Conestoga Time

Grandma and Grandpa Go West

Conestoga Time. At the place in St. Louis where the pioneers began their journey west, an arch and plaque mark the spot. But the thing I could not tear my gaze away from was the pioneer version of a moving van. I was experiencing a premonition. Imagining what I might pack inside my own Conestoga Wagon.

Do You Remember the TV Show Wagon Train? It ran from 1957 to 1965, one-hour episodes, mostly in black and white. Ward Bond, as wagon master Major Seth Adams, whipped his six-horse team across the prairie shouting “Yaa Haa!” from the front seat of a long, narrow, rather sleek vehicle. Something like the Cadillacs of that current All-American era.

Hardly Practical for a Real-Life Pioneer Journey. The St. Louis arch was little more than a space in the road back then, and only the taking-off place. The track that followed would narrow to two tracks, then narrower still. A sleek vehicle would lurch itself apart on the authentic westward pioneer trail.

I Stared at The Covered Wagon. I was thinking about a family. Grandparents. A mom and dad. Some kids. All of them packed up and crowded in with their most essential possessions. All of them trusting their lives and their futures to this small canvas-shrouded conveyance, trundling them toward the unknown. Conestoga Time.

I Thought about the First Folks that Said “Sounds like a Good Idea” to “Westward Ho.” They were east-coast newspaper editor Horace Greeley‘s captured audience. The intrepid travelers who had to be adventurous or desperate, or both, to undertake such a venture. The American west was the uncharted outer space of their time and they had decided to boldly go there.

I Thought about the Folks who Followed that First Wave. Tales had drifted back east by then. Alarming accounts of endless plains, wild rivers, parched deserts, daunting mountains. Chilling chronicles of cholera and understandably hostile natives. Rough-hewn gravestones and sun-bleached bones marked the trail. They wagoned up anyway. Perhaps desperate, adventurous, even a bit insane. But mostly, luminously brave.

I Thought about that Luminous Image – Especially of the Women. I collect their journals and diaries. They write of pregnant bellies shawled and blanketed against the jolts of a hard trail. Of teacups swaddled in handmade quilts they called counterpanes. Precious remnants of a civilization left, often reluctantly, behind. They are precious remnants themselves. Clinging to hope. Praying. Enduring.

We Made Our First Trek West in 2000 via 21st Century Vehicles. Professional moving van. Car carrier. Penske rental with Jonathan at the wheel. South from New York City through January ice storms to Tennessee. West to California and the Santa Anna Winds head-on. A right turn at Los Angeles then north to Puget Sound. In February, I jetted after him. Our version of Conestoga Time.

We Made Our Second Trek West Six Months Ago in 2025. Déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would say. Jonathan and I in New York City preparing for yet another cross-continent odyssey. I swaddled my teacups with bubble wrap in lieu of a counterpane. Jonathan piled packing boxes of our precious remnants, high then higher still. We were wagoning up once more.

You May Have Your Own Similar Stories. Tell your stories – if only to yourself.

• A Moment of Westward Ho. Was there ever a time in your life when you heard a call to venture forward to another, maybe very different place? At what point in your life did this occur? Where was that beckoning place? Why were you tempted to go there in particular?

• Choice amidst Possible Resistance. If this had happened, how would your family and friends have reacted to your temptation to take off into the unknown? If there had been resistance or disapproval, how would you have responded then? How would you respond now?

• Doing It Anyway. Was there ever a time when you threw caution to the winds and leapt into the unknown? What did you do? Why did you do it? If you have never done such a thing, imagine yourself doing so. What happens and how do you feel?

Lesson Learned. Everything Old is New Again.

Our Pace is More Measured this Time. One step, then another. Our precious remnants left behind in east-coast storage while we give the west coast a fresh try. Less arduous this time also. We jetted west together. Later-life pioneers in search of new adventures. Never too later-life for another saga. Stay tuned for further chapters. Conestoga Time.

You possess storytelling magic. Keep on writing whatever may occur. AliceOrr http://www.aliceorrbooks.com

Alice Orr. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells.

Read Alice’s Memoir. Lifted to the Light: A Story of Struggle and Kindness. At the beating heart of this moving story a woman fights to survive. All her life she has taken care of herself. Now she faces an adversary too formidable to battle alone. Available HERE.

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