"Welcome to New York" ,Day 12,Thursday ,June 10,1976, 25mi (more than expected should have been 20mi)

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Journal Entry, Thursday, June 10,1976 ,25mi

 to Muscoot State Park (Hopkins Estate) Somers, NY

 Roger Morse , New England Wagonmaster , rounding up the wagons to leave "Roger's Park" Danbury Ct.

Today we will cross over the New York border and meet up with the NY Train at the lunch stop.
Which turned out to be a grassy area next to a highway. There will be a better NY welcome later .

Many teams got winded at the end of a very hot long day.  95 degrees. 

 5 horses had to be trucked the last 4 miles. ( we were told it was 4,turned out to be 7!) So today when we thought we would be traveling 20mi  it turned out to be 25mi.

 We had a" bitch" session after supper.  Maybe this will get the organizers straight on the mileage. 

Our little team outdid all the big teams.  People are learning which teams can take the strain. *

Another "Wagon Train Baby" was  Melissa Brandstetter's foal, her mare was pregnant (unknown to anyone) and foaled on the wagon train while they were out west. Some days the foal was allowed to travel along with us.  Here , at the lunch she was putting on leather "booties" !!

And yes... Melissa was barefoot !!  She was always barefoot !!!
 Melissa was from Yucaipo,Calif. **

Here is another photo from Terry Veinot : Roger had asked him to truck the foal in his wagon for a few days .
 " Roger asked me to take Melissa's baby in my wagon. Foal road there for a few days and was fine as long as mama was in sight"

 And this one is from Stan Bashura :

 *( We were using Quarter Horses to pull our wagon. The original Conestoga Wagons were pulled by teams of "Conestoga" horses which were small but strong driving horses. The larger horses are bred for short strong pulls and do not have the lung power or stamina to pull all day over hot roads. The small horses and the mules did best under these conditions.)

** We had many people with us on the NE "Maine" Train who were from
 "Out West" !!

We called them "The California People" but truly they were from many western states, California,Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. They all got the chance to come and travel with us on the NE Train when the "Official Wagons" were loaded on to barges in KansasCity. These were people who had been traveling with the California Train and the Southwestern Train.  The "California
 People " traveled to Maine and became New Englanders  for a few months. They definitely gave a different feel to our group and we became an American melting pot of East and West. Great people.. who I will never forget !!