I sure hope everyone is checking out the Louis L’Amour Trivia Contest.  Each month we have a trivia question about Louis L’Amour and his writing.

 We have a monthly winner with a prize of Louis L’Amour logo merchandise.  Then, at the end of the year all of the monthly winners are entered in a drawing for a complete collection of Louis L’Amour’s 120 books valued at $625.

Last month’s winner was Kay Lettner of Port Richey, Florida.

To enter just click on the Louis L’Amour plank above.  As they say, “If you don’t enter, you can’t win.

Lorelei’s comment about missing the “horseless” carriage, and how pioneers couldn’t carry all their household goods when they left the East was interesting.

Did you know that, although the dimensions were different, the square feet of the bed of a covered wagon is about the same as the square feet of today’s California king bed?

Can you imagine putting everything you own and the food you’ll need for the next few months on a California king bed?

Another interesting piece of trivia:  When the wagons left St. Joseph, Missouri they were inevitably overloaded.  Within a few miles down the road the pioneers would start throwing things out.  Scavengers would follow each wagon train; pick up the discards; take the back to St. Joseph; and sell them to the next wagon train.

Mark from Florida says the thing he would miss most as a pioneer is proper medical care.

Some of the pioneer’s “cures” were a bit crazy.  When someone was bitten by a snake, a poultice of warm manure was applied on the bite area.  Coal oil cured dandruff.  And for measles, there was nothing better than a well-cooked mouse.