The Church had a sotre [store] at Florence and we were able to get what we needed for our journey. We waited seven weeks before the wagons came to take us to Salt Lake City. It was a strnage [strange] sight to us when they did come. We had never seen oxen and men driving them with their long whips and shouting, “Whoa, Ha, and Gee” at them. We were assigned to John Turner’s wagon in Homer Duncan’s train to cross the plains. It was a very trying time for everyone traveling day after day in the heat, dust, and winds. We did our cooking in dkillets [skillets] over smokey fires and slept in tents with ten to fifteen men, women, and children. Flour and bacon was about all the food we had. Usually the water was bad, and sometimes no wood to burn. It was in this way that we moved along at about fifteen miles a day, often resting on Saturday afternoon to wash and clean ourselves up. All day Sunday was spent resting. Prayers were offered night and morning, and often singing and dancing in the evenings. We were two months moving from Florence to salt Lake And Heber, arriving on September 21, 1862.