Go/Whoa

Another thread reminded me of a little amusing thing that happened on our wagon train this summer.

On day three or so we came to a cattle guard on the trail. Due to the terrain and the construction of the fence, we couldn’t just undo the fence and drive the wagons around around the cattle guard, the way we had with all the previous cattle guards. We had to unhitch the teams, ground-drive the teams around the cattle guard, push the wagons over, then re-hitch on the other side.

There were several children traveling with their families on the wagon train. The monotony of riding in the wagons hour after hour had them very excited about this break in routine. They gladly applied themselves in the effort to push the wagons across the cattle guard. After the first couple of wagons went through the procedure, it became apparant that child power alone was sufficient to push most of the wagons across the level ground. Much was made of their efforts, and they got all puffed up in the chest… proud of their combined strength.

When the third wagon came up to be pushed across, however, the children found themselves overmatched. This wagon was one of the heavier ones and although the bystanders shouted encouragement (“GO GO GO!”), in the end, a couple of adults had to step in to assist. The children were disappointed that they weren’t able to move the wagon across without adult intervention. When the fourth wagon rolled up to be conveyed across the cattle guard, the children eyed it with a communally steely and determined gaze.

The fourth wagon was the lightest one in the whole train. The children dug in their little tennie runners and set to with a vengeance. They were so fired-up and determined that they didn’t even realize when they had cleared the cattle guard and reached the other side. They just kept pushing and pushing… The bystanders started shouting, “WHOA! WHOA!” and the kids just dug in and pushed harder. A shouted WHOA, sounding much like GO…

On the other side of the cattle guard, the ground started to slope downward. The wagon began to roll easier and suddenly one of the adult bystanders had to hustle to get in front of the wagon and halt its rapidly increasing forward motion. Feeling the resistance, the children pushed with all their might and the fellow in front of the wagon found himself sorely pressed, eyes wide with alarm as the wagon continued to inch down the grade. The shouts of “WHOA! WHOA!” dissolved into outright laughter and folks stepped in to tap the children on their shoulders and pull them out of their determined trances. The magic word, “STOP!” was employed, the wagon ground to a halt and someone set the hand brake.

Moral of the story: make sure you know the correct verbage to control your draft animals before you set them to work!