Day 11, Friday, September 18, Wyoming to Utah

>  > This is one of those messsges that never got posted to my blog > > > > I’m > today really had a coherent historical arc tracing the Donner party trail: South Pass → Parting of the Ways → Big Sandy → Green River → Black’s Fork country → Fort Bridger → the beginning of the Hastings Cutoff → Bridger Butte. Instead of my providing a synopsis of the significance of these landmarks, I will defer to readers of the blog to look it up somewhere on the Internet, or just ask ChatGPT to explain. > > And there’s a rather striking narrative ending for today’s chapter of 180 Years Apart: we began the day crossing the Continental Divide on the established emigrant road, and we ended it at the place where the Donner-Reed Party left that established road behind. By the time they reached Fort Bridger, it was getting too late to turn back.Tomorrow we follow them into the consequences of that decision. > > The highlight of the day had to be our visit to Fort Bridger. I do not think that I ever engaged so with any place I ever visited before as I did today first, the original site of Fort Bridger, second, the machine, and third, the replica, a photo of what you shown below. I was the only person visiting today because of the rain, and my three hosts, Elizabeth, Josh, and Erica, were absolutely delightful and sharing with me what I needed to know about the Donner party. > > As an aside, since I left my cane behind at home, I bought a substantial walking stick at the replica gift shop. But later, as I sat in my vehicle at the exit, as I was leaving chatting with ChatGPT about what next, one of the attendance drove up to me and told me that I had left my other walking stick back at the machine, so I went back and retrieve that. > Sent from my iPhone