Who might come along on a caravan/pilgrimage?

[satyesu]

:)

[ElisabethF]

Do you mean a wagon train?

I think the short answer is, just about anybody. I read a wonderful memoir on homesteading (http://thesecondsentence.blogspot.com/2011/03/book-review-land-of-burnt-thigh.html)recently, and although it was set a little later (early 1900s) I think the same things would be true of earlier settlers. People from all walks of life saw opportunity out west, whether it was owning their own land, escaping from their past (or the law!), starting over after financial ruin (after the Civil War, for example), looking for a better climate for their health, or it could be as simple as wanderlust. It provides a great opportunity for putting together an interesting bunch of characters.

[TwentyFour]

Hmmm..My grandfather was Irish and my grandmother Cherokee..

I guess I would have either been by boat or walking the trail of tears. I personally would have preferred to have been a wild outlaw and rode the trails for my kicks :)