Welcome to the Scavenger Hunt Stop #10:
Welcome to our Fall Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt. This is a fun way to acquaint yourself with various Christian fiction authors and their books. It begins at noon on October 25th and ends on October 28th at midnight (MDT). There is plenty of time to make your way through the 31 stops. Please collect the clues in red in the post from Stop #1 and then Stop #2 and so forth through all 31 author stops. Stop #32 is where you fill out the Rafflecopter form to be entered in the drawing. Be ready to give the complete clue quote within 24 hours of the email notification you are a winner or another winner will be randomly drawn. No need to email/submit the quote clue unless you are notified on 10/29/12 or later. Grand Prize: A new Kindle Fire, plus 31 new novels! NOTE: Please comment at every stop that allows for comments to be eligible for the Grand Prize. Second and third place prizes are $50 Amazon, B&N, CBD or BookDepository.com gift certificate. Contest is open to international entrants. If the winner lives outside the United States, they shall win the equivalent in gift certificate funds to the prize in US dollars.
Melanie Dobson
Bio of Melanie Dobson: Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of eleven novels including The Silent Order and Love Finds You in Mackinac Island, Michigan. Writing historical fiction gives her an excuse to do what she loves best–explore old houses, ghost towns, and research fascinating events and people from the past. She lives with her husband and two daughters near Portland, Oregon. More information about Melanie is available at www.melaniedobson.com or on Facebook.
Exclusive Material by Melanie Dobson:
What I Learned on the Oregon Trail
By the time I was nine, I’d read a stack of books about pioneers and watched countless episodes of Little House on the Prairie. After school I would pack up my Barbies in a shoebox and send them on the most perilous journeys along the Oregon Trail.
I considered myself the half-pint expert on those who’d emigrated west, but a few decades later, when I began researching for Where the Trail Ends, I quickly discovered that I knew very little about what actually happened on the Oregon Trail. So this past spring my two daughters and I packed up their Barbie dolls and headed off in our Honda to explore what’s left of the trail in Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon.
Here’s a bit of what we learned at museums on the way:
- Wagon trains didn’t leave Missouri until the grass was tall enough for the livestock to eat (usually May). Each wagon was supposed to have enough rice, beans, and bacon packed in bran to last the six months of their journey.
- Each wagon train was operated as a democracy. The travelers voted in their wagon master and a set of rules to live by for the journey. If someone didn’t agree to the rules, it was best to find another wagon train before he was left alone on the trail.
- I’d always thought women and children rode in wagons for the journey, but they actually walked. All 2,000 miles.
- Most of the trail wasn’t an actual road because wagons never followed each other in a straight line. They staggered the wagons so pioneers weren’t suffocated by trail dust.
- A little tar could turn a wagon into a boat for river crossings. But nothing could stop it from overturning if the current was too strong.
- Children were responsible for counting the number of times a piece of flannel would circle around a wagon wheel to determine how many miles the party traveled (360 wheel rotations per mile, 10-20 miles a day). They would often chew coffee beans to stay alert on the job.
- Women were expected to have a gun and know how to use it.
- Too many people tried to carry pianos, hope chests, and fine china over the Blue Mountains. It was better to pack a mouth harp and tin plates so they didn’t have to abandon their things along the way. And better to pack tools and make new furniture when they got to the other side.
Summary for Where the Trail Ends
A young woman traveling the Oregon Trail in 1842 must rely on a stranger to bring her to safety. But whom can she trust with her heart?
For two thousand miles along the trail to Oregon Country, Samantha Waldron and her family must overcome tremendous challenges to reach the Willamette Valley before winter. But when their canoe capsizes on the Columbia River, they must rely on British exporter Alexander Clarke to rescue them from the icy water. Samantha is overwhelmed with men vying for her affections at Fort Vancouver, but the only one who intrigues her—Alex—is the one she cannot have.
Buy link:
The Scavenger Hunt Basics
Christian Fiction Fall Scavenger Hunt’s next stop number 11 is at melaniedobson.blogspot.com. To win the grand prize of 31 books and a Kindle Fire you must go through all the and collect the word(s) in red to figure out the phrase to be entered in the drawings. The clue words on my blog is: it. I.
I will be giving away in addition to the other grand prizes two books of Shattered Silence by Margaret Daley for anyone who leaves a comment with their email address. That will count as one entry. An additional entries for each of these: following me on Facebook, following me on Twitter and/or signing up for my quarterly newsletter (on the righthand side of the blog about halfway down). Let me know how many entries you have. This is in additional to the grand prizes at the end of the Scavenger Hunt.
