Trail

It was a Sunday when the Sticknecks spent their last full day with Azrael and Anael, and for the final time the two B'nei Elohim worshiped with them, though they both found the practice to be odd and had frequently commented to that effect. Some of the Stiffnecks remarked in turn how this made them appear heathenish. But Anael said to them, "Have we not shared our meals together three times each day, and offered praise and thanksgiving to God? The Banquet of God is the only thing resembled "services' the Lord Yeshua ever conducted with his disciples."

At the end of the worship service Azrael rose to say a few words from his heart to the people he had lived with an served for nearly a year. "Have no illusions, this will the the most difficult thing you have ever done. But do not be afraid! The Lord Yeshua came to teach men to live together in peace, and in the beginning it was so. With God willing, your labors will make the Lord's aspiration present in the world once more."

It took all the next morning for the oxen to toil just three miles up a ravine feeding the Blue River to intersect the infant Oregon Trail running south from Raytown. There the twenty oxen pulling the wagons were released from their burdens, and the twenty beasts that made a leisurely walk out of the Blue River valley were put under harness. After another eight miles the Oregon Trail bent sharply to the west, and in another half mile they stopped.

Every day when the wagon train came to a halt it was the responsi- bility for the man of each family to raise his wagon with a jack, remove one wheel, and have his eldest son paint the hub with a mix of pine tar and tallow carried in a bucket slung from the rear axle, as they were solemnly instructed by Azrael. This they were to do as though it were a ritual, before they even took their evening meal, on a revolving basis, one wheel per night.

When they crossed into the state of Kansas the Stiffnecks dipped into the stash of salt pork stored under a false floor in their wagons, and ate them with dried peaches.

To cross rivers the bottoms of the wagons were painted with tar to make them waterproof and they were floated across after the animals were safely on the other side. But sometimes the pilgrims were brought to a halt by a severe afternoon rainstorm and had to huddle inside their wagons. Still, everyone remained in good spirits. Most of the younger children had ridden by pairs on the backs of the fourteen horses, while the adults and older children switched between riding in the wagons or walking on foot beside the oxen pulling them to lead them along the track at a stately two miles per hour.