Oregon Trail Challenge Diary
Welcome to the Sims 4 Oregon Trail Challenge diary! We’re in a generic Oldwest setting, trying to reach the New Land on a wagon, fighting hunger, disease, rivers and growing romantic attraction to ...
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Chapter 2: Adjusting to life on the wagon
https://64.media.tumblr.com/4d02a93069e22940bc1298c7333184fc/057ebfb70149f486-7e/s540x810/152fddcb242211e51ddc78f00177504effad4ae7.png
Vanessa was the first to feel the need for a potty break. It is always her, and I don’t know what sets her apart from Caroline and John, who are full adults, too, but have a better bladder control.
The two families decided to stop for a full hour, to give everyone a chance to “go” now, lest they had to take another break later. The wagon fell a little off, closer to the end of the trek, although not yet worryingly so.
Note: The trek moves 12 hours each day and waystations are 84 hours apart from each other. If my sims ever fall off too far, I will start rolling for wolves and raiders.
And then this happened: The potty bushes I placed all face the same direction, yet, when Gavin was done, he moved into Daniel’s bush as if to get a closer look. And so it begins again after just ten hours… (These two being my OTP they always end up as a couple in every Sims save or fanfic.).
https://64.media.tumblr.com/22b6d44c62298229fc363d99ae05a276/e52cc9e36a6d0cae-60/s540x810/0b7cbd3aecc21d028220664d58adfa0eb0a2ca10.png
Daniel: “What are you doing in my bush, Reed?”
Gavin: “That’s not your bush, Phillips. It’s growing here.”
Daniel: “Well, and I happen to take a pee here! So turn around!”
Gavin: “What’s your problem, getting all itchy when someone sees you pee?”
Daniel: “What’s YOUR problem, wanting to WATCH people pee?”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/405fc3b03458c096b9be2ad45eb3b47c/117408cc3012d4ea-e2/s540x810/0a1a2e54117db46b6c5b3cf6d8bb3ee4f5462c33.png
Meanwhile Emma went frog-hunting.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/006220458a6051f93c425f2781ae975d/117408cc3012d4ea-41/s540x810/a6545e0083a062ac604263bc2dc878b91c7b8592.png
It was hard to believe, but experts from another wagon told the Phillips that this particular specimen would be worth 30 dollars at the next trading station. Provided they could keep it alive until then.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ace2a537b6ba0be0184956b7ab682d8b/9915bb09829a40de-7e/s540x810/e6cfefcbd36c34bd03829ab0e614636aab5c41c4.png
After the break, Vanessa read to Jin. The boy listened intently, and more than once it seemed to John that he followed the lines with his eyes.
John: “After this trek, he'll have learned how to read, haha!”
Gavin: “What do you mean? He already can read, but getting read to is part of a happy modern childhood, so we do that.”
John: “Jokester! Jim is only two!”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/66adca03048e588705e948b52adc0824/9915bb09829a40de-f8/s540x810/b444c83ebebc6a1fdf7fbaae800a59106a9b549c.png
Gavin: “Says the man who’s lugging a f- GLOBE across America. Wouldn’t a map be more useful?”
John: “That’s a vintage...”
Gavin: “Vintage? You mean that thing’s not just the wrong scale, but also outdated by several decades?”
Caroline: “Haha, no! We do not own any outdated stuff!”
John: “It’s a vintage globe bar filled with Bacciform Firkin, Old Yorkfield Classic, Simadder Cherry Sap, Black Fern and McDillan’s Single Nectar!”
Gavin: “Woohoo! Let’s have a round!”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/cf1b7a71108e2d20f973654ef5d179a1/9915bb09829a40de-77/s540x810/45ae305099d24950ce00c799cf9d3fa6c3074cea.png
John: “Not yet. A tray of Yorkfield Classic alone is worth thirty-three dollars. If we destroy that much value by just guzzling it down our gullets, I want to make the moment count!”
Gavin: “After reaching the first supply station, then?”
John: “I’ll think about it.”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/6eb38790026544515a132ec7c699de8f/9915bb09829a40de-c2/s540x810/d3cbaa4156dc383e35c0195eaa14f54d9f6b980b.png
Speaking of supplies: Jin had to eat his share of the provisions early. This didn’t bode well...
(They get one free quick meal per day and person. For adults that is doable, since sims can remain in the red for quite some time before running the risk of starving. All they have to do on the wagon is sit and chat anyway, so the worst that can happen is them arguing because of bad mood. And given some of their traits they argue anyway, hungry or not… But for a toddler a single quick meal isn’t sufficient.)
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c459cac3698e19cbebe80b103ec29619/2cb8be554ad6b076-3f/s540x810/1db57bb0717e4f17aa9636835b0c0d9e60fb562d.png
Finally time to set up a camp for the night!
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ecab1cd00b78948f762c056076da63e6/2cb8be554ad6b076-6d/s540x810/026ac71ce86578127fc5486507edf0d79e774322.png
While the others put up the tents and made a fire, Daniel fed, cleaned and petted Plum and Connor.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/9ec31579cbe0413839d9401236087167/70c1e4628885240c-f6/s540x810/f4c18a48f362863fc2c15874ae79ce1898bfe479.png
Tina: “What’s this? A camera?”
John: “Yes! It’s one of the few possessions I couldn’t part with. I’d carry it on my back, if I had to!”
Tina: “But isn’t it too dark already to take a photo?”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/f606977cf60fd3fd154e8bd0c87b3d17/70c1e4628885240c-de/s540x810/f6e8ca7c4f78bdfa93e51785c15bbd468531ac7e.png
Seems not.
After gifting one photo to Vanessa, John still had nine more. Although Vanessa’s fame as a dancer, singer and actress was quickly fading, the photos would still sell for ~16 dollars.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/2ee82dad7e3752d17bdc5bf52bce1104/249b11e4dd524ac8-c9/s540x810/ba268b84162c567e25913feefb5b1ec13a558339.png
John: “Stop prowling around the kettle, kid! You already had your meal! Geeze, why aren’t your parents there when they’re needed?!”
Yes, why? Tina and Gavin had realized that a toddler couldn’t sustain on a single quick meal a day. One of them had to give their own ration up, and to make up for that, they had cast fishing rods.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/562e8a7768b42db5b77e9d3b983e02fd/249b11e4dd524ac8-f2/s540x810/e6fc639c987f72b384566150609bbf9a73ddbaac.png
Jin: ♪ The rock and pool is nice and cool! And now we wish to eat a fish! ♪
Gavin: “Nah, this one isn’t for you. It has too many little bones. - Nice song, though, you should write it down.”
And there it was again, the Reeds’ insistence that their little boy could read and write, what even Emma couldn’t well enough. At this point John believed they were pulling his leg.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/3c848e45ab19f1b7d2570bf841296dcb/249b11e4dd524ac8-a1/s540x810/c9420fea6e4f37bb5fdfb31c1bd793d6e8568742.png
The next morning not only Jin, but the adults, too, were hungry (in the yellow, actually).
The group consumed half of the provisions for the day at seven in the morning already.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/702be4c92dba39d42470ef028357806a/249b11e4dd524ac8-bb/s540x810/2b96ef4db0d68da7f4850793c793b4478dca16d3.png
There were a few wild fruit trees and bushes that they picked clean. But the travelers could not rely on finding resources every day, not to mention that the families from the other wagons might be faster next time.
And so they started the second day with heavy hearts.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/6dcdcec8d655e22f4054b8c0b0f9e61e/7aa4d01ec31d5364-d6/s540x810/4f69d5f30a475484367045c3ef672fb66cbe8410.png
The wagon started with an hour delay, but managed to catch up with the trek by nightfall. Seeing how smelly the Phillips/Chen had become, they probably followed the stench cloud that for sure must have emanated from the other wagons, too. They were on the trail a single only, but already dirty as a person normally was only right before the Saturday bath!
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c9adff27dbc25b867768ad55052cf628/7aa4d01ec31d5364-fd/s540x810/409e6290d135c97ed7d442ba5cabbe2720801245.png
Lack of sleep was the least of their problems, as they could sleep in the wagon easily.
During the waking hours there wasn't much to do but chat and play cards. Without realizing it, Vanessa and Tina passed a little chinese to the others, while the Phillips trio from Detroit passed some french back. Emma and Jin picked up a smattering of both languages. (Courtesy of the Language barriers mod, in fact, by the end of this challenge Jin may very well be fluent in three languages.)
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ca78cfb446667b3577a7f912d48c01ab/7aa4d01ec31d5364-35/s540x810/a3ce92d6392937ca495f4fd648feee5e75339fad.png
Jin: “Me play cards, too!”
Indeed Vanessa had drawn pictures on playing card sized cardboard pieces to create a simple memory game for the boy. It kept him entertained for hours on end.
At one point the woman borrowed John’s real playing cards to play “Seventeen and Four” with Jin instead. John chose to ignore the toddler’s ability to read the numbers, add them together and perform a risk-reward analysis (that admittedly failed more often than it succeeded).
https://64.media.tumblr.com/5482ce152a8327801c445dbc5fc124cd/7aa4d01ec31d5364-8d/s540x810/28e8cfbf1fdcb28c8fee4799ba86d5fbafb3d43e.png
When they put up camp for the night, Emma found time to practice on her violin while Jin started tackling the numbers higher than twenty-one. He found this exercise incredibly easy: You just counted normally, but said “twenny” before each number!
Emma: *fiddle, fiddle*
Jin: “...twenny-eight, twenny-nine, twenny-ten, twenny-eleven, twenny-twelve, twenny-thirteen...”
Emma: *fiddle, fiddle*
Jin: “Twenny-nineteen, twenny-twenny... thirty-one, thirty-two...”
It was a peaceful evening for the travelers in their twenty-eleven wagons.
Next: Way too many fires lead to a questionable culinary decision and our first case of food poisoning.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/4d02a93069e22940bc1298c7333184fc/057ebfb70149f486-7e/s540x810/152fddcb242211e51ddc78f00177504effad4ae7.png
Vanessa was the first to feel the need for a potty break. It is always her, and I don’t know what sets her apart from Caroline and John, who are full adults, too, but have a better bladder control.
The two families decided to stop for a full hour, to give everyone a chance to “go” now, lest they had to take another break later. The wagon fell a little off, closer to the end of the trek, although not yet worryingly so.
Note: The trek moves 12 hours each day and waystations are 84 hours apart from each other. If my sims ever fall off too far, I will start rolling for wolves and raiders.
And then this happened: The potty bushes I placed all face the same direction, yet, when Gavin was done, he moved into Daniel’s bush as if to get a closer look. And so it begins again after just ten hours… (These two being my OTP they always end up as a couple in every Sims save or fanfic.).
https://64.media.tumblr.com/22b6d44c62298229fc363d99ae05a276/e52cc9e36a6d0cae-60/s540x810/0b7cbd3aecc21d028220664d58adfa0eb0a2ca10.png
Daniel: “What are you doing in my bush, Reed?”
Gavin: “That’s not your bush, Phillips. It’s growing here.”
Daniel: “Well, and I happen to take a pee here! So turn around!”
Gavin: “What’s your problem, getting all itchy when someone sees you pee?”
Daniel: “What’s YOUR problem, wanting to WATCH people pee?”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/405fc3b03458c096b9be2ad45eb3b47c/117408cc3012d4ea-e2/s540x810/0a1a2e54117db46b6c5b3cf6d8bb3ee4f5462c33.png
Meanwhile Emma went frog-hunting.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/006220458a6051f93c425f2781ae975d/117408cc3012d4ea-41/s540x810/a6545e0083a062ac604263bc2dc878b91c7b8592.png
It was hard to believe, but experts from another wagon told the Phillips that this particular specimen would be worth 30 dollars at the next trading station. Provided they could keep it alive until then.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ace2a537b6ba0be0184956b7ab682d8b/9915bb09829a40de-7e/s540x810/e6cfefcbd36c34bd03829ab0e614636aab5c41c4.png
After the break, Vanessa read to Jin. The boy listened intently, and more than once it seemed to John that he followed the lines with his eyes.
John: “After this trek, he'll have learned how to read, haha!”
Gavin: “What do you mean? He already can read, but getting read to is part of a happy modern childhood, so we do that.”
John: “Jokester! Jim is only two!”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/66adca03048e588705e948b52adc0824/9915bb09829a40de-f8/s540x810/b444c83ebebc6a1fdf7fbaae800a59106a9b549c.png
Gavin: “Says the man who’s lugging a f- GLOBE across America. Wouldn’t a map be more useful?”
John: “That’s a vintage...”
Gavin: “Vintage? You mean that thing’s not just the wrong scale, but also outdated by several decades?”
Caroline: “Haha, no! We do not own any outdated stuff!”
John: “It’s a vintage globe bar filled with Bacciform Firkin, Old Yorkfield Classic, Simadder Cherry Sap, Black Fern and McDillan’s Single Nectar!”
Gavin: “Woohoo! Let’s have a round!”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/cf1b7a71108e2d20f973654ef5d179a1/9915bb09829a40de-77/s540x810/45ae305099d24950ce00c799cf9d3fa6c3074cea.png
John: “Not yet. A tray of Yorkfield Classic alone is worth thirty-three dollars. If we destroy that much value by just guzzling it down our gullets, I want to make the moment count!”
Gavin: “After reaching the first supply station, then?”
John: “I’ll think about it.”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/6eb38790026544515a132ec7c699de8f/9915bb09829a40de-c2/s540x810/d3cbaa4156dc383e35c0195eaa14f54d9f6b980b.png
Speaking of supplies: Jin had to eat his share of the provisions early. This didn’t bode well...
(They get one free quick meal per day and person. For adults that is doable, since sims can remain in the red for quite some time before running the risk of starving. All they have to do on the wagon is sit and chat anyway, so the worst that can happen is them arguing because of bad mood. And given some of their traits they argue anyway, hungry or not… But for a toddler a single quick meal isn’t sufficient.)
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c459cac3698e19cbebe80b103ec29619/2cb8be554ad6b076-3f/s540x810/1db57bb0717e4f17aa9636835b0c0d9e60fb562d.png
Finally time to set up a camp for the night!
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ecab1cd00b78948f762c056076da63e6/2cb8be554ad6b076-6d/s540x810/026ac71ce86578127fc5486507edf0d79e774322.png
While the others put up the tents and made a fire, Daniel fed, cleaned and petted Plum and Connor.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/9ec31579cbe0413839d9401236087167/70c1e4628885240c-f6/s540x810/f4c18a48f362863fc2c15874ae79ce1898bfe479.png
Tina: “What’s this? A camera?”
John: “Yes! It’s one of the few possessions I couldn’t part with. I’d carry it on my back, if I had to!”
Tina: “But isn’t it too dark already to take a photo?”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/f606977cf60fd3fd154e8bd0c87b3d17/70c1e4628885240c-de/s540x810/f6e8ca7c4f78bdfa93e51785c15bbd468531ac7e.png
Seems not.
After gifting one photo to Vanessa, John still had nine more. Although Vanessa’s fame as a dancer, singer and actress was quickly fading, the photos would still sell for ~16 dollars.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/2ee82dad7e3752d17bdc5bf52bce1104/249b11e4dd524ac8-c9/s540x810/ba268b84162c567e25913feefb5b1ec13a558339.png
John: “Stop prowling around the kettle, kid! You already had your meal! Geeze, why aren’t your parents there when they’re needed?!”
Yes, why? Tina and Gavin had realized that a toddler couldn’t sustain on a single quick meal a day. One of them had to give their own ration up, and to make up for that, they had cast fishing rods.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/562e8a7768b42db5b77e9d3b983e02fd/249b11e4dd524ac8-f2/s540x810/e6fc639c987f72b384566150609bbf9a73ddbaac.png
Jin: ♪ The rock and pool is nice and cool! And now we wish to eat a fish! ♪
Gavin: “Nah, this one isn’t for you. It has too many little bones. - Nice song, though, you should write it down.”
And there it was again, the Reeds’ insistence that their little boy could read and write, what even Emma couldn’t well enough. At this point John believed they were pulling his leg.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/3c848e45ab19f1b7d2570bf841296dcb/249b11e4dd524ac8-a1/s540x810/c9420fea6e4f37bb5fdfb31c1bd793d6e8568742.png
The next morning not only Jin, but the adults, too, were hungry (in the yellow, actually).
The group consumed half of the provisions for the day at seven in the morning already.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/702be4c92dba39d42470ef028357806a/249b11e4dd524ac8-bb/s540x810/2b96ef4db0d68da7f4850793c793b4478dca16d3.png
There were a few wild fruit trees and bushes that they picked clean. But the travelers could not rely on finding resources every day, not to mention that the families from the other wagons might be faster next time.
And so they started the second day with heavy hearts.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/6dcdcec8d655e22f4054b8c0b0f9e61e/7aa4d01ec31d5364-d6/s540x810/4f69d5f30a475484367045c3ef672fb66cbe8410.png
The wagon started with an hour delay, but managed to catch up with the trek by nightfall. Seeing how smelly the Phillips/Chen had become, they probably followed the stench cloud that for sure must have emanated from the other wagons, too. They were on the trail a single only, but already dirty as a person normally was only right before the Saturday bath!
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c9adff27dbc25b867768ad55052cf628/7aa4d01ec31d5364-fd/s540x810/409e6290d135c97ed7d442ba5cabbe2720801245.png
Lack of sleep was the least of their problems, as they could sleep in the wagon easily.
During the waking hours there wasn't much to do but chat and play cards. Without realizing it, Vanessa and Tina passed a little chinese to the others, while the Phillips trio from Detroit passed some french back. Emma and Jin picked up a smattering of both languages. (Courtesy of the Language barriers mod, in fact, by the end of this challenge Jin may very well be fluent in three languages.)
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ca78cfb446667b3577a7f912d48c01ab/7aa4d01ec31d5364-35/s540x810/a3ce92d6392937ca495f4fd648feee5e75339fad.png
Jin: “Me play cards, too!”
Indeed Vanessa had drawn pictures on playing card sized cardboard pieces to create a simple memory game for the boy. It kept him entertained for hours on end.
At one point the woman borrowed John’s real playing cards to play “Seventeen and Four” with Jin instead. John chose to ignore the toddler’s ability to read the numbers, add them together and perform a risk-reward analysis (that admittedly failed more often than it succeeded).
https://64.media.tumblr.com/5482ce152a8327801c445dbc5fc124cd/7aa4d01ec31d5364-8d/s540x810/28e8cfbf1fdcb28c8fee4799ba86d5fbafb3d43e.png
When they put up camp for the night, Emma found time to practice on her violin while Jin started tackling the numbers higher than twenty-one. He found this exercise incredibly easy: You just counted normally, but said “twenny” before each number!
Emma: *fiddle, fiddle*
Jin: “...twenny-eight, twenny-nine, twenny-ten, twenny-eleven, twenny-twelve, twenny-thirteen...”
Emma: *fiddle, fiddle*
Jin: “Twenny-nineteen, twenny-twenny... thirty-one, thirty-two...”
It was a peaceful evening for the travelers in their twenty-eleven wagons.
Next: Way too many fires lead to a questionable culinary decision and our first case of food poisoning.
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