WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OREGON – Shoveling the last piece of dirt over his son Robert\u2019s grave, John Wilkinson said with certainty that he could think of \u201cno better, more efficient\u201d way to travel across the country at any point in the future.<\/p>\n
With his head hanging out of the buggy as it rolled to Oregon, Wilkinson remarked, \u201cBasically what you got here is all the most modern vehicles, human beings, and roads all intersecting in the same framework. This is the fastest mode of transportation you\u2019ve seen in human history, and I doubt it\u2019ll get any better.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if he thought scientific advancements would ever, like seriously, possibly, just maybe ever, be able to make traveling faster, he responded with an affirmative \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. No. No. No. I just don\u2019t see it happening. Not possible, even in my wildest dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a minute of burying himself in deep reflection, he added, \u201cWell, technology might make it a little easier to deal with some of the troubles you run into when you’re out there. For instance, it could be a little less of a hassle to bury your children, or find food and new families to breed with along the way. And I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be some stores that will pop up along the dirt roads for convenience\u2019s sake, to buy food and more burying-dead-relatives shovels.<\/p>\n
\u201cInfrastructure could change a little too. It wouldn\u2019t be bad if some of the forests were burned down, and some Indian tribes exiled to make room for the wagons and mules.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this pioneer-wagon I got here\u2014nothing will ever be able to replace this and the slick, unused mud paths I\u2019ve taken from Louisville Kentucky to Banished-Indian Creek, Oregon. Plus, I seriously doubt anyone will come close to my record in speed. Only 31 years and 312 days\u2014but hey, who\u2019s counting? Well, they might come close. At my survival rate though? Not one will be able to show up with the diaries and possessions of just three deceased families on the Oregon Trail.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the fourth family he had previously mentioned, John said, \u201cOh them? Doesn\u2019t count. That one was my fault. I took out my rifle and killed them all cause they were getting on my nerves somewhere along the western border of Utah.\u201d<\/p>\n
There you have it. The future, brimming with hope. But not too much hope. Enough hope that you can be just like John. That is, if you\u2019re lucky too!<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got this white canvas tarp stretched over your head while you\u2019re moving, and when you look up it\u2019s like clouds on a baby-blue oil painting. Heck, if it weren\u2019t for rocks and blades of grass you hear getting cobbled under the wheels when your ears aren\u2019t so clogged with worms, I\u2019d say you really feel just like you\u2019re flying. Flying\u2026 This is the closest humankind will probably ever get to moving like our friends up there, the birds and the angels. On the weeks our water supply leaked, and we were stuck rolling through desert sands in a near-death state of dehydration, I could\u2019ve sworn to you I was in the sky. I had these visions I was Jesus and that we were in the sky. No other transportation will ever bring us so close to the sky like that, to taking flight. And at this speed? Like I\u2019ve been saying, not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Truly inspiring.<\/p>\n
John passed away shortly after the interview ended at the distinguished age of 41. It was the tuberculosis that took the life of Oregon’s former oldest resident.<\/p>\n
Truly tragic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OREGON – Shoveling the last piece of dirt over his son Robert\u2019s grave, John Wilkinson said with certainty that he could think of \u201cno better, more efficient\u201d way to travel across the country at any point in the future. With his head hanging out of the buggy as it rolled to Oregon, Wilkinson remarked, \u201cBasically what you got here is all the most modern vehicles, human beings, and roads all intersecting in the same framework. This is the fastest mode of transportation you\u2019ve seen in human history, and I doubt it\u2019ll get any better.\u201d When asked if he thought scientific advancements would ever, like seriously, possibly, just maybe ever, be able to make traveling faster, he responded with an affirmative \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cNo. No. No. No. I just don\u2019t see it happening. Not possible, even in my wildest dreams.\u201d After a minute of burying himself in deep reflection, he added, \u201cWell, technology might make it a little easier to deal with some of the troubles you run into when you’re out there. For instance, it could be a little less of a hassle to bury your children, or find food and new families to breed with along the way. And I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be some stores that will pop up along the dirt roads for convenience\u2019s sake, to buy food and more burying-dead-relatives shovels. \u201cInfrastructure could change a little too. It wouldn\u2019t be bad if some of the forests were burned down, and some Indian tribes exiled to make room for the wagons and mules.\u201d \u201cBut this pioneer-wagon I got here\u2014nothing will ever be able to replace this and the slick, unused mud paths I\u2019ve taken from Louisville Kentucky to Banished-Indian Creek, Oregon. Plus, I seriously doubt anyone will come close to my record in speed. Only 31 years and 312 days\u2014but hey, who\u2019s counting? Well, they might come close. At my survival rate though? Not one will be able to show up with the diaries and possessions of just three deceased families on the Oregon Trail.\u201d When asked about the fourth family he had previously mentioned, John said, \u201cOh them? Doesn\u2019t count. That one was my fault. I took out my rifle and killed them all cause they were getting on my nerves somewhere along the western border of Utah.\u201d There you have it. The future, brimming with hope. But not too much hope. Enough hope that you can be just like John. That is, if you\u2019re lucky too! \u201cYou\u2019ve got this white canvas tarp stretched over your head while you\u2019re moving, and when you look up it\u2019s like clouds on a baby-blue oil painting. Heck, if it weren\u2019t for rocks and blades of grass you hear getting cobbled under the wheels when your ears aren\u2019t so clogged with worms, I\u2019d say you really feel just like you\u2019re flying. Flying\u2026 This is the closest humankind will probably ever get to moving like our friends up there, the birds and the angels. On the weeks our water supply leaked, and we were stuck rolling through desert sands in a near-death state of dehydration, I could\u2019ve sworn to you I was in the sky. I had these visions I was Jesus and that we were in the sky. No other transportation will ever bring us so close to the sky like that, to taking flight. And at this speed? Like I\u2019ve been saying, not possible.\u201d Truly inspiring. John passed away shortly after the interview ended at the distinguished age of 41. It was the tuberculosis that took the life of Oregon’s former oldest resident. Truly tragic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":3436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-issue","tag-15-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5485,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions\/5485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}