, I see a lot of hills, which look pretty nasty. The sandbars were easily identified, as they had poles stuck into the safe sandbars. On the ride across the sandbars was very dangerous. I had Caroline and Cheyenne ride on the back of the wagon, so they didn't get swept away by the current.…show more content… It took a lot of manpower to pull all of our wagon up the hill, so we put the oxen to good use. Even with the oxen, the weight of the wagons was too much. I dropped the spare tire that I got at Fort Kearney. I haven’t needed it and I hope I won't need it because it is back by the California Crossing. Roger decides that we should drag our wagons up the hill with oxen and snubb on the way down. When he first said that we would be snubbing, I hoped that no one would get hurt in the process. No one got hurt, but….. but Mabel Eller died. She lost her footing and slipped down the hill right behind the wagon wheel. I don't want to relive the gruesome scene of the incident, so I'm just not going to write it. Roger is devastated about the loss and her kids aren't old enough to understand. Roger wanted to give Mabel a proper burial, and after we got the wagon to the bottom of the hill, he went up to get her. The rest of the men started digging out the grave. The women made a cross bound with her scarf. He decided to bury her in a place called Ash
