The Great American Road Trip

[Termite]

I will not play this game, if I can't have a pack animal or three. The Spanish were in north America before 1617, they had horses, so I would buy or steal one or three from them.

Failing to obtain Spanish horses, I note that cattle can be trained to be ridden or used as pack animals. An American Bison is close enough to domestic cattle that they can interbreed, so I suspect a bison bull calf could be castrated, raised by hand, and trained to be ridden.

And a white man riding a bison would likely be viewed by the natives as some sort of god; especially one bearing a 1898 Mauser chambered in 9.3x62mm, which would be my rifle and caliber of choice.

[Aglifter]

Cattle have been bred, to an extent, for thousands of years for docility...

Bison are NOT docile. I don't think they'd take to being trained - perhaps as a pack animal, but the Indians used dogs.

Now, as to why you couldn't use a dog to carry a pack/pull a small drag, like the Indians did, I don't know.

What was the max sustainable load? CBIV mentioned it - I think it was 20% of body weight.

Honestly, I think you'd be better off heading South to a settlement.

L&C barely made that journey as part of a well-equipped expedition.

You'd screw up the eventual settlement if the Americas, maybe - but your best shot might be to take whatever you need to grow and extract cowpox, so you can be the "medicine man" who can save folks from small pox - the only way to make that trip is with indigenous help.

A firearm might be handy, but it also might become something Chief Jackass wants for himself.

[blackeagle603]

Yeah, if I even left the CA coast I wouldn't make it past the Sierras. Too good a life to be had there. Monterey Bay or Sutters Mill in 1617 all sound really good to me.

[Weetabix]

God, but a thread in this place is like herding cats.

[Jericho941]

Sadly, with neither fuel nor an airstrip for takeoff, you'll be spending a lot longer than three years, with or without WSO, clearing a strip, drilling for oil, and constructing the necessary instruments to refine crude into JP-8 using whatever you can construct from abalone shells and pine trees.

Well, nobody said anything about having to craft all your ammo, gear, and other logistical concerns at the starting point, either.

[MarkD]

OK, I'll play.

Lever action .44 mag rifle with .44 mag revolver, ammo commonality, better range/power than any other weapon on the continent at that time (meaning, in a fight, I could hit them from a range beyond which they could hit me) and powerful enough to handle hunting duties.

I'd secure a couple dogs at the starting point for security, especially nocturnal security. They'll hear or smell danger long before I could. Perhaps use them as pack animals too. I'd probably also try to secure some period weaponry (bow, crossbow) with re-usable or field-manufacturable (if I can coin a term) ammo, just in case the modern ammo runs out. Better still, learn the skills for making a servicable bow in the field. I'd also bring along some modern supplies to use for trapping/snaring game, catching fish, etc.

[Greg]

Did I mention I really don't care for these?

The ONE thing that would be truly useful toward reaching your destination, as in it would raise your probability of arriving alive visibly above zero, would be other people making the voyage with you. Alone, you're pretty much going to die somewhere. With a group, maybe only some of you (plural) will die.

[Weetabix]

Alone, you're pretty much going to die somewhere. With a group, maybe only some of you (plural) will die.

Sissy.

[Greg]

Alone, you're pretty much going to die somewhere. With a group, maybe only some of you (plural) will die.

Sissy.

What was the death rate for pioneers heading West again? Traveling in groups, along established trails, with better equipment and far more in the way of supporting infrastructure than I could possibly hope for?

Yes, "better equipment" you ask? Yes. I might have better guns, better bad weather gear, antibiotics, my knives are better steel, etc. BUT.... one word- Conestoga.

[Darrell]

The Lewis & Clark expedition lost one man, and that was early in the journey--on the Missouri River along the west side of Iowa, IIRC.

As for me, I'd want something worthy of a grizzly if I'm going from California to points east. At the time the grizz still ranged over much of the continent, and they were especially bad tempered back then. Twelve gauge with slugs, or something powerful that starts with a .4. I like the idea of a lever action and revolver in the same caliber.