>> [inaudible conversations] and good evening. they give poor joining for our it event for "the oregon trail". we got so excited when we read the book at the very beginning we decided to do something fun with the publisher. here is what we did. we thought we would take the advanced copy to send it on its own little journey to independent bookstores. in kansas city we got together then retook get on its own little trail which went to the indian mission and the pioneer family section and in the old west port to take it there and the scalp statute and we went to the pioneer area there is two pictures of that then we went to the stock exchange building behind the cows and we started the of books to put the pictures as it went on his journey. we had customers right notes in the book and put the pictures in their. so that is the book as we shipped it out across the country. we had so much fun we got some great feedback from other booksellers along the way some was a fun project. so now please tell me to welcome back to kansas city city, rinker buck author of "the oregon trail". [applause] >> i will just do a middle audio. can you hear me now? thank you for welcoming me to do kansas city. want to particularly thank you and i imagine you been from kansas city is legendary to promote books or take others they have not heard of yet been do just a wonderful job to promote them to hold events like this to a large crowd. i am thinking of them and all the name of independent bookstores in small towns and resorts and places like to go with the bookstore to be the spiritual anchor. i thought i would tell you how i got involved in this book and how what happened. five for six years ago i was working on a journalism peace and i decided to go up to see the flint hills. with quite a history with many other civil war or mexican war general start. so the part of the country thought was beautiful and significant but i had not been there. i was looking just outside washington kansas near the station it is a convenience store and i became mesmerized and fascinated by the trail. one and the motive that draws me to it is the real history that i discovered in the trail journals and by some historians was so much different to be passed down to us which even college students and is much different than past down from hollywood. zero women play a huge the important role to establish the trail in the early 1840's. it without them the early pioneers especially the sioux indian were affected. they only became possible after the civil war when they started to remove their source of protein which was buffalo. the of letters along the jumping off towns just made an art out of scanning the pioneers every penny they had before they launched with the guidebooks to talk about supplies in this had to be checked out and it was literally true in many pioneers described us how to navigate all the way to oregon and. so the first superfund site. [laughter] and perhaps the most remarkable to meet the world of clashing religions in our public life right now how many people were actually drifted into the trial that period of the 1830's with the second grade and lachemann the second grade awakening. in america was in the process from mainstream old-line to the new evangelical such. so almost every denomination you can name. users huge important arguments for your soul to be saved you have to have free will. so religious contention and drove people to the trail of wanted to know really happened. in in even a very young age and then to come along on the trip and felt empowered so whenever your friends think is unpredictable. i said that is a better book will take the trail one that it would be a mix of them more and adventure and history. in to go relatively quickly but it is hard to believe life find it helps in pictures but first of all, that is the trail 2100 miles. i know how we get rid of that but there rigo. with that great american desert and to finish that continental's base to define our national character. approximately 500,000 people and after the civil war even with this stage codes -- stage coach routes. this went back to the fur trapping days from western wyoming in another 500 cross so well the lincoln highway that essenally follow the same luck as of pioneers. at a time when they were populated to get to california or the oregon trail coming down to west on a nevada. to show you a few pictures that is to the end of the trip by lost a lot of weight actually but that marker marks of a trail to be replaced because it is hard to keep them not vandalize but that comes across the hall lindbergh station and that got me going to get me across the trail. this is a nice picture in central nebraska after we are of the trail for one month and if it was a good week maybe i took one shower once you can see what that does. [laughter] this is my brother with whom i took the trip i describe our relationship does collaborating dna presenting itself with symptoms of severe bipolar disease. [laughter] i verified with a college education he is educated but it is one thing that i read books but i had written five books. he is blue-collar and kind of rough and so forth. unfact we only had two flights but to be attracted to crazy women in every morning we have a routine end to ruth prevent a runaway but here she was a prom queen and she knew it. a real worker real affection and - - affectionate. this is that signal bluff ranch in to get a sense of the rig from this is three mules abreast because they would put up in front of each other. the secrets of the trip by design that and had built myself because i wanted the unassisted crossing no pickups coming into the camp at night. there are outfitters in wyoming who will take you and a pioneer wagon train but then when you get to camp the air-conditioned rb is a waiting for you. we did not do that. so this made it possible for us because they had 2,000 pounds of provisions of food and water. but half of the trail now is paved over but that is the dynamic that is the changing part of our country now it is in eastern kansas but one that trail is made may a two-way blacktop in the places it is paved and that happened particularly during world war i and there was of great need for the cattle driven across the trail to move more quickly. so we had 2 million soldiers over there to pave the road to get the beef to omaha quicker. here in kansas the highway -- pony express highway i like this picture with the truck because it shows that is the oregon trail right there. but that is what it looks like. that is the jack russell terrier olive oil was the hit of the trip the kids would come to camp at night we would give them the election of a covered wagon and they wanted to play with the dog. there was a lot of rattlesnake problems out west and she would run circles around me. another shot. just some people who wanted to talk actually oregon trail people here with this is us dealing with the meals. this again expresses the collaborating dna but this picture is significant because it is just above the kansas lloyd -- blind southeastern nebraska we camped in places like this all across this was a racially a pioneer in catmint then became pony express and stagecoach stop. visited of a famous place all of those places that the pioneers' camp to create independence rock every single place they were spaced apart perfectly just like the pioneers did where it has been preserved. this shot was in oregon. we were fixing the hacksaw in the lady just wanted a portrait of the dog. a and you can see from that picture that i like to be neat and clean the that is the same pair of dungarees he had gone for the whole trip. [laughter] and there were more interest things and the prairie dogs away from the mules and rattlesnakes away from me i had to walk ahead of -- the time she was with me. another shot in nebraska. the was the famous trial there is the most whole chapter about him but a former pioneer and it was his decision to take the trail and preserve it basically it is preserved today even in congested areas you can find it. because of him along the trail the state's past bills just before world war i to mark the trail with a granite markers and a lot of them are still there this was taken in nebraska but we came across dozens of these. there we are going through the nebraska plains. the oregon trail is some of the biggest energy developments in the country are right along the oregon trail i guess because they took the trail for the wind as we found out. when it is a big thing that i learned. a member of the oregon trail association gave us this trail marker. there we are doing repairs. one we needed more water. this is the harness each mewl harnesses for each individual the always about 35 pounds but is a lot of work to throw that on your shoulder to get them worked up. me that happens to be the valley in wyoming we were not reactors. people would ask where is your period dress? [laughter] i haven't worn one is in years. [laughter] we were not trying to be re-enacted in history. if we needed water just pull in and shoot the valley march. [laughter] another thing that is interesting is on top of california hill one of the steepest grades of a the trail they had a wagon train of 100 wagons and families so there was plenty of labor to empty the vikings to carry them up the steep incline then pull it up. everybody said we could not get up california hill and i will not be a spoiler but it is an exciting part of the book but we did get to the top. this is central wyoming who 350 miles that is the trail. in has not been tampered with or registered to. but that is what the unpaved sections of the trail looks like. absolutely nirvana out there. here we are we look dwarfed by signal bluff in central the blackmun -- nebraska with the foundation this to indians would camp up there in the summer to look for buffalo and other tribes and i love the way the terrain would dwarf the covered wagon. is dead is essentially the same spot from the wagon you can see how brisk the flag is the prevailing winds are blowing in your face 35 miles an hour but you get used to it. the same area from behind. we get to do this place and it is a false sense of security because it is for wheels designed to go over rough terrain but the part is only to real san not as stable and you forget that we went up the hill to fast diagonally and the load shifted and did a perfect job to flip it we did not break the real but we had the courage and and i love that moment because it was our first accident we had to prove we could get back on the trail quickly. this will be wonderful for the books. [laughter] my brother says i hate your book. [laughter] because i would say we would repair this he would say who is we? [laughter] it was back on the trail within 24 hours but then it flooded me have it typical pioneer experience to wait two days. this is a picture when show how tired reword. that is chimney rock in the back which there is of famous series of landmarks all along the trail is naturally navigable and you were just boxed in and with the natural landmarks upn steer for that over three days been used tear away from it. it is a very important thing about the trail is just set the train that they picked had natural landmarks. these are the lovely mules. this is my favorite mule jake. there he is again. you can see she always says in an '08 the look on her face. she hated me. but they were lovely animals and adorable to be with. the mormons have taken over this area to rename it according to their preferences. this is a great shot from central wyoming it shows the trail marker and here comes the white ginsberg by forgetting to check this, but it is a very good depiction the role of the murders play and how we knew wherever. we would run into somebody every 67 miles for us to make sure river in the right spot we needed to get to the markers. there you go. there is the acropolis this is approaching a the granite is a very remote area of wyoming. it was days and days and that is the oregon trail. "this is it" actually the trail in or again the biggest surprise is that eastern oregon is still desert the was a surprise to the pioneers as well. the newspapers promised that the p.i.g.s. would be as large as cows and the turnips plumper than pumpkins. said you get to organic you still realize you have 300 miles of the great american desert. but this is 50 to 20 miles inside of for again. then we are being repaired because it broke again here i am on the trail near the reservoir. this shows the work involved to get the team down a release steep slope. a typical steep slope and you can see when you go down and i describe this in the book pretty dramatic you are way above the mule's looking down. here we are on the sweet water river day after day after day. the sweet water river is with the most gorgeous landscapes in the world. this shows you how the trail followed the rivers so they would have deemed to shoot. here again the same sequence in wyoming in a place called south pass up through here. this is the kind of place we wooded campus would reap the rancher in town couple-- later if you get 50 or 20 miles west just topping and we will put you up. it is great. there we are crossing sweetwater. this was photographed just because it was the major pioneer camp ground a famous place of richard burton, mark twain, horace greeley, and what happened is they evolved into what the town would use next so the pioneer encampment now it is the public around and we would camp in places like this and they took the picture because i am over here somewhere. but my brother that is his bedroll on top of a pile of maneuver. [laughter] he is very rugged. so the axle broke the rancher came along. something else for the trail he said we can take them into town to have it fixed in a couple of days so we did. there is a place that we found. it was just lovely to drive through this route country. in a wagon with three good mules for them to behave themselves. there is the mountains in eastern even though classified as desert huge amount of wildflowers but in particular the yellow sunflowers and though no why they liked it but i would pull then in their endeavor eat them so graciously did yellow and green issues would come down their face. [laughter] i don't think i'm doing this right. that's okay. i will give you a of a brief reading to give you an idea what the trail was like then i will leave as much time as possible for questions because those are the most fun for everyone. one of the things about the trip that was so amazing, i could never predict that if you take on ambitious and creasy something that hasn't been done in more than a century you cannot predict we will need by plant and plant proposal i was very careful to read the pioneer journals they had a habit of overloading the wagon is. i thought i will not do that. but on the other hand, i would be living at of a 38-inch wide, 12 ft. box for the next four months of my life and i felt i absolutely had to have everything needed for the next four months in my life in that wagon. so now we are in hiawatha kansas the second day of the trip we have camped out one night. a fully loaded white and. >> it is amazing how transforming give 24 hours can be. i had been assessed with a furious for getting something for everything is needed for four months had to be in the wagon and. now as i fade pass the barbecue cooker through a wobbly pile of kitchenware to get out of the wagon i had an obsession to deep-sixed this shit. [laughter] with the silos and barnes i pulled on my boots to rummaged through the trail through the colon cookstoves and a propane i got that started. then began to sort through to create a new discard pile would be a useful exercise. first of all, the assortment of kitchenware i had assembled for the trip casserole cookers cookers, class, palin's a vegetable steamer. [laughter] was ridiculous. the procedure collection of a cable-tv shack. [laughter] in mint is it useful rinker you have retained the shoeshine kit? [laughter] i've retrieved the contraband i had smuggled past my brother like a cd player the bocce ball. another item as a pioneer i packed my brooks brothers bathrobe. [laughter] walking back and forth to camp every morning to carry a to the new will several books so fetching. looked at this. of kin of niagara space search for richards. rinker from the beginning of all time from the end of the trinity there has been and will continue to be the number of the vessels. theorizing pretty quickly to the top of the dickhead heap [laughter] that is a lesson that i had to learn. we would get to another one. the book has many layers and quotations from the pioneer journals and a lot of reviewers have pointed out how well researched the book is but then there were moments in rate to the book realized i have come across something significant i would alert "the reader" to get a little bit. there is a chapter the terrible toll it took on the pioneers as how many died the first 20 years sometimes as many as two or 3,000 but what was amazing to me along the trail is a whole they withstood the of hardship even among their our wagon train and family because the beauty of the landscape was so amazing to them it is the quintessential contradiction during hardship with a sense of the beauty of the land and the unix landscape. one historian who basically said that is how america was made with that sheriff attention paid to the landscape that joined us as a nation. so one of my favorite because it is abigail scot who crossed and i liked her particularly because she demonstrated she wasn't a woman who wishes to ride in the wagon and like so many other women that i found she was an equestrian and road. one day she saddled up for horse and rode up into the south hills to let the trail from a higher advantage point. here she is. in one place they can appear to the river and i ascended to the highest frequency than their was a romantic spectacle. the flat below me flowed on with peace will music to intersect with numerous islands. though wagon could go either direction to stretch as far as the eye could reach. over the next two weeks hardly a day when by without remarking on the majestic terrain she found the columns that the wagon trains used as navigation points jailhouse rock and chimney rock aesthetically on june 15 heard trade reached scottsbluff in nebraska the gateway to the rockies into the west she could see the al jerome of laramie peak 70 miles away. the hills of a truly grand and romantic appearance to fill the mind with indescribable amazement approaching to sublimity. over two weeks they had covered over to vendor miles and i just think this dichotomy of the pioneers is so significant because it was the worst suffering in the camps. she got on her horse trimmer cow beautiful a was. and so for a of a change of pace i read about the role of religion as they rounded out of illinois by other christians and americans who decided they hated the mormons so much with their eccentricities that it was good to keep the world safer to just shoot as many as you could. they were good about shooting back. so there is the stretch of the trail in a place called rocky ridge where the mormons made a mistake one to bring some emigrants over the mormons didn't have enough money so they would push handcarts and hundreds of them died and it is very controversial to this day the mormons consider that the stations of the cross for their religion as the hand cards would die in the snow. so they have made that whole a re-enactment from the parade to easy and italy and spain and so forth the religion's follow the track of jesus or whichever st. it was. the mormons tailback with the ranch land during the george w. bush years allowing them to take over a national monument to change that but he was a group trapped in the snow and basically to take a national monument with the permission of the federal government to turn that into a religious monument to reenact what happened as any summer on the trail so i'd like them as individuals with my own religion they're wonderful people i am not sure but the people of our wonderful so we traveled with this remote stretch that i had showed you in the picture. then you come up over rattlesnake pass one and it is huge mormon land with 20,000 people camped out with tents pushed around. i thought we needed to be prepared for this. >> as requested the rich i wiggled might teach golf -- ass was time to go mormon. [laughter] you have the picture on here to understand? let's start with a woman. fiddlesticks is good what about shit and rinker there is shoot and gosh darn it and don't forget please send thank you and yes, sir, for the guest of the morning by a brother rinker you are brother nicholas. you don't even have to remember the name. what about the women? sister. got it for go watch i will be the best mormon you ever saw. [laughter] so into the sun ranch we were talking to a mormon and went to the mormon is the am it is the music coming out everything is perfectly arranged with the soothing tones headaches morgan is an attractive. -- more minuteism attractive so then you are baptized for those who have not asked to be dead today to be baptized into the mormon. but my theory is because there museums are so good good, that walt disney died, of mormon's posthumously adopted him and baptize them and brought him back and he made all the museums for them because it is absolutely perfect. that this might very. so as i would walk up toward the white bin thinking about mormonism my ears cannot believe the words ever hearing. at the white ganic was engaged in deep conversation with the mormon elder. sitting on the wagon seat with olive oil in his lap. i had never seen neck -- nick focus into was obviously impressed he stood with his foot to resting to prop his chin up with his hand. you know, elder he said my brother is able to come on the trip because he fell off the roof so it took awhile for his foot to recover. he said i believe that jesus had to fall off the roof for reason. i needed to spend eight months on the couch thinking about my life to take stock of my values. then brother rinker came along with his mission across the west. was a mission and i had to respect that. have you figured everything out now? older, that is god's work let him figure it out. we're just your to do the best we can. very well said. it is important to be humble and though these humble person i have never met in my entire life said o. elder have i worked on being humble for the last year. [laughter] i was afraid i was losing it can i had to get us out of there. [laughter] brother nicholas that pot of gold at the end of the trail will not wait forever we best be getting on god willing. [laughter] the mormon elder stepped away to reach his hand out to shake mine. be careful on the trail he said i will older. thank you. died last. -- bless you would rather give ear shot nick spoke up don't you thank you were shoveling the shit a little heavy? what is god bless you crap? in jesus kick your ass off of route - - roof for a reason? [laughter] we turned west to stay with us we water river nearby three teenage sisters in bonnets and long skirts were sitting together against the porta potty. olive oil would jump into their lap. with the group of handcar reactors pushing up with the issues on the misty mountains this he reminded me of the swiss alps. i have a couple of other sections selected but i don't want to read over and did you have questions. thanks for being so patient is only a small taste but it is fun to read those. if you have questions we have phil donahue somewhere that is walking around with a microphone. or i can repeat your question. >> when the car and fell over how did we get it back up? >> in the most remote area of nebraska a very remote spot. -- things just happened to me because we flip the cartel's 7:00 in the morning we managed to password to a couple of cowboys to password to bring a trailer so we could take a back to his place to fix it. we're just waiting and a young kid who just listed in the marines was out with his:friend at seven in the morning. it sells like maybe they were returning. [laughter] and the american flag was on the ground and that upset him. so we emptied everything out to say we can put it back up it was my brother and myself nick is strong and this green kid. we had to do it carefully and we didn't want to push it up on their real -- the wheel but that is how we got it up. >> how long did the trick take? >> we live -- left misery may 15 and we would reach or again september 15. i calculated it pretty carefully was 79 camps. a lot of old pioneering kamins we would park behind the oregon trail country club. [laughter] is sulphur springs idaho and in a ghost town. >> did the original mules make it? >> there is a nice section at the end we gave them nutritional supplements come the day got a lot of gelatin to stay healthy. we could go a couple of days 40 or 50-mile races to get to water. that was the problem in the extreme west those were a cross deserts'. so if they did that for two days in a row the refined a pasture for them to rest the ranchers receiver the biggest liars of all time they did not come all the way across. you would switch the amount they could not believe it was the original team. they did great. >> you mentioned nebraska where the pioneers villages. >> i went there. i have gone through twice. it is a hodgepodge. but they have a marvelous way again collection and eight original paintings there that are watercolors. >> my husband grew up in a tiny town east of there and the oregon trail goes right through that. >> there is a marker right there. >> how low did it feel? he probably took a flight back? was anticlimactic to get on an airplane to fly over the same area the you just took a covered wagon? >> it wasn't for argue whether halfway again with all -- withdraw. we had a lot of equipment to bring back a rancher thought it was significant so i will put them in and vice -- in a nice pasture and i have visited them a couple times. and the wagon is still out there. i had equipment to bring home and also i had a book to finish researching people along the trail were significant but at that time i did not know river to obsess with miles to interview them so i brought to pick up for the things i would keep but to drive back home and stopped to do interviews along the way it took me a month to get home and it was a great way to do depressurized. it was a wonderful way to live to be a vagabond with the american flag flying from it and people will do anything for you. >> all those photographs of blue skies and white clouds did you have serious whether? >> one of my favorite quotations in the book after three weeks on the trail along the river he says you may think their reigns in indiana, but if you really want to see a storm comes to the platte. this is something that was not prepared for and did not research. it never occurred to me what will the weather be like. the platte river valley north down through omaha is legendary for very severe weather in the spring. may and early june. three absolutely in a covered wagon you will hit every storm that comes through. the storm that leveled joplin it was so violent and i explained in the book there in the thunderstorm but not harnessed to the wagon so they panicked because they cannot get away because they instinct is to fleets so there virtu were three thunderstorms and could not avoid and we had a really hard time. that was the worse rather than refaced with other than that once we got them in a corral, i cannot think of a better place to spend the night and a covered wagon in a thunderstorm it is dramatic and windy the lightning bolts. with a lightning bolt hits the prairie the ground shakes. but with the design of their roof so it all falls off it is like being at summer camp in the tent. but the weather along the platte was brutal. >> can he platte was brutal. >> can you tell us what percentage of the land they went through on the trail was public or private and if you encountered any problems crossing of land in the private section? >> western nebraska and wyoming 90 percent of the trail is on public land 90% of wyoming is known to by the federal government everything else is least for the bureau of land management. one so after western nebraska, it was publicly and/or ranchers we asked permission but we never needed it. i finally called a blm agent he was an executive that i have met every travels 1500 miles he said by the way you have the right of way. it is still in the law it is the right of way. one richard gave us a hard time that i described in the book. that was unfortunate. brothers said i thought he would shoot as i said it is great for the boocha >> your stupid book. [laughter] >> did you add to the junkyard? >> you think i will answer that question? [laughter] i will tell you the funniest. no. we didn't. in the most remote stretch of the trail called sweet water station that is now abandoned and the town itself has three people. a rancher and a lesbian couple who run a bookstore. [laughter] that is sweet water station. we come down this road in my brother says what is that. he said that is dash one man -- schwan man. [laughter] it seems a they just live off the schwan man. [laughter] stop. he says what you want? get what you want. do you have the ice cream sandwiches? he said i could only sell you on p the case. in a covered wagon 10askdegrees we buy a full case of ice cream sandwiches [laughter] i 83c86 all of oil had to we even stopping gavl of oil had te even stopping gave some to the team we had a case left i was very moral before tossing into the desert i had experience with this there is another book of mind where i discovered that prairie dogs really like rdeet food in the neck case it was noon pies. des sites roadie's out to the desert there were plenty of burdocks so that was the only dumping in the desert pioneer's style that we did that i will talk about. [laughter] >> you mentioned the cd player. what did you listen to? did you keep up on the dos? that is news. what is the origination of your name? >> my parents, and i love my wife very much my father said. we had 11 children they started to name the kids at the top where i was after grandparents. my grandmother was a rinker rdiss dutch from pennsylvania. this cd player was so stupid. bocce ball. it never was turned on. and as far as the music my daughter thought for years their dad was gay because i would like bubble gdie pop so willie nelson or a the eagles. but i never listened to it i brought it along but it was amazing at the end of the trip all the stuff buried at the bottom and i said i did not even know that was there. >> i headid y part of the book is dedicated to your father and your relationship with him? >> when we were kids my dad took this on a covered wagon and trip between our farm in new jersey and central pennmotlvania. it was a dream journey i got to get up in the morning to you galloped ahead on my horse to pick uwhatthe cae'ing spots. everybered has a treasured memory of childhood and that motivated me to take the trip. but what surprised me was the flashbacks of my father. we had a great and loving relationship that a very tough relationshiwhatto the end of his life because i was typical rebellious stupid pain in the neck kids. it shos roed me how strong those memories were and i managed i think people will enjoy that part of the booom @ with him into the narrative. >> what about the construction of the wagons you were using? >> i should have said this. sellaskpercent authentic we have a forgotten brand name to dado leading why again maker he made his fortune u oter osehn jacob astor or to make covered wagons and i tell a long history in the book that everything was authentiwherit was in a barn all these years unit being rebuilt was the box. >> did they have the iron ore this deal? it was a hot day and of little fisher's the pieces would break off and iron is soft. soviet original iron tires. >> as a boy i got to see l wagon made by our local blacksmith which is north of where you were and it is fascinating to me as he got ready to put on the tire he would put it:the wheel. >> he dropped it in water? ces yes and it shrinks the iron which is the wooden part. >> to more questions. ces let talk shows diversions were those seasonal variations? >> this is one of the frustrations of doing the reading because the book is so full of new stuff that people don't know about the trail but it wasnadi a simple set of trails but a collection of old indian trails fur trapping for the military and so forth so what you saw was this of flat cutoff. in western wyoming the trail is 150 miles wide at the cutoan. of pioneers to get across that part of wyoming. because the mormons tended to cross on the north side through i was to put them on the north side most of the pioneers took a steamboat been made their way through independence so that position them to take this outside. south or north of the river the pioneers would stand out for 5 miles every day even here the trail was 30 miles wide with cutoffs over time there were 40 cutof5 and alternate routes -- 2100-mile trip. one more. >> where did you get them you will see who? ces in disarray there was an homage coms,ni des is one of the most unique in the country with the swiss brethren there is a mule trainer there that is pretty legendary in the horse world for training could mule and having good mule and i talk e wiout him we had a pioneer experience wouldn't it exactly got the best but you just keep going. we made a lot of mistakes but the biggest was i should have been out there months before driving that team every day. we got there we made it a team and put everything up in five days later we were gone. the first fste days they were a lit fe wild at first but we got them from the amish in misery of lit fe northeast of st. joseph. >> please give rinker buck a hand and "the oregon trail." [applause] >> my book is called people of the red earth. i wrote it because i wanted to go back into the prehistory of the area. so many people don't know about it and people still don't know mhem h but there are more and more