Shootin' the Breeze Around the Campfire

 


First and Best Camp of the Trip 
Frederic Remington

Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the tent wall during and wild west cowboy campfire? I know I sure would! Or maybe a bird in a tree, listening to the tales of the trail as told by the ones who traveled the long, dusty miles. 

I imagine what they talked about but imagination only goes so far. And the truth is, that while I conjure up all kinds of interesting stories, a lot of my research shows that much of what they shot the fat over were mundane topics. Lame horses. Shots taken and missed. The ever-popular weather. Sometimes, women—the ones they left behind as well as saloon girls they hoped to meet. 

I read one account that was mostly a complaint about the food on the trail. Apparently campfire grub sometimes left something to be desired!

There are no campfire scenes in A Wylder Christmas but that's only because of the season. Violet Bloom, Wylder's schoolteacher, faces enough trials in the story that I couldn't have her huddled around a campfire during a snowstorm. Nope, I just didn't have the heart to do that! 

But one day soon one of my characters is going to sleep beneath the stars beside a campfire. And then I'm going to get to listen to exactly what's said around those flames!  







 

Comments

  1. Laura StricklandJune 2, 2021 at 6:35 AM

    A great post! Makes me feel what it was like to be there!

    ReplyDelete

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