One of my favorite things to do when I was in the 2nd grade was play the Oregon Trail on the computer. I would zip through my homework and ask Ms. Norton if I could play the game. There was never quite enough time to get through the game during our free time, so I decided to skip lunch on a series of noon-hours and play the game while Ms. Norton was on lunch duty. My buddy, Aaron Benson (I wonder where he is nowadays) and I would hide in the coat closet until Ms. Norton cleared the room, then we would head to the computer to play.
We were all fine until one day we got further in the game than we ever had before, to floating down the river near The Dalles to the Oregon coast. We decided to just let her catch us, we were almost near the end! But little did we know how much trouble we would be in for skipping lunch, lying (we had told her we went home for lunch), and sneaking onto the computer without permission. Was it worth it? Maybe. We made it further in that game than ever, and I only had to spend the rest of my lunches in the 2nd grade sitting next to Ms. Norton.
Well, fast forward 20 years or so, and here I go again on the Oregon Trail, except this time, for real. Follow the postings below for a recap of my real-life journey from South Dakota to Oregon for graduate school.
I may try to keep this blog up for my family and friends I left behind on the Upper Great Plains, but no promises. At least this will be a tale of the journey.
We were all fine until one day we got further in the game than we ever had before, to floating down the river near The Dalles to the Oregon coast. We decided to just let her catch us, we were almost near the end! But little did we know how much trouble we would be in for skipping lunch, lying (we had told her we went home for lunch), and sneaking onto the computer without permission. Was it worth it? Maybe. We made it further in that game than ever, and I only had to spend the rest of my lunches in the 2nd grade sitting next to Ms. Norton.
Well, fast forward 20 years or so, and here I go again on the Oregon Trail, except this time, for real. Follow the postings below for a recap of my real-life journey from South Dakota to Oregon for graduate school.
I may try to keep this blog up for my family and friends I left behind on the Upper Great Plains, but no promises. At least this will be a tale of the journey.
