Decals for travel trailers

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THE POWERFUL BOY
[SENECA]
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The Seneca, one of the Iroquois nations of the Northeast, have their own version of the all-conquering little one.
•
A man and his wife lived with their five-year-old son in an ugly-looking lodge in the woods.
One day the woman died giving birth to another boy, who was bright and lively but no longer than a person's hand.
Thinking that the infant would not live, the father wrapped it carefully and placed it in a hollow tree outside the lodge.
After that he burned the body of the mother.
Then as he had done before, the man went hunting every day.
The five-year-old played around the lodge by himself, feeling lonely.
After a time he heard crying from the hollow tree, for the baby too was lonely,
and hungry as well.
When he discovered his little brother, the boy made him some soup from deer intestines, which the baby drank with relish.
Much stronger, the newborn crawled out of the tree, and the two played together.
The older brother made a little coat out of fawn skin; when he put it on, the baby looked like a chipmunk scampering around.
When he came home, the father noticed that the deer intestines were gone and asked the boy what he had done with them.
"Oh," said the child, "I was hungry."
Seeing a small track of very short steps around the fire, the father said, "Here are a boy's tracks.
Who is it?" So his son confessed that he had found his little brother in a hollow tree, and that he had given him soup and made him a fawn-skin coat.
"Go and bring him," said the father.
"He's shy; he won't come for anything," the boy said.
'Well, we'll catch him.
Ask him to hunt mice with you in the old stump behind the hollow tree, and I'll get him."
Gathering a great many mice, the man hid them in his clothes.
Then he walked beyond the tree and crouched down so that he looked like an old stump.
The boy went to the tree and called, "Come on, let's catch some mice."
The baby climbed out, and they rushed around the stump catching mice.
Wild with excitement, the tiny thing laughed and shouted; he had never had so much fun.
Suddenly the stump turned into a man, who caught the little one ,in his arms and ran to the lodge.
The infant screamed and struggled, but it was no use; he couldn't get away, and he would not be pacified until his father put a small club into his hand and said.
"Now hit that tree."
The baby struck a great hickory.
The tree fell.
Then he laid about him
with the club, and everything he hit at was either crushed or killed.
He was delighted and stopped crying.
Now the baby stayed with his older brother while their father went hunting.
"You must not go to the north while I'm away," the father told them.
"Bad, dangerous people live there."
But when the father had left, the tiny one said to his brother, "Oh, let's go north; I want to see what's there."
The boys started off and walked until they came to wooded, marshy ground.
Then they heard what sounded like many people calling, "My father! My fatherl" Actually they were frogs singing the frog song,
"Nohqwa! Nohqwa!"
"Oh, these people want to hurt my father!" the little boy cried.
He fixed himself a pile of red-hot stones and, hurling them at the frogs, killed everyone.
When the boys came home, their father was very angry.
"You must not go again," he said. "
And you must not go west; it's dangerous there too."
But the next day when their father had left, the little boy said, "I want to see what's in the west; let's go there."
So they traveled westward until they came to a tall pine tree, with a bed made of skins at the very top.
"That's a strange place for a bed," the little boy said to his brother.
"I'll climb up and look at it."
Up he went. In the bed at the top he found two naked, frightened children, a boy and a girl. He pinched the naked boy, who called out, "Father, Father! Some strange child has come and scared me nearly to death!"
Suddenly the voice of Thunder was heard in the far west.
It rumbled toward them faster and faster until it reached the bed in the treetop.
Raising his club, the little boy, the powerful one, struck Thunder and crushed his head, so that he fell dead to the ground.
Then the boy pinched the naked girl, which made her call, "Mother!
Mother! Some strange boy is tormenting me!" Instantly the voice of Mother Thunder sounded in the west and grew louder until she stood by the tree.
The powerful boy struck her on the head as he had done with her husband, and she fell dead.
The powerful one thought, "This Thunder boy would make a fine tobacco pouch for my father.
I'll take him home." He struck the boy with his club and then threw both children to the ground.
The two brothers went home, and the tiny one said, "Oh, Father! I have brought you a splended pouch!"
"What have you done?" the father said when he saw the dead Thunder baby.
"These ~thunders have never harmed us.
They bring rain and do us good, but now they will destroy us to revenge their children."
"Oh, they won't hurt us-I've killed the whole family," the powerful boy replied.
So the father took the skin for a tobacco pouch, but he said, "You must never go north to the country where Stone Coat lives."
The next day the older brother would not disobey his father, so the powerful boy headed north by himself.
About noon he heard the loud barking of Stone Coat's dog, which was as tall as a deer. Thinking that the master must be close by, the little boy jumped into the heart of a chestnut tree to hide.
The dog kept barking, and Stone Coat came up to look around.
"There's nothing here," he said, but the dog barked and· stared at the tree.
Finally Stone Coat struck the tree with his club and split it open.
"WVhat a strange little fellow you are," Stone Coat said, looking at the boy as he came out. "You're not big enough to fill a hole in my tooth."
"Oh, I didn't come to fill holes in your teeth. I came to go home with YOll and see how you live," said the boy.
"All right, come on," Stone Coat said, and began walking with enormous steps.
In his belt he carried two great bears, which seemed as small as squirrels.
Once in a while he would look far down and say to the boy running by his side, "You're a funny little creature!"
His lodge was huge and very long; the boy had never seen anything like it.
Stone C.oat skinned the two bears, put one before his visitor, and otok the other for himself.
"You eat this bear," he said, "or I'll eat you and him together."
"If you don't eat yours before I eat mine, may I kill you?" asked the boy.
"Oh, yes," said Stone Coat.
The little boy cut off pieces of meat, cleaned them as fast as he could, and put them into his mouth.
Then he ran out of the lodge to hide the meat.
He kept running in and out, in and out, until all the flesh of his bear had disappeared.
"You haven't finished yours yet," he said to Stone Coat.
''I'm going to kill you!"
'Wait until I show you how to slide downhill," Stone Coat said, and took him to a long, slippery hillside which ended in a cave.
Putting the boy in a wooden bowl.
Stone Coat sent him down at great speed.
But presently the powerful boy ran up the slope again.
"Where did you leave the bow!?" asked the surprised Stone Coat.
"Oh, I don't know--down there, I suppose," the boy replied.
"Well, let's see who can kick this log highest," said Stone Coat.
"You try first," said the little one.
The log was two feet thick and six feet long.
Putting his foot under it, Stone C.oat kicked the log up twice his own height.
Then the boy, slipping his foot under the log, sent it whistling through the air.
It was gone a long time.
Then it came down on Stone Coat's head and crushed him to death.
"Come here," said the boy to Stone Coat's dog.
The dog came, and the little one climbed on his back and rode home.
"Now my father will have a fine hunting dog," he said.
When the father saw the dog, he cried, "What have you done? Stone Coa t will kill us all!"
"I have killed Stone Coat.
He won't trouble us any more," replied the boy, the powerful one.
"Now, boys," said the father, "you must never go to the southwest, the gambling place."
But the next day about noon, the younger brother started walking southwest.
He came to a beautiful opening in the woods, with a lean-to at the farther end.
Sitting under the lean-to a man with a large head, much larger than a buffalo's, played dice for the heads of all who came along.
He used wild-plumpits with designs on them for dice.
Crowds of people were betting in groups of three.
When they lost, as all did, the big-headed man put the three persons to one side.
Then he played with three more, and when they lost he put them with the first three, and so on-until he decided that the number was large enough.
Then he got up and cut all their heads off.
As the boy approached, a number of people who had lost their bets were waiting to be killed.
Hope came to them all, for they sensed that this child had great orenda-power, or medicine.
The boy took his place, and the game began immediately.
When the big-headed man threw the dice, the bay caused some to remain in the dish and others to go high, so that the dice came to rest with different designs showing.
But when the boy threw, the dice turned into woodcocks, flew high, and came down as dice of the same design.
The two played until the boy won back all the people and the gambler lost his own big head, for the boy instantly cut it off.
The whole crowd shouted, "Now you must be our chief!"
The boy said, "How could a little thing like me be a chief? Maybe my father would be willing to do it; I'll ask him."
The boy went home with the story, but his father would not move to the land of gambling.
"Now," said the father, "you must never go to the east, where they play ball."
But the next day the boy traveled east until he came to a great, level country of beautiful plains.
There the Wolf and the Bear clans were playing against the Eagle, the Turtle, and the Beaver clans.
The boy took the side of the Wolf and the Bear.
"If you win," they told him, "you will own all this country."
They played, and the boy won.
"Now,"they say, ' "you are the owner. "
The powerful boy went home and told his father, "I have won all the beautiful country of the east; come and be chief of it."
His father consented and moved with his two boys to the country of the east, and there they lived.
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Told by by Jeremiah Curtin and J. N. B. Hewitt around 1910.

Hi, we are a family of 5 - My wife and I, a six-year-old, a baby, and a poodle! We are renting a class C 2011 Fleetwood Jamboree RV (26') out on our first month-long road trip from our home in Vegas up to Seattle/Bellevue. It would be so awesome if we can get some tips and advice from folks who have done this before from RV and travel perspective! Here is our itinerary:
[Day 1]: Driving from Vegas past Bakersfield to Sequoia RV park near Sequoia/Kings Canyon Big Stump Entrance (6 hr)
[Day 2]: Drive into Sequoia National Park
[Day 3]: Drive into Kings Canyon National Park, and then head to High Sierra RV Park in Oakhurst, close to Yosemite entrance (2 hr)
[Day 4]: Drive into Yosemite
[Day 5]: Head over to Coyote Valley RV Park near San Jose in the bay area (3 hr)
[Day 6]: Stay in the Bay Area to revisit old friends and places
[Day 7]: Head over to Lake Tahoe KOA (3-4 hr)
[Day 8]: Stay in Lake Tahoe
[Day 9]: Head over to Redding RV Park in Redding, CA (near Mt. Shasta) (4 hr)
[Day 10]: Head over to Waterwheel RV Park, OR near Crater Lake National Park (3 hr)
[Day 11]: Stay around Crater Lake and Klamath Falls, OR
[Day 12]: Head over to Sandy Riverfront RV Resort near Portland, OR (5 hr)
[Day 13]: Head over to Trailer Inn RV Park in Bellevue (3 hr 20 min)
We plan to spend the next 10 days in Bellevue and rent a car to explore Seattle (A little nervous to drive the rig into the city), but haven't planned a return trip yet (we have around 8 days for the return trip).
Since we are traveling with a baby (and our first time in an RV), most RV parks we reserved mostly come with full hookups and some amenities. I'm a little anxious about our first 3 days driving so long to the first RV park since it is very close to Sequoia and Kings Canyon Big Stump Entrance and I learned that we can only enter Sequoia through that entrance. It's so hard and confusing to get information such as road closures for these parks.
Does this seem doable? Any stretch sounds too long? Any advice, please? Again our first time in an RV so we are nervous about everything!
Our 26' 2011 Fleetwood Jamboree

​
THE PEACE WITH THE SNAKES
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In those days there was a Piegan chief named Owl Bear.
He was a great chief, very brave and generous.
One night he had a dream : he saw many dead bodies of the enemy
lying about, scalped, and he knew that he must go to war.
So he called out for a feast, and after the people had eaten, he said : —
" I had a strong dream last night.
I went to war against the Snakes, and killed many of their warriors.
So the signs are good, and I feel that I must go.
Let us have a big party now, and I will be the leader.
We will start tomorrow night."
Then he told two old men to go out in the camp and shout the news, so that all might know. A big party was made up.
Two hundred men, they say, went with this chief to war.
The first night they travelled only a little way, for they were not used to walking, and soon got tired.
In the morning the chief got up early and went and made a sacrifice, and when he came back to the others, some said, " Come now, tell us your dream of this night."
" I dreamed good," said Owl Bear. "
I had a good dream. We will have good luck."
But many others said they had bad dreams.
They saw blood running from their bodies.
Night came, and the party started on, travelling south, and keeping near the foot-hills ; and when daylight came, they stopped in thick pine woods and built war lodges.
They put up poles as for a lodge, and covered them very thick with pine boughs, so they could build fires and cook, and no one would see the light and smoke ; and they all ate
some of the food they carried, and then went to sleep.
Again the chief had a good dream, but the others all had bad dreams, and some talked about turning back ; but Owl Bear laughed at them, and when night came, all started on.
So they travelled for some nights, and all kept dreaming bad except the chief.
He always had good dreams.
One day after a sleep, a person again asked Owl Bear if he dreamed good.
" Yes," he replied. " I have again dreamed of good luck."
"We still dream bad," the person said, "and now some of us are going to turn back.
We will go no further, for bad luck is surely ahead." " Go back ! go back ! " said Owl Bear.
" I think you are cowards ; I want no cowards with me."
They did not speak again.
Many of them turned around, and started north, toward home.
Two more days' travel. Owl Bear and his warriors went on, and then another party turned back, for they still had bad dreams.
All the men now left with him were his relations. All the others had turned back.
They travelled on, and travelled on, always having bad dreams, until they came close to the Elk River.'
Then the oldest relation said, " Come, my chief, let us all turn back.
We still have bad dreams. We cannot have good luck."
" No," replied Owl Bear, " I will not turn back."
Then they were going to seize him and tie his hands, for they had talked of this before.
They thought to tie him and make him go back with them.
Then the chief got very angry.
He put an arrow on his bow, and said : " Do not touch me.
You are my relations ; but if any of you try to tie me, I will kill you.
Now I am ashamed. My relations are cowards and will turn back.
I have told you I have Yellowstone River, always dreamed good, and that we would have good luck.
Now I don't care ; I am covered with shame.
I am going now to the Snake camp and will give them my body.
I am ashamed. Go ! go ! and when you get home put on women's dresses.
You are no longer men."
They said no more. They turned back homeward, and the chief was all alone.
His heart was very sad as he travelled on, and he was much ashamed, for his relations
had left him.
Night was coming on. The sun had set and rain was beginning to fall.
Owl Bear looked around for some place where he could sleep dry.
Close by he saw a hole in the rocks.
He got down on his hands and knees and crept in.
Here it was very dark. He could see nothing, so he crept very slowly, feeling as he went.
All at once his hand touched something strange.
He felt of it. It was a person's foot, and there was a moccasin on it.
He stopped, and sat still. Then he felt a little further.
Yes, it was a person's leg.
He could feel the cowskin legging. Now he did not know what to do.
He thought perhaps it was a dead person ; and again, he thought it might be one of his relations, who had become ashamed and turned back after him.
Pretty soon he put his hand on the leg again and felt along up.
He touched the person's belly. It was warm.
He felt of the breast, and could feel it rise and fall as the breath came and went ; and the heart was beating fast.
Still the person did not move. Maybe he was afraid. Perhaps he thought that was a ghost feeling of him.
Owl Bear now knew this person was not dead.
He thought he would try if he could learn who the man was, for he was not afraid.
His heart was sad. His people and his relations had left him, and he had made up his mind to
give his body to the Snakes.
So he began and felt all over the man, of his face, hair, robe, leggings, belt, weapons ;
and by and by he stopped feeling of him.
He could not tell whether it was one of his people or not.
Pretty soon the strange person sat up and felt all over Owl Bear; and when he had finished, he took the Piegan's hand and opened it and held it up, waving it from side to side, saying by signs, " Who are you? "
Owl Bear put his closed hand against the person's cheek and rubbed it ; he said in signs, " Piegan ! " and then he asked the person who he was.
A finger was placed against his breast and moved across it zigzag. It was the sign for "Snake."
" Hat yah/'' thought Owl Bear, " a Snake, my enemy."
For a long time he sat still, thinking. By and by he drew his knife from his belt and placed it in the Snake's hand, and signed, " Kill me ! "
He waited. He thought soon his heart would be cut. He wanted to die.
Why live ? His people had left him.
Then the Snake took Owl Bear's hand and put a knife in it and motioned that Owl Bear should cut his heart, but the Piegan would not do it.
He lay down, and the Snake lay down beside him.
Maybe they slept. Likely not.
So the night went and morning came. It was light, and they crawled out of the cave, and talked a long time together by signs.
Owl Bear told the Snake where he had come from, how his party had dreamed bad and left him, and that he was going alone to give his body to the Snakes.
Then the Snake said : " I was going to war, too. I was going against the Piegans.
Now I am done. Are you a chief?"
" I am the head chief," replied Owl Bear. " I lead. All the others follow," " I am the same as you," said the Snake.
" I am the chief. I like you. You are brave. You gave me your knife to kill you with.
How is your heart ? Shall the Snakes and the Piegans make peace?"
" Your words are good," replied Owl Bear. " I am glad."
" How many nights will it take you to go home and come back here with your people?" asked the Snake.
Owl Bear thought and counted. " In twenty-five nights," he replied, " the Piegans will camp down by that creek."
" My trail," said the Snake, " goes across the mountains.
I will try to be here in twenty-five nights, but I will camp with my people just behind that first mountain.
When you get here with the Piegans, come with one of your wives and stay all night with me.
In the morning the Snakes will move and put up their lodges beside the Piegans."
"As you say," repUed the chief, "so it shall be done."
Then they built a fire and cooked some meat and ate together.
" I am ashamed to go home," said Owl Bear. " I have taken no horses, no scalps.
Let me cut off your side locks?"
" Take them," said the Snake.
Owl Bear cut off the chief's braids close to his head, and then the Snake cut ofT the Piegan's braids.
Then they exchanged clothes and weapons and started out, the Piegan north, the Snake south.
" Owl Bear has come ! Owl Bear has come 1 " the people were shouting.
The warriors rushed to his lodge. Whish ! how quickly it was filled !
Hundreds stood outside, waiting to hear the news.
For a long time the chief did not speak. He was still angry with his people.
An old man was talking, telling the news of the camp. Owl Bear did not look at him.
He ate some food and rested. Many were in the lodge who haa started to war with him. They were now ashamed. They did not speak, either, but kept looking at the fire.
After a long time the chief said : " I travelled on alone. I met a Snake.
I took his scalp and clothes, and his weapons.
See, here is his scalp ! " And he held up the two braids of hair.
No one spoke, but the chief saw them nudge each other and smile a little ; and soon they went out and said to one another : "What a lie ! That is not an enemy's scalp ; there
is no flesh on it.
He has robbed some dead person."
Some one told the chief what they said, but he only laughed and replied : " I do not care. They were too much afraid even to go on and rob a dead person.
They should wear women's dresses."
Near sunset. Owl Bear called for a horse, and rode all through camp so every one could hear, shouting out :
" Listen ! listen ! To-morrow we move camp. We travel south.
The Piegans and Snakes are going to make peace.
If any one refuses to go, I will kill him.
All must go." Then an old medicine man came up to him and said :
"Kyi, Owl Bear! listen to me. Why talk like this? You know we are not afraid of the Snakes.
Have we not fought them and driven them out of this country?
Do you think we are afraid to go and meet them ? No. We will go and make peace with them as you say, and if they want to fight, we will fight.
Now you are angry with those who started to war with you.
Don't be angry. Dreams belong to the Sun.
He gave them to us, so that we can see ahead and know what will happen.
The Piegans are not cowards.
Their dreams told them to turn back.
So do not be angry with them any more."
"There is truth in what you say, old man," replied Owl Bear ; " I will take your words."
In those days the Piegans were a great tribe.
When they travelled, if you were with the head ones, you could not see the last ones, they were so far back.
They had more horses than they could count, so they used fresh horses every day and travelled very fast.
On the twenty-fourth day they reached the place where Owl Bear had told the Snake they would camp, and put up their lodges along the creek.
Soon some young men came in, and said they had seen some fresh horse trails up toward the mountain.
"It must be the Snakes," said the chief; "they have already arrived, although there is yet one night."
So he called one of his wives, and getting on their horses they set out to find the Snake camp.
They took the trail up over the mountain, and soon came in sight of the lodges.
It was a big camp. Every open place in the valley was covered with lodges, and the hills were dotted with horses ; for the Snakes had a great many more horses than the Piegans.
Some of the Snakes saw the Piegans coming, and they ran to the chief, saying : " Two strangers are in sight, coming this way.
What shall be done? " "Do not harm them," replied the chief.
"They are friends of mine. I have been expecting them."
Then the Snakes wondered, for the chief had told them nothing about his war trip.
Now when Owl Bear had come to the camp, he asked in signs for the chiefs lodge, and they pointed him to one in the middle.
It was small and old. The Piegan got off his horse, and the Snake chief came out and hugged him and kissed him, and said : "I am glad you have come to-day to my lodge.
So are my people. You are tired. Enter my lodge and we will eat."
So they went inside and many of the Snakes came in, and they had a great feast.
Then the Snake chief told his people how he had met the Piegan, and how brave he was, and that now they were going to make a great peace ; and he sent some men to tell
the people, so that they would be ready to move camp in the morning. Evening came. Everywhere people were shouting out for feasts, and the chief took Owl Bear to them.
It was very late when they returned.
Then the Snake had one of his wives make a bed at the back of the lodge ; and when it was ready he said : " Now, my friend, there is your bed.
This is now your lodge ; also the woman who made the bed, she is now your wife ; also
everything in this lodge is yours.
The parfleches, saddles, food, robes, bowls, everything is yours.
I give them to you because you are my friend and a brave man."
" You give me too much," replied Owl Bear. "
I am ashamed, but I take your words.
I have nothing with me but one wife. She is yours."
Next morning camp was broken early.
The horses were driven in, and the Snake chief gave Owl Bear his whole band, two hundred head, all large, powerful horses.
All were now ready, and the chiefs started ahead.
Close behind them were all the warriors, hundreds and hundreds, and last came the women and children, and the young men driving the loose horses.
As they came in sight of the Piegan camp, all the warriors started out to meet them, dressed in their war costumes and singing the great war song.
There was no wind, and the sound came across the valley and up the hill like the noise of thunder.
Then the Snakes began to sing, and thus the two parties advanced.
At last they met. The Piegans turned and rode beside them, and so they came to the camp. Then they got off their horses and kissed each other.
Every Piegan asked a Snake into his lodge to eat and rest, and the Snake women put up their lodges beside the Piegan lodges.
So the great peace was made.
In Owl Bear's lodge there was a great feast, and when they had finished he said to his people : " Here is the man whose scalp I took.
Did I say I killed him? No. I gave him my knife and told him to kill me.
He would not do it ; and he gave me his knife, but I would not kill him.
So we talked together what we should do, and now we have made peace.
And now (turning to the Snake) this is your lodge, also all the things in it.
My horses, too, I give you. All are yours."
So it was. The Piegan took the Snake's wife, lodge, and horses, and the Snake took the Piegan's, and they camped side by side.
All the people camped together, and feasted each other and made presents.
So the peace was made.
For many days they camped side by side.
The young men kept hunting, and the women were always busy drying meat and tanning robes and cowskins.
Buffalo were always close, and after a while the people had all the meat and robes they could carry.
Then, one day, the Snake chief said to Owl Bear : " Now, my friend, we have camped a long
time together, and I am glad we have made peace.
We have dug a hole in the ground, and in it we have put our anger and covered it up, so there is no more war between us.
And now I think it time to go. Tomorrow morning the Snakes break camp and go back south."
"Your words are good," replied Owl Bear. "I too am glad we have made this peace.
You say you must go south, and I feel lonesome.
I would like you to go with us so we could camp together a long time, but as you say, so it shall be done.
Tomorrow you will start south. I too shall break camp, for I would be lonesome here without you ; and the Piegans will start in the home direction."
The lodges were being taken down and packed.
The men sat about the fireplaces, taking a last smoke together.
They were now great friends. Many Snakes had married Piegan women, and many Piegans had married Snake women.
At last all was ready.
The great chiefs mounted their horses and started out, and soon both parties were strung out on the trail.
Some young men, however, stayed behind to gamble a while. It was yet early in the morning, and by riding fast it would not take them long to catch up with their camps.
All day they kept playing ; and sometimes the Piegans would win, and sometimes the Snakes.
It was now almost sunset. " Let us have one horse race," they said, "and we will stop."
Each side had a good horse, and they ran their best ; but they came in so close together it could not be told who won.
The Snakes claimed that their horse won, and the Piegans would not allow it.
So they got angry and began to quarrel, and pretty soon they began to fight and to shoot at each other, and some were killed.
Since that time the Snakes and Piegans have never been at peace.