I am writing from Carson city. I have always wanted to see this town. I drove highway 395 from Mammoth today to Carson city. Stopped in Minden for a bit along the way. The terrain looked like something out of a Robert Redford western. High plains, steep mountains, gushing rivers, and snow and ice.
I was thinking about what it would have been like to have been a cowboy back then, or a settler in the region, or a long term local (native American). For us driving in a Range Rover, I can not tell you all the things we had to make sure we stayed healthy. We had everything from Antilock brakes, and super computerized traction devices, to my new $250 snow board jacket, and enough food to feed a wagon train of settlers through a subzero snow storm. I even have CAM, my computerized chiropractic robot with me.
But what about in the old days? It must have been a ton of work just to find the food and shelter you needed, and the work to maintain it. If something broke, such as your one rifle for getting dinner, the replacement might be a Spring away. If your shoes tore open, you better be able to fix them with available materials, or you would have frost bite by winter. Now I know for a fact there were no chiropractors around in those days, so what did people do? I travel with my extra thick Temper Pedic pillow, but they were sleeping on what? their saddle? a flour sack filled with hay, or maybe feathers?
Can you imagine what your neck would feel like waking up after sleeping with your head on a saddle? I know people died pretty young back then. How much was dues to their bones being stuck, and pinching on nerves, and slowly killing them literally due to a lack of chiropractic.
Well one thing is for sure. The Sierras are not San Diego, and these people did not use chiropractic, and they often died young.
Tomorrow we are going to see the Carson City museum. Who knows what we will find there?