>>>>
>>>>Many of us take air travel and transportation in general for granted. We are a bit sensitive about this topic at present. I never cease to be amazed at how people in North America around the 1840’s as an example, traveled vast distances. Not everyone of course, but it was done by a number of persons who either wrote books or books were written about them.
>>>
>>>I thought about this many times on my drive home from San Diego. When I crossed the desert, I thought man what was it like back in the 1800's when someone wanted to get across this. Getting maybe 20 miles perday was good.
>>
>>Bret;
>>
>>Yes, 20 miles a day on horseback was considered good. There were times this was exceeded such as the Mexican American War during the 1840’s, in California. Record has it that a forced march of over 200 miles in one day occurred, and at the end of the march (on horse back), a major battle was fought in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fremont was a part of that event as I recall. I cannot imagine a horse going that far on a rider in one day!
>
>Wow! That averages out to 8.3 mph, for 24 hours. How fast does a horse trot? Can the average horse truly maintain 8.3 mph for 24 hours?
>
>Stories of Kit Carson are unreal - he seemed to be just about everywhere. Now, if you read the truth about him he was a bastard and had little regard for human life.

>That describes "Wild Bill Hitchcock". Buffalo Bill's rep comes mainly from Self-serving PR. Jim Bridger, on the other hand, was a true "mountian man".

I'm reminded of the lines in the Johnny Horton song "Jim Bridger":
"... Yet compared to Jim Bridger Kit was civilized and tame.
These words are straight from Carson's lips, if you place such store by him..."

Songs, of course, don't have to be true. I like the song regardless.