with no idea what dangers lay just over the hill...

With no idea what dangers lay just over the hill, let alone beyond the horizon, America's brave pioneers left everything they knew behind them and set out across uncharted territories in nothing more than horse drawn covered wagons.

The freedoms we cherish today we earned with sweat and blood and more often than not with their very lives. Thank you, each and every one of you who sacrificed so much. Thank you for your courage, for your faith, for your perseverance.

I often wonder why my Axsom great great grandparents traveled to Missouri by wagon and settled near Cainsville, why my great great grandpa Maxwell left Virginia and eventually settled in Harrison County, Missouri...I remember being told he was burnt out during the war...but it wasn't a decision to be taken lightly....heading into the unknown. taking the chance on disease, illness, injury, highway robbery, misfortune, accidents. the absolute certainty that you would never see the ones you left behind again. ever. starting over....finding a place to settle...a means of income...people you could trust. they were much braver than me. but maybe they just had to be.