A story of visionaries, fools and rental cars...

Joe B in his younger days [that's his second wife's hand by the way]

This is a story of visionaries, fools and  mid-size rental cars.

"We knew that California lay west, and that was the extent of our knowledge". --John Bidwell

Joseph Ballinger Chiles (Joe B) was a pioneer who crossed the country with John Bidwell and the first wagon train to California on a journey without maps.  Then he crossed it six more times, knowing a bit more about where he was going.  He was a friend of Kit Carson, Broken Hand Fitzpatrick, John Bidwell, and most of the early arrivals who made California into part of the United States.

Joe became a Mexican citizen, and built a ranch in the Chiles Valley, next to the Napa Valley.  He invested in property in Napa County, Lake County, Yolo County--and lost or gave much of it away.  He was my great-grand uncle and he is virtually unknown today in California because he refused to write anything down.  He is reported to have said that he never wrote a diary or memoirs because he didn't do anything that anyone else hadn't done.  So now I am going to do the writing.  Was he crazy? Was he a visionary? My brothers, Jim and John and I are going down the trail from Independence Missouri, through Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and California, starting on August 27 and we are going to try and find his trail, to know a little of what he knew when he headed west in May 1841. And to know him a little better so that we can pass on what we find out to future generations of the family and others

The air ticket is booked. The rental car is booked. The maps are spread out on the floor, along with background reading, interpretive guides, illustrations.  You name it, I've got it.  We just have to get there and do it.  Has it been done before?  You bet.  Has it been done by Joe B's California descendants?  I doubt it--and it's about time somebody did.  Next year is the 175th anniversary of that first company of wagons across the plains.  Let's shine a new light on that memory and see what it can teach us.

Lots to learn, particularly about the lay of the land.  For left coasters, this is the bit that we fly over.  The supposedly flat, uninteresting bit which is nothing but corn and cowboys.  It might be that this view changes over the next weeks...