I love Alcove spring, it is so much better than any other place we have stopped on our trip to Oregon. I did a lot of things that helped me relax and have fun. I played jump rope and cats cradle but the most fun thing I did was go swimming! It was so nice being able to have a fresh different lunch instead of leftover stew, leftover stew, and more leftover stew. We had the men to go out and hunt a a rabbit so we could make a yummy rabbit stew with potatoes and other vegetables that we had gone out to find. We also picked fresh juice filled berries and we made the most delicious  apple cobbler for desert! The cobbler had large chunks of apples en-cadged in a warm flaky crust. I also spent a lot of my time cleaning our clothes in the wonderful the spring water and I also cleaned up our wagons so they could be super nice on our trip. The Alcove spring was also very good for our animals. We had to rest them and give them good food and water so that they could be as strong as ever once we get bake on our way to Oregon. The oxen are very tired from pulling the heavy wagons so they needed that rest. And so did I.

Salt Water: 97.239% of all of the water on earth
Fresh Water: 2.761% of all of the water on earth
-Water in the Air: 0.001% of all of the water on earth
-Water in the Ground: 0.61% of all of the water on earth
-Water on the Surface: 0.01% of all of the water on earth
-Water in Ice: 2.14% of all of the water on earth

I was completely shocked on the percents that Mr. Solarz shared with us today. I predicted that water in the air would be 30% but I was off by 29.999%, it was actually only 0.001% out of all of the water on the earth! I thought that I would be of but I didn't know I would be way, way, way off. This was very interesting and I definitely learned something new today. This was a lot more fun than I thought and I'm glad Mr. Solarz showed it like this. 

When the volcano erupted in Yellowstone the ash went all the way to Illinois. I was very surprised to learn this because I thought that the lava dried in one place and the ash stayed in one place. I also was surprised to learn that there are mud pods that sound like bubbles popping. 

I didn't know that we needed so many things on the Oregon trail and there are so many things that we shouldn't bring. The pumpkins will rot and so will the tomatoes. Salted pork is good but salted ham we should not bring. We spent many minutes in groups debating whether we should bring mule or ox, we chose ox because they are stronger and smarter. We have to bring a gimlet, an ax, a hammer, a shovel, some whetstone, an oxbows, 6 axles, 2 kingbolts, 5 spokes, 1 wagon tongue, 5 heavy ropes, and 2 chains as our best bet. We have limited space so we cant bring much some people wanted to bring 12 extra axles but I thought that that was way, way to much because we only have a little more than 300 miles to the next fort where we can buy more and I don't think that every axle will break in 300 miles. We brought a lot of food but some I don't think was a good idea to bring.

 

Some of these facts were very interesting to me. I didn't know all of the different ways to tell coyotes from wolfs on  the Oregon Trail. Now I know all of the things will should expect and will know how to take care of them. I am glad that Richard Chapman took time to answer our questions and Skype with our class.