Today we found a giant landmark called Chimney Rock. Everyone has a different interpretation of what it is and it is a very fun pastime for a few people, but we all want to get less maggot filled food! 
   Also, today we made to another fort. It is called Laramie. There we traded our oxen for others that were more rested. But there was a quite expensive fee of fifty dollars. We did not stay for long, only to get the better oxen. Our other oxen will be traded when an other wagon train picks them up and uses them to pull there wagons.
    Then no longer after there was another fort. That fort was called Fort Casper. There we will be able to able to rest. But another problem accrued. Hubert has a illness that is caused by mosquitoes and bad water. One of his symptoms is a high fever. We also all agree that this is malaria but we do not know for sure. We also have learned that Vasilions was cured and can start cooking for us again.

    In todays oregon trail, we've hit the one month mark of being on the trail. We have been mostly healthy this whole trip, but right now, some of the people are getting sick with a fever. We have discovered some bad types of water too. It's called Alkaline water.  We had a large discussion of what we should do with them, but we decided what was best for the wagon train as a whole, and we ended up leaving them behind, what Mr. McCoy ( our wagon train leader ) suggested. So now a we are a family short on the oregon trail. So now all of us are drinking all that awful Castor Oil to try and stay healthy. We ran into our nephew's grave from two years ago. But I nearly got lost just from staring at it for so long. I lost track of the wagon train, so I ran west to catch up. Just the other day, Vasilios Costas got a bad case of Cholera. We ran into a guy along the trail with some snake oil. We could get a vial of it for $50, or two vials for $75. He said it was guaranteed to work, but it doesn't help Cholera. So now we don't have a cook and who knows how much of the food, he's touched. Now we all might die from this deadly Cholera. But most people who die on the Oregon trail die from sickness, so I will not be surprised if people in our wagon train start to die.   

Yesterday we were stopped for 2 hours from buffalo. We knew that we shouldn't have shot at the group of Buffalo because they would have stampeded, and ran us over. That would have been bad! It was a good sight at first, but then after a hour we got sick of it. Since they wouldn't move, we decided to stay there for the night, and we had a great feast of buffalo, antelope, sage hens, jack rabbits, potatoes, beans, rice, pickles, chocolate, and cake. It was one of the best meals we have had on the trip. The next day, we traveled to Fort Kearny and got some food to last us the rest of the month until the next fort. We lost a day from the Buffalo blocking us. We also got $14 from the pelts that we got along the way. We had $2.50 left over from buying all of our supplies. So, we had $16.50 all together, and we were sure that it would last us a while. But when we bought all the things we lost from the wagon that went in the river, we didn't have any money left over. Now we are worried about crossing another river! When we arrived in Fort Kearny, we got our first letters from our friends and family. We were so excited to see our letters. 

                                                                                                                                                       April 26, 1849
Today we came upon the Kansas River and had difficulty crossing. There was a man charging $1 per wagon for a ferry, the easy way across. We had only $8 left, so there was plenty of debate.
    We finally decided to pay the ferry man for half of our wagons filled with our most important things, and walk the rest across ourselves.
    Our first 3 wagons, the ones on the ferry, crossed with minimal problems. On the fourth, the ferry man made us cross at a deeper part of the river, and we forgot to take the wheels off. First, a wheel broke off, and the wagon spun. The current took it downstream, and it flipped. All of the goods in the wagon, along with 2 people, Sven and Nikon, fell out of the wagon. The goods were lost in the river, and Sven and Nikon got broken arms! Fortunately, we were able to recover the wagon itself. We lost $2 extra than we had planned for. Better that than losing 6 arms and half our goods. On the bright side, we have a whole wagon we can use just for riders.

Today like every day was full of long hard work but that's life I suppose! The rest of the wagon train and I were scrambling for solutions to the blisters that Elias got but we finally decided to keep his foot moist but if it weren't for his decision to hitch a ride on the wagon I believe his leg would have been gone and his life would be to! It's exhausting to herd the sheep when they run away every five minutes!  In fact the rest of the wagon train and I starting to get blisters, but I fear that our fate might not be as lucky as Elias and I noticed that the others got blisters too, not only that but we are caked in dust and I'm sick of it!  Speaking of sick I'm so home sick I wish I could turn around right now despite how much we've traveled and I don't think the others feel to differently. I miss my old friends and the family I left behind. I am so sore because I am sleeping under a wagon and even though I'm tired i cant sleep because of the dirty cloths I'm sleeping on. OucH! IT is so sad because I see so many graves and there ar mostly kids 5 and under it makes me feel like the parents and how sad there are. How I cant wait to get there.