The Oregon Trail: Gerald Hyland

April 20th, 1844; Independence Missouri

       Life in this town is bright and festive. The songs playing in the streets are still stuck in my head, and it's already nightfall. The horizon no longer displayed the colorful reds and pinks as the sun bid farewell to the sky.

       Anywho, I've decided to take a journal to write in for the trip since I'm planning to become a writer once we get to Oregon, so I might as well get better at it through experience.

       I was in charge of getting the supplies together while my sister went with my father to try to get some more people to join our group. I'm not a big fan of people, but I ended up getting another person to join us nevertheless. I found myself at a shop that sold wagon supplies, hammers and nails, ya know?

       The man running the store was nice enough; told me the exact price I needed for what I wanted. I was about to pay for it all, but this one man, with shiny black hair, came into the store and checked out what I was doing for whatever reason. I didn't question him; he seemed like the type of person who'd poke his nose into everyone's business, whether he knew them or not. Anyways, for whatever reason, he started giving the storekeeper a bit of trouble. I kinda zoned out of their little squabble, but eventually, I saw the man smirking at the storekeeper, saying that he could "make more money if he made them cost less, allowing customers to buy more, leading to more money being spent" or something alike. I don't exactly know what happened, but whatever it was, the man gave me a discount off my supplies.

       He introduced himself as Michael. He told me that he was doing tricks like that since he was a small child, so he knew what he was doing. I told him about my family - my parents and sister, as well as my aunt, uncle, and their child - and he suddenly got excited. He said that he has been looking for a group to tag along with, and he asked if he could join us.

       Now, I was not in charge of that, so I told him that I could as my family to see what they thought. My sister (her name's Naime, by the way) and my father were unsuccessful with the hunt for new recruits, so they welcomed Michael with open arms.

       I can tell you now that I'm not exactly excited for this trip like everyone else. I've heard stories about the long and tiring treks and hostile indians, so I'm expecting trouble to come. Naime is acting as if everything will go right, being the optimist she was, but in all honesty, I don't think that's the best approach to this situation. You need to be real. You need to be legit. You need to be reasonable. I'm the type of person who will keep that in mind, so I'm pretty sure I will be helpful when it comes to making important decisions. My parents tend to respect and listen to me, the same way me to them, so let's hope Naime doesn't get all upset when I tell her what she can and cannot do. She tends to do that when she claims that "no one listens to what she has to say" but no. Your ideas and plans are bad and unrealistic. Get it together.

       Anyways, I'm getting off topic, unless you really want me to rant about my sister. I don't hate her, she's pretty great, but sometimes she's just so unrealistic it makes me question if she's actually thinking or just trying to do some sort of witchcraft or something.

       Oh look, I did it again.

       Changing the topic, we're heading out early tomorrow, so I should get some sleep for the seemingly everlasting journey.